Tips for shooting product photography

Written by Beckie of beckiegkengle.com

Hey all! It’s been a while since I’ve posted (I’ve been crazy-busy, and quite honestly, I have felt less than inspired as of late), but I wanted to share something with you that has inspired me recently and helped me pick up my camera again.

Product photography

bottle triptych

Besides photography, one of my other passions is nail polish! I LOVE nail polish! I recently connected with an awesome indie polish maker who just started her own brand, and I have been doing some product photography for her. So, I wanted to show you my set up for when I shoot images for her.

I found this little light-box kit on Amazon. It is 16” x 16”, and it came with two lights, a mini tripod, and 4 different colored backdrops (red, blue, white and black, though I will likely only ever use the white or black because they are easier to adjust the white balance in Lightroom).

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When you’re doing product photography, it is important that your product is well lit, and has a correct white balance (if you’re unable to get the white balance correct in-camera, then you can fix it in post). This helps give a most accurate portrayal of what the product looks like.

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You also want to make sure that your image is in focus. Blurry images are hard to look at, but especially in product photography. It’s hard to tell exactly what you’ll be getting if you can’t see the image clearly. Take pictures of your product from different angles or sides. You also want to make sure that the brand name is clearly visible.

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I like to get creative when I do product photography (interesting images grab attention!). Sometimes I will set up a shot without using my light-box, and use natural light in an outdoors setting. And I also like to occasionally add props to make it more fun!

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Lens choices for product photography depend on the products that you are photographing. For my close-ups of the nail polish bottles, I chose to use my 60mm macro lens. But for my whole layout images, I used my 50mm.

I think the most important part of product photography (ANY photography really) is to have fun! If you are enjoying yourself, it will show in your images!

Thank you for reading! If you would like to follow more of my photography, feel free to visit my blog or find me on Facebook or Instagram. (the @polishedbybeckie watermark is for my Instagram account)

If you are interested in the polish shown in these images, please visit www.loadedlacquer.com.

About Beckie

I'm Beckie, a fun, think-outside-the-box mama to 2 miracle children.
I love all things photography, and being able to share in this art with others!
www.beckiegkengle.com

Comments

  1. I love this article! Makes me want to get that light box and start photographing little things around my house (since I don’t have tangible products to sell).

    Thank you for sharing, Beckie!!

  2. Karen Wolff says:

    Thank you for sharing! I have been wanting to get a kit for food photography but I could not spend a lot of money (plus it’s only a hobby). This kit is very affordable and you prove that it works well!

  3. Marcee Rodgers says:

    I have been looking at buying an inexpensive light-box for ages, but it’s so hard to go off of reviews. I am SO glad that you wrote this article and included a link to this box because now I have a trusted source an feel comfortable making the purchase:)

  4. How neat! And those are some really cool nail polishes! I love the shot with the starfish and seashells, very creative! I bet the nail polish maker LOVES the pictures you take for her!

  5. I am trying to be expert in this area and feeling interest for jewellery photography.

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