I need some assistance in product photography!

[Dinah]

Hello,
My name is Dinah-Lee. I am starting a small business really soon making candles and soaps and I would like to learn to take my own web photos. I know I wouldn't become a professional overnight but I would like someone who can point me in the right direction. I am looking into buying the Cannon T2i camera. I want to know what should I know about taking great product photos? I know natural lighting is best and a white background would give a clean crisp picture. But what else is essential for me to know, and what resources can you share so I can learn them. My business means so much to me and I know taking great pictures of my beautiful products can make all the difference. Any advice will be greatly appreciated!

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

The book, "Light, Science, Magic", is geared towards product photography, and teaches you to work with light.

Natural light (ambient light) isn't necessarily best. The best light is light that you can control.

 

[Dinah]

Ok thank-you very much Bitter Jeweler!!! And yes that makes sense! So how would you go about getting that kind of light? Light Bulbs?

 

[TonysTouch]

Experiment. Don't get stuck with the idea of one thing, like a white background or natural lighting. Try a dark background with the candles lit and anything you can think of. Do a search for product photography tips. Research and practice is the key. As for the camera, the T2i should do just fine. Since it is web photo you don't have to worry about extremely high resolution.

Product photos fall under marketing and advertisement, so creativity is extremely important. Just try not to overdo it.

 

[Dinah]

Thanks Tony! Creativity is something I definitively don't lack just looking for basics things I should know!

 

[TonysTouch]

For lightbulbs, I would look at fluorescent and LED, whatever fit your budget. These are nice because they can be daylight balanced, don't get blistering hot, and use little energy.

 

[KmH]

It takes professional product photographers 2 to 3 years to become competent at the specialty, assuming they are know how to do general photography.

Since you will be shooting the same products over and over, with a concerted effort you could do it in 1/2 the time.

Adding light is important, but so is subtracting light, and the reflective properties of your products will have to be considered.
Also important, for a starting a business perspective, is what will you use as product photos to promote the products you make, until you learn how to make product photos?

I wonder how much you have budgeted ($$$$'s) to set up for making your own professional grade product photography?

The good news is your products don't move, so you can use long enough shutter speeds to use constant lighting instead of strobed lighting. With the longer shutter speeds constant lighting allows you will however need a good set of tripod legs and a good tripod head, or better yet, a camera stand.

In addition to the camera, quality lens, and lights, you'll also need light stands, light modifiers, reflectors, flags, scrims, etc. Some of that stuff you can make yourself.

 

[bjon79]

Hi Dinah
Wish I were near enough to show you the way. I did a candle job once and created a white background with a sweep created with a white poster board. Raised the candles up off the sweep by placing them on a small block not visible in viewfinder. This created a shadow under the candles making them appear to float on white. Best wishes and please email me the results. ohn McKay Pond House Photography [email protected]

 

[travpaint]

Dinah,

I thought I would share my own story because I thought it might be insightful and encouraging.

I started product photography about 5 years ago. I was basically thrown into it by my boss who thought I could take all the company photos since I had a DSLR. We needed to use the photos for submitting to Walmart, Target, etc. It took me a few months of researching forums and watching videos just to get some usable photos for e-commerce. The first thing I bought other than my camera and photoshop was a light tent. I thought it would solve all my problems.... Needless to say it did not. Although the photos I took with the light tent were usable....they just weren't quit the quality I was looking for.

Since then I have been on a quest to constantly improve my product photography, and I have had a few "Aaaa ha!" moments that I thought I would shae for what it is worth.

My first "Aaaa ha!" moment was discovering lynda.com. I learned a ton about photoshop and lightroom. She also has some video courses about product photography and using your Camera.

Back to buying stuff.... The second thing I bought was a tripod which allowed me to lower my ISO and shutter speed in return producing less noise and much sharper images. This was also another "Aaaa ha!" moment.

From there it just kept getting better....

I ditched my light tent and never looked back! I bought a cheep large piece of white Masonite board and put it on top of a table... Then taped a large white poster to the back and then swooping up and attached it to an old background stand I have laying around. For light I used the office fluorescent lighting in combination with the two lights that came with my light tent, which had the same temperature as the office lights. Many times I actually only use one of these lights in combination with white and black foam core which allowed me to get creative and really control the light for the first time.

I started shooting raw photos... Which again was huuuge for me! Shooting raw allows you to bring back blown out highlights or bring back shadows in very dark areas. You can also quickly adjust your white balance, sharpen photos and so much more. Probably the best thing about working with photoshop camera raw is... It allows you to sinc all the adjustments you have made to one photo and then apply them to any other photos that you want. Basically if you are shooting in manual mode and dont adjust your camera settings from one product to the next you can quickly make adjustments to all your photos from a click of a button. Talk about a huge time saver.

Untill you have more money to buy a multiple light setup that you can adjust the power settings I would not try to get a clean white background straight out of the camera. All you will end up with is blown out whites and other exposure problems.

The easiest process with the least amount of hiccups is (until you have more lights) is to shoot raw, make your tonal and color adjustments in photoshop camera raw, then export a high res jpeg or tiff, then open in photoshop and cut out the background using the pen tool (if your object is not furry etc.) after that I usually add some more adjustments or highlights, basically enhance the product (watch lynda videos if you don't know much about photoshop yet). Then save as psd and I would recommend never getting rid of your psd files because they always come in handy later, also would make your adjustments on separate layers and not on the original photo so you have a trail back to your original photo. It also helps as a learning experience for the future.

Once you have mastered all the basics I would then recommend a strobe setup. Paul c. Bluff Einstein lights have worked very well for me in the last 1 1/2 years.

A few other things that help the quality of the photo is:

-a good lens! I personally like to use canon L series lenses....specifically the 24-70 and 2.8 70-200 is2. However these are very expensive and although will improve the quality...but are minor things compared to mastering all the basics.

-Quality monitor (I use apple)

-monitor calibrating and profiling. ( I use colormunki)

Also one more thing depending on the lens and size of product....but try not zoom all the way out and get as close as you can because it will distort your product. For example I stand about 7 feet from the product (product is about 1-2foot tall) and I try too keep my 70-200 ad mid zoom range around 135 or so. This will give less product distortion....unless of course you are trying to get that effect.

If you don't have photoshop I would recommend purchasing that first with your camera, tripod, foam core, Masonite board.

Hope all this helps.... Its basically what I would tell myself five years ago if I could go back in time.


-Trav

 

[molested_cow]

For what you need, you don't need a DSLR to do the job. I've used Canon G2, G5 and G10 to take more than decent product shots before. They are not for commercial purpose, just documentation.

What you will need is white setting and a tripod. When I didn't have access to a studio, I will take the shoot outside. Best is if the day is cloudy. If not, you can get yourself a light diffuser or something to soften the light. Again, set up a white setting. The bad thing about being outside is wind. Also, if you are shooting shiny objects, there will be reflections that you don't want. For this (indoor or outdoor), you can prepare white and black objects to place in the setting to create reflections that you want.

Obviously, feel free to buy a DSLR, certainly doesn't hurt. For lens, I'd recommend a macro lens for the size of objects you will be shooting. Sure you don't need the super details, but it gives you the flexibility when you want some nice detail shots.

For candles, if you are shooting lit candles, a darker setting will be preferred. I mean... that's really obvious. For that you will definitely need a tripod.

Lastly, you need photoshop and skills to clean the image up. If you are looking for those super white background type of shots, photoshop is what you need. Otherwise, it's not always easy to get that perfect shot just through the camera.