Ensure your products are showcased in bright and crisp lighting for any kind of marketing, e-commerce or promotional purpose. In this blog post, we’re going to give you our top tricks and tips to get the best out of your product photography.
What is product photography?
Product photography allows you to showcase your business’ products across a range of promotional mediums. There are a number of ways that you can take photographs of your products, but the key is to ensure that your products are front and centre in the image to clearly represent it.
Why is proper lighting important in product photography?
Proper lighting plays a crucial role in taking good product photography. Lighting can impact the overall quality of your images, and as a result how your products are presented. With bright and high-quality lighting, you’ll be able to enhance the details of your product.
By taking professional images that clearly convey the product's intended purpose, you’ll make them more visually appealing to customers. To decide on what lighting will work you’ll need to consider a number of factors.
Key factors to consider when setting up lighting for product photography
For professional quality images, there are a number of factors to consider in what lighting will work best for your products. For more on lighting tips, check out our blog posts Beginner Camera Lighting Tips and Flash Photography.
- Positioning lights: adjusting the angles and distance between the lights and products will change the way you highlight your products.
- Controlling intensity: the brightness of the lights will create a different exposure, ultimately changing the quality of the images.
- Lighting environment: by creating a consistent space across the products to maintain the same style across all product images.
Essential equipment and tools for product photography lighting
Product photography can benefit from a wide range of lighting equipment to enhance your products. You don’t need a whole professional studio to capture great images, but a few key tools will help dramatically improve the lighting in your images. Check out our top picks below.
- Studio lights: with professional lights, you can create consistency across your images. Explore strobes or continuous lights
- Reflectors: bounce and change the position of the light with a reflector to create highlights, shadows or enhance the details. The colour of the reflectors can also add softer or harsher light to adjust the mood in the images.
- Diffusers: change the harshness of the light with the ability to scatter it, making it softer and reducing sharp highlights or shadows.
- Umbrellas: another way to create softer light is by utilising umbrellas or other light modifiers. They will give you the ability to create a more flattering illumination.
Can natural light be utilised in product photography?
Natural lighting is a great option to provide soft and warm light. There are a number of ways that you can effectively incorporate natural lighting into product photography. Firstly, the time of day will affect how soft the light is. Try to shoot in the early evening or before the sun sets for a warmer light. Shooting indoors near a window can also help provide a softened look. It can be tricky to get consistent natural lighting as the sun moves. You can help counter this by using diffusers, reflectors or curtains to manipulate the light.
What are the different artificial lighting options for product photography?
There is a range of different artificial lighting options to help you take product photography. With artificial lighting, you have far more control over how your products are lit up. Check out our article Alternatives to Camera Flash in the Camera House blog.
- Continuous lighting: great for beginners, continuous lights will stay on throughout your entire shoot. They allow you to see exactly how the product lighting will look before you start shooting.
- Strobe lights: producing a powerful flash of light, strobe lights are great for capturing crisp and well-lit product images.
- LED panels: as an energy-efficient lighting solution, they produce consistent light that will allow you to get consistent shots for every product you shoot.
What are some common mistakes to avoid when working with product photography lighting?
Lighting can be really tricky to get right, especially when you’re first starting out. It's important to practice and try a few different things to see what works.
- Overexposure: too much light can wash out the details of the product which is crucial to capturing an appealing image.
- Harsh shadows: when lights aren’t positioned correctly, the shadows or highlights on the image can appear too intense. You can ease these features with diffusers to help create balance.
- Improper colour balance: using the wrong camera settings can distort the colours in the image and misrepresent the product. Experiment with the white balance to ensure that your product looks correct in the photo.
To learn more about common mistakes you can explore our articles Learn in a Flash and How to Use White Balance on the blog.
Shop lighting equipment for product photography at Camera House
Take advantage of Camera House’s knowledgeable staff in-store and online and ask them which lighting equipment is right for you! Check out our shipping information online and enjoy flat-rate delivery Australia-wide, or check out our store locator to visit a Camera House store near you.
