Product Photography.

[AT700]

Interested to understand what you people do when it comes to photographing your products?

Do you outsource?
Do you use any products to create professional looking images?

I'd like to know what back drop or system you use (if you do) rather than camera and lighting etc..

 

[Dolphin-Design]

We have started to use Photoshop smart objects.
Depending on what you're selling this might be the way to go... No photography needed, just google Photoshop smart objects or even Photoshop actions

Spent ages trying to create professional looking photos of our products and was reluctant to pay someone else to do them.

 

[bharris]

We take them ourself pure white backdrop with no shadow. Edited in Photoshop.

 

[Dorothy13]

We have our own photographer, and we take photos of products in our warehouse. But the photos are normal, the background is white. I think anyone can do it.

 

[AT700]

@Dorothy13 Do you use just a back drop? Any special lighting set up?

 

[AT700]

@Dolphin-Design Will check it out.

 

[Jeff Nev]

You can make your own white-box pretty easily and Photoshop any shadow and disruptions out. You'll be left with a suitable set of pictures for your website.

 

[Jayser100]

What you do depends on the size of the objects you are photographing. For small objects, one of those mini tent-like light boxes will do. For larger stuff, get a cheap set of flash units, a white background paper roll and a paper roll stand to put it on. It all costs less than you think and you can get professional results once you understand how to set up your camera's shutter speed and exposure settings (trust me, it's very easy and any good camera manual will tell you how to do it). Your camera will need to have a flash connector on top that can take a 'Hotshoe', which basically links a cable to the flash units.

If you don't have the camera, it might in total cost between £300 - 500 to get all the gear but it's a one-off investment and over time you're going to save a lot when compared to paying someone else to do it. Also, it's very handy being able to photograph your new stuff immediately when you get it, rather than having to wait for a booked photographer to do it.

 

[Vadym Gurevych]

From what I heard from some of our clients who do their own photos, it is best to use a Macro lense so that it captures all the little details.

Light - definitely, this is important and needs to allow for the natural colours of the product to be captured (so, make sure you set the White Balance correctly).

Pictures need to be relatively big so that they could be zoomed in by the users of your site.

One thing that one of my very successful client was using, the trick that made his product pictures stand out against the competition, was sharpness. He basically processed each and every photo and increased sharpness so that products looked very very crisp on his website unlike on the sites of his competitors.

 

[JoeInTheMiddle]

It's very easy to do your own product photography provided you are willing to take the time to learn the basics, there are plenty of excellent online resource online to help you out. For my business we used a Canon 5d and although full frame cameras can be rather expensive it is well worth it as the results can look phenomenal, I'm sure others have their own camera preferences. I'm sure most would agree that good lighting is another important consideration to get excellent results.

If you see yourself requiring product photography over an extended period of time it would is well worth investing in the necessary equipment as some freelancers are notoriously expensive, demanding and unreliable. Studios are affordable in the UK we hired one out in London for £200 for a week. I am sure you can find them cheaper else where.