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I take sneaker photos often and have a lot of experience behind taking them. I get asked about how I do my sneaker photos all the time, so I wanted to provide you with three things to think about for taking the best pictures. Whether the photos are going to end up on Instagram, Facebook or your Flickr account, some basic knowledge and equipment can take you a long way and provide a basis for you to expand your knowledge and experience.

1) Get the Correct Sneaker Photo Equipment

You can take great photos with a mobile phone, but for the top notch quality you find in many professional photos, a mirrorless or DSLR will be the way to go. I use a DSLR – the Nikon D3100. Without getting too technical, these cameras have larger sensors which ultimately allows for a better picture.

You can find the Nikon D3100 on on Amazon or eBay .

Typically, DSLRs will save to a memory card and will have separate, interchangeable lenses. If your goal is to take close-up or “portrait” shots of sneakers, opt for a lens that is geared towards that. For all my shots, I use the Nikon AF-S FX NIKKOR 50mm f/1.8G Lens, which allows me to get a nice close shot. The lens also features a very sharp focus and with the correct settings can achieve the “blurred background” effect seen in many professional photos.

Besides a camera and lens, other tools can aid in the process. Items like a remote (they even make bluetooth remotes for phone cameras) and a tripod can help keep the camera steady. This will help avoid a blurry photo. I found this remote to work well with the D3100.

Once you have a camera, remote and tripod, you have the basic equipment needed to create great sneaker photography!

2) Choose the Correct Location, Lighting and Backdrop

When it comes to taking great sneaker photos, getting the lighting correct is key. Having a great environment for your picture is going to greatly affect how it comes out. They call sunrise and sunset “golden hours” because they provide nice, soft light that helps photos taken at that time come out great.

When setting up a shot, you want to check for a few things. To keep life simple, make sure the set up is in the shade, but with lots of natural light coming through. If the shot is outdoors but directly under the sunlight, the light can create harsh shadows. This is ok if you’re going for a really dramatic shot, but for general purposes is not optimal. Similarly, light coming from the side can create a more dramatic or even harsh look, so try to set up in areas where the light is coming from behind you, but the shoe is in the shade. These tips can help ensure that the whole front of the shoe is softly illuminated.

When setting up the shot, try to follow the rule of thirds. This may not apply to Instagram – there’s a slightly different set of parameters for square photos. Basically, what you want to do is imagine a 9×9 grid over the photo and try to position the sneaker over at least 2 of the major lines. This will help draw the eye to the shoe.

In terms of background and framing the shot, you can basically use your judgement – what looks good to you? Metallic surfaces (like car bumpers), and shiny plants can reflect light, which can help keep the background interesting. Car lights and streetlights can provide similar effects. Overall, try and pick a setting that is pleasing to the eye.

If the shoe is very colorful or interesting, it might help to choose a more subdued background, but if it’s a monochromatic or low key looking pair, you could opt for a spicier backdrop.

There are no hard and fast rules to creating a scene for your sneakers, but the more you often you take photos, the better you will get at choosing the appropriate lighting and background for your shoe photos.

3) Choose the Correct Settings for Sneaker Photos

Your setting choices will largely be based on your equipment, location and the lighting conditions. For those that use a phone for sneaker photography, the amount of settings you can adjust will be limited. Some apps will allow further customization with regards to phone photos.

For a basic setting, you should sure the flash is off for daytime photography unless the front of the sneaker really needs some illumination. If you chose your setting carefully enough, this won’t be a huge issue.

For those with a DSLR or mirrorless camera, your settings are going to have a higher level of customization. You should take full advantage of the blurry background and high detail that a DSLR lens can provide, if available. For portrait type shots similar to what I take, you want to adjust the f-stop. This is the aperture setting on most DSLRs and looks like f/xx where xx is a number. A lower number means a wider aperture, which lets in more light. Most of my photos are around f/2.8, which for my taste provides a good amount of blur while keeping the whole shoe still in focus.

Each camera/lens combination is different. For example, I’ve found that the “cloudy” setting on the Nikon D3100 works best for most of the shots I take. After trying all the settings, given the environments and lighting conditions I typically shoot in, the captured images seem to come out the best with that setting. Definitely experiment with the lighting settings on your camera and be aware that certain settings may look better than the setting supposedly intended for that environment.

You may also want to adjust for exposure, although if you already have optimal lighting settings, you might not need it. Exposure settings can basically help reduce the odds of blown out (overly bright) areas of a scene or areas that have too much shadow. This shouldn’t be too big of an issue if you’ve placed the sneaker in the shade and your light source is coming from behind you rather than behind the shoe.

Nothing beats experience, so my final advice is get out there and take tons of sneaker photos! These tips and others found online can all act as individual bricks to the house you build yourself. I’m sure you will develop personal preferences that deviate from my sneaker photography techniques, so these tips are merely meant as a jumping off point for you to start your sneaker photo hobby!