Amazon quality background..

[NancyMoranG]

My son is setting up sales on Amazon. They have the completely white background 'law' for lack of better wording.
Son thought I could help, silly boy...product stuff is not my forte or even in my dictionary.

Looking into photographer but anyone done this type for Amazon and any tips? He is selling gun accessories like scopes, grips, flashlights...NO guns!
Thanks all.

 

[Piccell]

Lay it on a white foam core board and shoot the pic.

 

[Dave442]

Amazon has a patent on how they do their product photography shots. Just don't use an 85mm lens and you should be good to go and not be in violation.

 

[tirediron]

Lay it on a white foam core board and shoot the pic.

Not really going to produce ideal results.

The big question is: What does he have for gear, and what, if anything is he willing to purchase? My suggestion for this sort of thing would be 4-5 inexpensive (Yongnuo or equivalent) speeedlights with a GN of 100+, a few small (<36") shoot-through umbrellas, light stands, umbrella brackets & triggers and a role of white seamless. Altogether, that should run about $750 or less.

Set up a raised shooting table covered in white seamless, create a sweep with the seamless behind the table (ideally 2-3' or more). Use one light behind the table to illuminate the background to the same (more or less) exposure as the product, and use the remaining lights to provide flat, even light on the product.

 

[Piccell]

I don't think people are buying for the picture. I have even used stock photos of the item from the manufacturer to sell on Amazon.
I definitely would not spend a lot of money to sell things there.

 

[NancyMoranG]

Thanks for suggestions so far, open to any others..

 

[Dave442]

For simple product shots with a white background I have used two pieces of laminated white foam-core that are just the back-side of a couple old mounted photos. One is placed vertical and about two feet behind the object and the other is horizontal with the object set on top. I have a large room with tall corner windows so I have light almost from above and the side and use some reflectors to fill in on the object (cheap but daytime only).

Sometimes I can just touch up in LightRoom, other times I may open in PhotoShop to make sure all the background is white and do a bit of dodge and burn on the object.

The white background is usually the majority of the image so I add a couple stops to get that white and to lighten the usually dark object. I'll take a few bracketed shots then load those in LightRoom to see what is the best exposure before proceeding in taking shots of a half dozen items in different positions.

Sometimes I may have something holding the object in a certain way and also have to remove that in PhotoShop. I always have the camera on a tripod for this and use the self timer set at two seconds, and the mirror up if you have that option. Or use a remote release.

Of course if you are going to end up doing this on a continuing basis then best to look into investing in some lighting as Tirediron mentioned above or what is on some of the other product photography threads here.

 

[KmH]

I have even used stock photos of the item from the manufacturer to sell on Amazon.

If one were to contemplate doing the same, just be aware that you could be exposing yourself to a copyright infringement law suit if you haven't obtained written permission from the copyright owner(s) to use their stock photo for your commercial purpose.