Product Photography - Tips on How to Take Professional Photos of Products
When you are shopping online for a product, what is it that first catches your eye? The product description? No. The headline? Probably not. How about the picture? Absolutely.
Product photography is an art that involves emulating the potential of your subject in the most innovative way possible. As the photographer, it's up to you to show people why the product is valuable and why they should consider buying it.
Fortunately, this is one of the few genres of photography in which you have complete control over the scene - you can enjoy the luxury of being able to incorporate anything you want into the process as long it produces the right quality of light.
With Great Power Comes Great Photogra ... bility?
So, how are you going to capitalize on all of this power you have over your subject? There are a lot of different options out there and the techniques that you can apply are virtually limitless, so I will cover some of the more significant elements of product photography:
Sweep tables: These tools are extremely convenient for when you need to take your product photography studio with you. They normally serve as cases that can hold some light-weight objects, but the key component here is the colored sheet (usually green) that fits inside of it, which is used to produce the white-colored background during post-production that you normally see in pictures of products.
Custom lighting: Being able to distribute your own source of light onto a product is essential for making quality photographs. Custom lamps work perfectly fine in this matter, but it's important to take note of the distinctions between different light sources: Lamps with compact florescent bulbs that are balanced to daylight are needed to create the right color of light, while other lamps of the same type that are equipped with diffusers help soften light. You will also need an additional lamp to serve as the background light for your product shot.
Reflector cards: These tools are used in product photography to further extend your control over light. White-colored reflector cards can bounce the light coming from your lamps onto the product, which will fill in any shadows that you don't want in your shot. Black-colored reflector cards are useful for the rare occasions in which you actually want to introduce shadows into your picture.
Lighting tents: If you have plenty of custom lamps and exhibit no need for reflector cards, a lighting tent can make for a fantastic shot. By placing the product inside the tent and surrounding the tent with your various light sources, you will produce a very healthy balance of soft light, which is necessary for establishing a neutral background for your photograph.
Tripods: It is absolutely essential that you use a tripod when conducting product photography. There is no room for error when it comes to movement or motion blurs, so a heavy tripod with flexible adjustments is ideal.
Soft boxes and beauty dishes: When shooting outdoors, reflector cards and lighting tents don't always do the trick. Having a soft box or beauty dish handy will make it easier to distribute the soft light that you need for large products such as cars and statues.
Smaller aperture: Everything in the photo needs to be in focus, so always use a small aperture to keep your Depth of Field extended throughout the entirety of the photograph.
Post-Production
If any genre of photography requires prestigious post-production efforts, it's product photography. It's very important that you are educated beyond the fundamentals of an image editing program such as PhotoShop. Remember, professionalism is the key here - the main focus of your photograph is and always will be the product, so any distractions in the shot need to be edited out.
However, post-production is a topic all on its own. Just keep this in mind for when you are about to start committing to some serious product photography.