Getting good lighting is probably the hardest and most important part when doing product photography.
When shooting product photography, you want to have the perfect set-up for high-quality images. You’ll need to make sure you choose a good background and maybe add reflectors to avoid unwanted shadows and you’ll also need to adjust your camera settings. Here are 3 tips that will help you get that perfect lighting:
- Natural light
Natural lighting is a cheap way to achieve great lighting without having to purchase photography equipment. You want to shoot when the light is bright but it’s important not to have direct sunlight on the products. Direct sunlight will cause overexposure with unwanted shadows. Shooting on a cloudy day will create a more natural look with even light, which is what you’re looking for.
- Background choice
Your background should always be white for best results. White reflects light better than any other color which helps you achieve more evenly distributed light. For smaller products, you can use a plain white board as a backdrop. For best results, the board should be slightly curved for a seamless background. It’s also important to secure the background with clamps or tape to prevent any changes in the lighting set up.
- Reflectors
Now that you have your space set up in front of a window with a white background, you may need reflectors to avoid unwanted shadows. You can purchase a reflector on amazon or even use a white foam board to reflect light. Place your reflector on the side where you see the most shadows on your products.
Keep in mind that the lighting requirements are different depending on which type of products you want to photograph. Altogether, you should accomplish pretty decent pictures with the few tips listed above.
