Taking photo of your products from you e-commerce store

[Toni]

Okay you have your store ready and now you want to add all your products.

I have about 200 products that I need to take a photo of the only problem is how do I do it?

I have bought a mini studio which when placed on a bed you can take images and it give the appearance of white background and no edges. This is great but when put on my website the white background is not white enough.

Will I have to manually take 200 pics extract products in photoshop and then put them on a white background then re-size?

The most important part I need to know is how to get the whitebackground quickly.

BTW - the products are Vodka bottles.

Thank You

Toni

[Steve2507]

Will I have to manually take 200 pics extract products in photoshop and then put them on a white background then re-size?Yes, but you may be able to do it if you have a decent digital camera and play wth the settings.

A cheaper alternative is to ask your suppliers. They should have images available and if they haven't are there oter suppliers you can buy from who do have images available.

[Kent Accountant]

BTW - the products are Vodka bottles.

If you want to send me a dozen bottles, I don't mind taking some snaps for you. Suspect it will be much easier to get a white background if I open them first :)

[Toni]

....its good to know you are a big drinker Mr Bob.

Will definetaly be sending you the first promotion I do. How about a bottle of Laurent Perrier Rose for £32.60 a bottle all inclusive? Do you like the sound of that?

Or Moet NV 75cl for £22 all inclusive?

Or since you are an Accountant, to celebrate your success why not opt for a bottle of Louis Roederer Cristal 1999 for £164.50 inc VAT.

If anyone wants these or other introuctory hot and sexy deals just PM me and when we go live, I will sort you guys out with exclusive promotion prices.

For the ladies we will be having top quality seductive rose champagnes that I know you will even want to bathe yourself in - but the price on these is a premium and I am sure will not mind paying for the drinking experience.

One for UK business forum too.

[eweshop]

I have used a sheepskin rug as a background, quite effective.

[Dawg]

I have used a sheepskin rug as a background, quite effective.

This will show through the vodka and look dirty. Don't do it.
If the bottles are clear glass, and you are shooting in your light tent try using two bits of black card, 5cmx30cm, on each side of the bottle, and slightly behind, standing upright. Remove them in photoshop afterwards. They will give a thin black line down the edge of the bottle to define the shape, otherwise you could have a fairly white-on-white picture, depending on the brand and label.

[Uncle Buck]

We use a reflective photo 'tent' and a digital SLR camera.

Get very good, clean hi res results. Suitable for any of our publications and websites.

We also have a couple of lights to get the right angle for the shadows so there is minimal photoshop needed.

Any Jessops should be able to help

[Uncle Buck]

Okay you have your store ready and now you want to add all your products.

I have about 200 products that I need to take a photo of the only problem is how do I do it?

I have bought a mini studio which when placed on a bed you can take images and it give the appearance of white background and no edges. This is great but when put on my website the white background is not white enough.

Will I have to manually take 200 pics extract products in photoshop and then put them on a white background then re-size?

The most important part I need to know is how to get the whitebackground quickly.

BTW - the products are Vodka bottles.

Thank You

Toni

You will need to resize the pics. Always good to use a part code as a naming convention so they can be easily found. We have thousands of images. Some from manufacturers and others we take ourselves.

[Jonesy]

I spent a long time perfecting the technique as it's really important to what we sell (jewellery). We do all our shots in house. I actually used a "continuous" 800W bulb (power of the sun from China via eBay!) and a lightbox, but still had to use Photoshop extensively to get the shots up to standard.

I've since invested in a much better box with internal lighting from www.techlamps.co.uk. You could probably get the biggest one they've got and that should do you. Perfect white backgrounds every time at last!

FYI I'm using a Nikon D40X with Macro lens.

PM me if you need more information. Check out my sites to see the kind of results I get.

[Sue F]

I've spent hours waffing around trying to get the perfect photos of products.

Luckily most of our suppliers send discs with images on or allow you to copy them from their web sites.

I've got an A4 light box that I use for craft projects which I stand items on and this works well.

I've also got some huge pieces of white mulberry paper that I also use for craft (which is basically white tissue paper) and this works quite well if it's taped to a window with full sun behind it and the item standing in front. This is usually the most effective method for me ... but it does depend on the weather ... not good when you live in the grim North :redface:

Non of my products are see through though and as Dawg says in your case you need to avoid your back ground showing through the glass of the bottle.

Best of luck

[AdvantageDigitalMedia]

The light tent approach worked for me when taking pictures of branded Champagne glasses, and the tip with the black card works too...it really a case of lots of trial and error. Good Luck.....the better the pictures the more the sales! ;-)

Regards

Darren

[Toni]

.... am trying to pull this off using a sony cybershot P120 5.1 megapixels - don't know if is good ebnough .... but I guess it is good enough to get the ball rolling.


BTW - when you guys buy wine, what would appeal in making you buy the wine out of a shot of the bottle or a shot of the label?

[coultog]

A shot of a full glass? :)

[MH1]

Or perhaps a shot of a part drunk glass :D

[Beneddie1112]

Feel free to dismiss this idea, but how about shooting the pictures of the vodka bottles with the base in sand? This would make the viewer think of the vodka advert currently being shown on television and may help to increase your sales conversion rate a bit? It's sort of like they're advertising for you :)

Take care,
Ben

[Chris Ashdown]

Try making the images .gif which will enable you to have transparant backgrounds, els but photoshop elements and use the magic wand to remove the background

[Toni]

Chris 1000 products is a lot. Might take a month to do - I guess it is the only way since you cannot do a batch job unless photoshop can do object recognition and work out how to cut the image backgounds on different images.

[PhilDPho]

You need to over-expose the background, while correctly exposing the item.

Careful, and accurate lighting is needed.

It would be best imo, to get a photographer to do the job. However if you PM me, I'll send some more specific advice on product lighting.

[creospace]

My brother built a photographers scoop for us to take photos of my wife's products, we have a small one for jewellery and a large one for larger products such as her bags and wotnot. Uses a white hardboard plate as the background and we have another one sprayed black should we need it.

The scoops gives a seamless background because it's curved. To get the pure white you have to play with eh light settings on a decent digital camera (we use cannon EOS400) and then you can get great photos (although we're still learning and improving).

My brother was even on about making these scoops to sell as they can be like kits to put together.

[Astaroth]

Glass tends to be more difficult to photograph than other items.... really it needs experimenting with but the first attempt would be:

Use a large mat brilliant white sheet and put it under the bottle/ glass and bent it up gently to verticle behind the item so you get a smooth curve.

Have two lights, one bright one that you shine onto tthe white backing and a second slightly less bright to shine on the object itself, ideally defuse the light by putting it through white material/ tracing paper or such (be careful of the fire risk) onto the item itself. This will help over expose the background to give the pure white.

Now the glass trick, at the sides of the item but out of shot, put a black object, this will help define the edges of the bottle/ glass and prevent it disappearing into the background... you may need to play with their distance etc to get the effect correct.

On the camera, you need to change the settings, if you can, to get the camera to meter off the smallest point you can. If you have something like the canon 400D then you can use center weighted or if you have the model up of the 40D then it allows spot metering which is even better.

[PhilDPho]

Glass tables can also be useful if you can light them from underneath.

If you want to make them a little more interesting and the liquid isn't clear.

[WalktheWeb]

Rather than extracting images in Photoshop to stick them on a white background (which may be time consuming if the images do not copy out easily) you might find that you can quickly produce the necessary shade of white by making quite slight adjustments to contrast, brightness or levels, without significantly changing the way the product itself looks. I have done this with some success in the past.

This is probably very obvious, but if you need to cut out the images and paste onto a totally white background, you can often do this quickly by selecting all of the white background and then either simply deleting it or using ctrl-i to select the inverse of it (i.e. the product).

But do first try Steve's idea of playing around with the settings on your digital camera. You may be able to find a white balance setting which gives you the result you need without having to use Photoshop (although you are presumably going to need to resize and produce web friendly jpegs anyway).

David

[Toni]

Just a practice shot, obviously real one will be full bottle, what do you reckon?

http://picasaweb.google.com/CherryPimp/DRinkShots/photo#5175896500497299714

Do you think the shot is sexy enough to buy?

I took it against a sheep skin as someone had suggested.

[PhilDPho]

it's ok, but you can see a reflection of the bottom surface in the bottle.

You really need a seamless background, also, try lighting underneath to make the liquid more pronounced and use black card at the sides to define the edges of the bottle against the white background.

[Toni]

That is not a reflection of the bottom, it is the labl on the back.

Will see if I can improve, this is like my third ever shot I have ever taken, so I guess I will try and have to impriove.

What do you mean seamless background?

Can you post a picture of a shot of Bacardi if possible?

[PhilDPho]

Try moving your viewpoint and eye-level, either remove the label from the back, or change viewpoint to hide it.

[Toni]

...will do it in the morning now, because that label is going to take ages to remove - or I might just shot a bottle of Stoli instead.

[Astaroth]

You will have to remove that rear label.... also the overall balance of the picture looks wrong as the front label is too dark. As per my previous post, you need the front light to be lower than the back light to get the burnt our white background but need to have the camera to set the balance based on the front light (one of the few cases where you actually want burn out).

A lot will say you can do X, Y or Z in Photoshop (or equiv) but I remain old fashioned, it is better to get it as close to perfect in the camera than to take an image at 50% and hope to get a good result by image manipulation post taking

[PhilDPho]

Ideally you want 2 lights on the background to blow it out evenly.

But, as I've said before, bottles with liquids, are best lit from underneath. It makes them kind of "glow"

[Toni]

.... this bottle is also unbalanced:

http://picasaweb.google.com/CherryPimp/DRinkShots/photo#5175907302340049234

Will take shot in the morning now.

The label is too dark here as well..... I got a light underneath and two pointed at the bottle.

May I will try pointing those lamp on the background instead.

Also I might try getting in closer instead of using the zoom.

"you need the front light to be lower than the back light to get the burnt our white background " - what do you mean lower? Lower in intensity or in position?


Thanks for your help though.... in the morning.

[Astaroth]

You can achieve good effect on bottles without a light from underneath but you really need to use dark coloured reflectors to create definition to the edge bottle/ glass... depends on the look you want and the colour of the liquid in the containet

[Toni]

....black card.

What black card placed against the bottle or jus t close to the bottle?

BTW - I have been taking the pictures without flash - hope that is correct.

[Dawg]

It really is quite good.
Remove labels with lighter fluid.
Use a long lens, (zoom).
Be careful of underlighting. It can be very effective but with clear liquids can also blow out any detail. You seem to have done very well with the Stoly tho'.
You could put white card in front (B) to bring up the gold on the label, and to put more light into the label.
Black card is near, not against the label. (A). Again you will have to play to get the right distance and angle.
Astaroth's point of doing as much as you can in camera, and as little as you can afterwards on computer is spot on: this will always give better results.
http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/9125/drinkpicjb0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[Astaroth]

Personally would have the black reflectors further round the side initially but as you say, it is all about experimenting (and why the live feed to the PC screen is so useful :) )

[Toni]

.... question before doing any more stuff today.

Do I need the flash on for the cards to reflect the light how you guys are describing or is this to bounce the existing lamp light?

Do I need a slave flash?

Thanks

[Dawg]

Start with bouncing the existing light, otherwise you may start burning areas out.
You are so close: just play with a bit of card before spending money on kit.

[Toni]

.....I think this is good enough, did not use cards though:

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/CherryPimp/DRinkShots/photo#5176091105465481618

This is a raw shot, so does anyone know how to get rid of that slight grey gradient near the top the image using photoshop?

I guess I could also buy some more lights.

Thnaks

[PhilDPho]

That's a good shot, and tbh, that light fade off doesn't look too bad, it looks quite intentional lol

[Toni]

.... about it, all I would have to do is brush it out with a white air brush.

[Dawg]

You have exposed for the liquid, and so underexposed the background and the label. Thats the grey bit.
If you expose to make the background white you will lose the edges of the bottle, which is why you should use black card.
If you lower the position of the lens and use white card reflectors you will get gold on the label not balck holes where gold should be. If the gold is burning out move the card backwards until it doesn't.
http://img246.imageshack.us/img246/2623/stolycommentsas8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[Dawg]

Just as an afterthought: you do know that bottle photography is a speciality, and that clear liquids with gold labels are the worst of all...?:)

[PhilDPho]

black cards either side of the bottle. light the background with 2 lights, and overexpose by 2 stops.

You'll need approximately 10 feet between the background and your subject.

Light the bottle from underneath, and also from 2 diffused lights. But if this is a one of thing, you're better getting a photographer rather than paying the money for 4 or 5 lights.

THough if you find somebody local to you, then you'll save on postage costs of your products.

[Toni]

Here is the image air brushed using a Wacom tablet:

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/CherryPimp/DRinkShots/photo#5176099918738373042

I will try again later using cards.

Thanks

[Astaroth]

Or just pay for the work in drink (also makes postage only one way) ;)

[Toni]

....I think it just needs one more tweak which is the reflectors and I should be okay.

Will post when I find some reflectors.

[Ian_Moss]

Hi Guys

We Shoot Bottles, that's it, professionally photographed and retouched bottle shots, perfect for print and web.

www [dot] weshootbottles [dot] com

[Place of design]

When shooting against a white background you need to expose the background by 2 stops more than the subject. The background and subject need lighing separatally. When shooting bottles, it is the specular highlights that are the hardest to light for properly. You may need a mixture of hard and soft lighting

In the the main you will probrably need studio gear and at least 3 flash heads, with background reflectors, a soft box and maybee something like a fresnel lens or honeycomb grid to give a really crisp highlight

If you need to light from underneath, or you want a nice reflection investing in opaque shiny perspex sheets in black and white

TOTALLY FORGET LIGHT TENTS

[Dawg]

Ace book Ian, bottles, tins and Red.

[Ian_Moss]

Thanks for the plug Dawg

You are right in everything you say... although our speciality, bottles are not the easiest thing to shoot, we sometimes have multiple shots to create one bottle, ie shot for the exposure of the liquid, polarised for metallic elements, sometimes event the alignment of the main label to the neck label. Working as a team with the the photographer, we both know what is required to get the client the perfect shot.

There are more little tricks we use (but we'll keep them private for now!)

[MrsPWN]

Ian, would be very interesting to see one of your pics :D

[Ian_Moss]

Ian, would be very interesting to see one of your pics :D

Here is a sample of something difficult - Bottle of Vodka with Black / White and Metallic label.

you can download a hires sample image from our websites
www.weshootbottles.com / www.weshootcans.com

http://www.pixelfinity.co.uk/items/vodka_bottle.jpg

and with the REAL reflection

[boho]

Stunning! Ian just been on both your sites and the photography is really beautiful, didn't know bottles and cans could look so good :)

[Luc]

You can try to download the free Picassa photo editing SW from Google. That one is extremely easy to use for simple things like adjusting contrast, brightness, saturation, crop, etc.
I'm pretty sure that with 1 slider bar you get the white background that you're looking for.

[Dawg]

You can try to download the free Picassa photo editing SW from Google. That one is extremely easy to use for simple things like adjusting contrast, brightness, saturation, crop, etc.
I'm pretty sure that with 1 slider bar you get the white background that you're looking for.

This is not very good advice I'm afraid. You will lose contrast, detail, saturation in various combinations. Don't do it.

[Ian_Moss]

Our bottles are produced with.

Proper lighting, brilliant camera, Adjustments in Adobe Lightroom and isolated retouching and composing in Photoshop.

Anyone who is happy with the results they get from their own setup is cool, but our service is so well priced it's sometimes better to just ship them out and have them shot by pros.

[freshpurple]

I'm very impressed Ian! Both by the photography and the websites. Very creative design that looks amazing!

[Place of design]

Our bottles are produced with.

Proper lighting, brilliant camera, Adjustments in Adobe Lightroom and isolated retouching and composing in Photoshop.

Anyone who is happy with the results they get from their own setup is cool, but our service is so well priced it's sometimes better to just ship them out and have them shot by pros.
HURRAH! So many people dont appreciate the difference a professional photographer can make

[MrsPWN]

Wow, those bottle shots are amazing!

I can't see why anyone would bother when they can be done that well. Do you have pics of every bottle in the world and customers just buy them or do you shoot to order (so to speak ;))

[Ian_Moss]

We shoot everything as an individual job

[rss11]

Not sure if this works but I was told in the past that the bath works as an excellent white backdrop and a bit of playing in photoshop can get great results.

Richard