With the boom of e-commerce, the need for good product photography is ubiquitous as more and more brands vie for attention in the online marketplace. But if you would like to be a master product photography expert isn’t possible to fix your just limited to online advertising.

It is also a crucial part of offline advertising as well; good pictures of items are necessary for ads in magazines, hoardings, catalogs, and flyers. If a picture speaks a 1000 words, a good product photograph can sell 1000 items.

Product Photography Set-Up on a Tiny Budget

Good photographs come at a cost – a pricey photographer who can charge exorbitant amounts per hour. However, if you have basic photography skills and an understanding of technique, you can create attractive product photos that speak to your clientele and help you make more money. Here are our six tips:

1. Get The Right Background for Photography

Having a clean and well thought through background is groundwork that can save you a load of potential editing work later. A white background is your best bet. Make your own light tent for small products – they’re relatively inexpensive to mimic and can make a world of difference to your photos.

Get a larger plastic container that you can prop on its side, without its lid on. Tape white card paper to the bottom and sides – this will help eliminate shadows and create better lighting for the photos. Now you can either place the box near a bright window for natural illumination or use bulbs to light up the box.

2.Prep Your Product for Photography

The best position for a product to be in is on a flat surface so that it is stable and not prone to movement or overlap (in case of flexible items such as fabric or chains). For products such as necklaces, placement on a bust or cardboard is preferable to get a more professional shot. Not all items are easy to photograph so you will have to work with some and improvise as you go along.

Small products that aren’t stable may benefit from dabs of glue from a glue gun to hold them in place without damaging it. Clothes may have to be draped attractively or worn by a mannequin to get a realistic look. Large products may need a large backdrop of white, which you can create by getting white craft paper and taping it to a free wall.

3. Choose Your Lighting for Product Photography

You can either go with natural or artificial light. If you are watching your expenditure, natural light is your best option, especially for small-scale soots. If your window gets sunlight that is too direct and you feel it is making your photos look washed out, diffuse the rays with a white cloth placed over the glass. Choose a shooting time when the light is bright so that you can adjust according to your needs.

Remember that it’s easier to edit photos to adjust their lighting down than increase the lighting. When shooting with natural light, keep an eye on the shadows as direct sunlight can result in prominent and distracting shadows.

If you have a decent budget, studio lighting can get the job done at any time of day and are recommended for shooting many products over the course of the day. To get the shadows natural, you will need to have two softbox light setups at the very least – one as your primary light source and the second to according to the shoot needs – to fill in adjustments or as a backlight. A white paper can be used over these lights to adjust diffusion.

4. Get A Tripod

Investing in a tripod gives you access to a wide range of benefits and is an essential component for good product photographs. A tripod can help with focusing. It adds stability to your set up and can give you consistently good pictures. If you don’t have the budget to buy a tripod for master product photography, you could make do with a makeshift structure of a stool or boxes to place your camera. However, a tripod is likely to last you a good many years and makes a sound investment in obtaining great product shots.

5. The Right Camera for Product Photography

If you are doing a large number of product shots regularly, it is worth spending money on the best cameras for product photography. Thanks to the emergence of great smartphone cameras, the prices of DSLRs and point-and-shoot cameras have lowered over the years and are now quite affordable.

That said, some smartphone cameras also have the technology to shoot beautiful pictures for master product photography. If you take care of the settings such as lighting and background, a good smartphone camera can produce professional results.

After your shoot, remember that photography post-production services are as important as the shoot itself. Make sure you retouch your pictures, ironing out the finer details so that your pictures look flawless. These changes may include color correction, removal of background, props or unwanted shadows. If you don’t have Photoshop, use free, but effective, image editing tools such as Pixlr and Canva for editing images. Fotor is a great image editing app you can use on your smartphone.

6. Photography Post-Production

After your shoot, remember that post-production is as important as the shoot itself. Make sure you retouch your pictures, ironing out the finer details so that your pictures look flawless. These changes may include color correction, removal of background, props or unwanted shadows. If you don’t have Photoshop, use free, but effective, image editing tools such as Pixlr and Canva for editing images. Fotor is a great image editing app you can use on your smartphone.

If you are on a budget but are looking to up your product photography skills and equipment it is worth looking into second-hand cameras and equipment online – they’re much cheaper, allowing you to upskill for less. Often, professionals who work at photo studios or a video production company may upgrade their gadgets and paraphernalia regularly, selling off their current items in good working condition for master product photography.

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