I saw a great tutorial in Stefan’s site (you can get the link in my favorites).He have been shooting products (hand made great looking funny dolls ).Stefan uses a professional studio and pro flashes for his work and you can see the diargrams of some of his studio sessions in his blog. I this piece I tried to get as close to his job, using small of camera flashes for this product photography. So get in and learn how to do it on the budget!

This is the list of things I used in this section:

• Products to photograph.
• Black metallic platform ,I use in this site an IKEA magnetic dashboard, but you can improvise with almost everything.
• Two of camera flash units.
• DIY gel filter holder and some gels.
• DIY grid for small flashes.
• Camera.
• Good attitude!

Let see the setup:

Sorry for it being a little dark, but you can see is that:

• On tripod there is a flash (canon 550EX) with my DIY grid for small flash on a tripod aimed at the product I have to take picture of, set to 1/4 power.
• On the floor beneath the black metallic platform I had a Canon 580EXII with my DIY gel filter holder with some colored gels, set to a narrow light using the 105mm manual zoom .power 1/4.
• You can add a small white reflector to control the image contrast (setup right side).
• Camera: Canon 40D  f/7.1, Iso  200, 1/125 sec.

Yep that simple as that!

Here are some more photos I took with that simple setup!

Tips:

1. You can see in some of the pictures that the background looks different,that because I changed the manual zoom settings to wider than 105mm.Try to experience the background changes by controlling the flash zoom in and out.
2. You could change the gelled flash output power so you’ll get a brighter or darker background.
3. Change once in a while the gels filters and find out what color suits you best.

If you have other tips or want to show as your own examples,please share!!!

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Great product photographs in no time and priceless look,this is what you are going to learn in this tutorial!

If you are not familiar with part I of this tutorial take a look in this link amazing product photography where you’ll get an idea about how I did  that setup and the basic two light posing atrategies I talked about .

In part II of amazing product photography using  the DIY small softbox (based on a  shoe box)  will cover another two light setups for some differnt effect,so lets see what its all about.

This is one of the shots you’ll  get in this tutorial,so get in read and DIY!

product photography setup 1:

sorry if that picture looks bad,I can use some of the light setup drawing sites on the net but then you guy won’t get the feeling how easy and simple that photo setup is.

The light on the right is fixed during all the time on about 1/8 of full power.In this setup we canged again the location of the secondery light on the left side.I acctually hand help the soft box up about 45 degrees from the product (Canon 30D).This is the result of this amazingly simple setup:

As you may guess you got more details out of the left – top side of the camera body.If you’ll continue to develop this setup ,I suggest you power up a little the left handheld light to get mpre details from the camera left body,back this image has its unique look just as is.

product photography setup 2:

For the second light setup in this part II of the tutorial,I shut down the left light and let the light come inly from the right side of the camera.Here is how the setup looks now:

This is a very easy and maybe the most basic one light setup ever.In this setup I created a miisterius look to the camera.Here are some vareation of that that setup,as the only changes made between avery shoot is rotating the camera,take a look:

and the last one

So I believe that you got the idea on how easy it to take very good product photographs with  the most simple equipment (is you can call the shoe box equipment)…

Please  comment here so I can get the idea on what to improve in my site!

ENJOY!!!

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If you want to know how to do this easy 1$ (if you have the off camera flashes) dig in there are some examples and outcomes that you wouldn’t imagine how easy it is to do it!!!

For the bset use of this tutorial you should also read the post on how I made those two easy shoe box soft box for portable flashes (DIY small softbox).

So lets start:About the product photography setup-background and surface :I use a black magnet board as the surface the benefits of it are that you can actually use your studio stuff for other uses,I simple take it when I shoot the products.The black background in this case is a bristol black sheet paper glued to the wall/cupboard.This setup will take you about 5 minutes to build.The second step is to setup the flash in their softboxes.I use the main light at the right side of the product photography object (the canon 30D) I usually start on 1/4 of full power (Canon 550EX),the second shadow light is the Canon 580EX that is set at the begging of the shootout on 1/16 of full power and might be stepped up to 1/8 of full power.The last thing is setting the camera,almost always I start at f 1/7.1 , 1/160sec iso 200.Those settings will “kill” all the ambient light in the room and let the flashes rule!

So lets summerise it:

• right flash=main light 1/4 full power.
• Left flash=secondary light 1/16-1/8 full power.
• Camera : f1/7.1,1/60 sec , ISO 200.

Now lets see what can we produce here!

Product photography setup no.1:

This setup used me for the cover shot on this product photography tutorial.Its one of hte most simple and basic product photography setups available.The main light lights the product photographed,while the second one light from behind with lower power and lights the product  curves and lines.This is how I did it:

Product photography setup no.2:

Here we moved the back fill light from setup number one to the front of the product photography object.The effect is different as you can get more details from the front left side of the camera and also maintain the right side domination.Here is the setup used:

Two examples are  given for this product photography setup.

For the image above we used the left fill flash on 1/16 of full power.In this case we got much more details on the front left side of the camera and the lens text in the front left side is suddenly showing.If you try to get some details out you’ll also see the top three operation buttons of the camera.In the image below we’ll get the fill flash a stop higher and look what we got:more details!!!

In this setup you extract even more details from the lens,more detail from the  cameras top control power(you can actually see that there are four bottons,not three as in the previous picture).

In the next post we’ll explore another two versions of that setup as we’ll move the left light little higher,and in another setup will use only one light to get a more dramatic output.

So stay tuned for more amazing easy to use product photography tutorials and let us know if you have some questions!

Part II now published- easy product photography

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We will learn during this tutorial :

1. How to simply setup this product photography setup.
2. Setting up the only light you need for those professional shots.
3. Setting up the camera parameters aperture,shutter speed and iso and the flash power .
4. Using some card boards as reflectors,for more pro look photos.

So lets start going!

First of all how we did this extremely simple setup?

1.I have at home some old chair that I use as a table for the small products shoots.You can use any thing you see with the same dimensions – a strong carton box,table,chair or anything.As the board for the products I used a metallic billboard that I no longer use.The advantage of the metallic is obvious,It gives the photos some reflection and rough look.  I used here  a perspex board , about 40cm*40cm that I have.It will help speard the light from the flash unit in a more equal way .I put the on two boxes that I found in a drawer so there will be some margin between the product and the perspex board.

2.As you can see,I used only one flash here and I mounted it on a flash stand just behind the setup and above the perspex board.

You can see the simple product photography setup here (sorry for the picture bad quality,it was a rip from my first video tutorial for youtube.com):

3.Setting up the  camera was an easy thing,I generally start with

• iso400 (when I shoot indoor)
• shutter speed of /160sec (killing ambient light)
• aperture f/6.3 (for good depth of field)
• Flash 1/16 max power
• Camera on tripod and remote control trigger (no camera shakes as using Canon 100mm Macro)

The first two shots where taken with those settings no reflectors used:

As you can see the results are quit sharp and well exposed.No photoshop used here.But we want to give the shots some more light especially at the bottom.

4.For the extra light we used a hand held white reflector (I mainly use a cheap white foam board,as you can see in other tutorials I did here) .The results are better,the bottom side of the cucumber is brighter and you can so more details on the remote trigger as well:

Thats all for this time.If you wonder , the cucumbers are home made cucumbers that I grow in my backyard GREAT!!!

Please share your thoughts and examples here.

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This post will get you step by step for the final result: a great looking product photo.The product is on a white panel,but the background will be painted with other color that you choose.Here is a little sample of what you can get by using the simple DIY projects done in previous articles.

So lets start with the what you need list:

1. White board to use as the surface for the products you shoot-as I do in most of my product shootouts I take some foam borads and use  them for the surface and reflectors.
2. White perspex board,in case you want to get the reflections as in the picture above.
3. Two flash unit-one for the main product light,second for the colored background light.
4. White background-it could be the white wall behind the setup,so you don’t have to go and buy stuff.In this tutorial I used another white foam board,but you could also use a Bristol board as well.
5. DIY grid .
6. DIY colored gel pack  (total cost les than 2$).

Lets get going:

Follow the setup in the picture bellow-

1. Put the surface for taking the products shots on a chair.
2. The main light will be on a tripod to the left side of the product,shooting through the DIY hot shoe flash grid.
3. Put the background behind the chair about a feet away .
4. Put the second flash under the chair,cover it with the desired colored DIY gel (it will control the color of your background).
5. Starting camera settings- speed 1/160sec, f /8 , Iso 250.
6. Starting flash settings – main flash (canon speedlite 550EX through DIY grid ) 1/4 power , second flash (Canon speedlite 430EX through colored DIY gel) 1/16 power.
7. You are ready to shoot.

Some additional tips:

1. If you want to get a darker color for the background lower the flash power a little or you could also put second color gel filter.
2. To get the reflection of the product as in the main picture,use some reflective surface as white perspex board or put above the white foam board a piece of glass.

Here are some sample pictures made with this setup,as you may think there are infinite variation for your fun and games.

With reflections:

Without reflections:

Again two examples for the reflection that can be made just by adding a perspex board to the setup.

Now its your time to show as your photos and tests for such a simple setup!Link your photos in the comments section below.

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This time we are shooting a bottle of Drabuie (whom would have been already empty unless I planed to shoot it…) on a black background.

The ingredients:

1. 1 bottle of Drambuie
2. Black maple sheet or a black bristol paper (better)
3. 1 Flash
4. 1 softbox
5. white reflector – I used a white 70cm*100cm foam board.
6. Good mood – for not drinking the Drambuie

Setup the studio as you can see  in the setup pictures.Softbox at one side of the bottle a bit in front of it.I took the first shot at about ISO200,f/8 1/160sec and the flash (Canon 430EX) at about a 1/4 power.I used the Canon 100mm macro (my best advise is to get one if your shooting Canon Dslrs) .From here you should manage yourself just fine,if the picture get a little to dark power up the flash a notch and you’ll be done.

Here are two examples for this setup:

In this setup we added a white reflector to the left side of the bottle.By adding the white reflector we added some lights to that side of the bottle and not keeping it in the dark as in the second picture.As you can see the white reflector also adds some lights to the black background.

Experiment this setup and enjoy your results!

And please share your pictures with us and leave links to your work in the comments section below.

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• Two bed or reading lights(bulb should be the same type for the sake of right WB)
• White perspex board (I used here a 40*40 piece)
• Another white panel to use as a reflector (you can use a foam board).

Here are two suggested options to this type of cheap photography:

Take two minutes to put this setup:

1. The two lights on the sides.
2. The perspex between the lights.
3. If you want you can use the reflector on top of the lights.

Here are some results for this setup:

Only right light is on:

Only left light is on:

Top reflector and both lights are on:

Enjoy!Please keep in mind that those photos are not substance for hiring a pro photographer.

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Simple studio product photography setup that will get this:

You probably heard the words: “one pictures worth thausends words”…Yep today you must have good pictures of your products in order that the potential web costumer wil shop and buy in your shop!In this lesson I’ll try to show the basics of products photography and how you can do it well with almost basic equipment!

Our role model this time will be the Konica C35 film camera,who looks flewless but lacks of a battery so its days of glory are over for now (not mentioning I use the Pentax SpotMatic SP insteed).So it will be my model for lets say an online used camera  on eBay.

What you’ll learn in this tutorial:

1. Comparing On-Camera Flash to Studio Lighting(Diy softbox and off camera flash).
2. Setting Up a Main Light with the DIY softbox.
3. Adding a Fill Light (on camera flash).
4. Adjusting fill flash power.

What you’ll need:

1. The simple DIY  softbox we did here (simple DIY SoftBox)
2. One or two flash units ,I use the Canon 580EXII(master flash) and Canon 430EX(flash in my DIY soft box).
3. White backdrop.I use a mapel paper-it has some plastic feel,but its more resistant than regular paper.You could use any  big sheet of white paper.
4. White foam board that will use as the surface for the product photography.

Lets start!

If look at sites like eBay we can see many times sellers who shoot their product in a very simple and novice way.Many times you could bump into a picture that looks like the left picture.Nothing will makeup for the poor picture,as good and popular product it will be.In this tutorial will learn how to make your products look like the picture to the right.

Professional and good looking picture isn’t always a hard job!

Lets setup the main light.The main light here will be an off camera flash.It can be any brand or any quality,but it will be good if it has manual power control.You don’t have to go for the top of the range flash guns,a 20$ chineese will make the same work.

We put the flash into uor DIY Softbox covered in previouse posts on a regular camera tripod and tried to but as above the camera as we could.Thats how it looks:

Now adjust the power of the main flash to be as fine as you could get by examinig the camera histogram and taking some test photos.

On this set the main light (canon 430EX) was setup to 1/4 power.camera settings: f/18 1/160sec iso 100.Try to stick to this camera settings to get best depth of field and less blury picture.

If you this right you’ll get the following result:a nice background and the top camera will be nicely expozed.

Now it time to use the fill light flash.There are many tricks to put light into the front side of the camera.

• You could use a white reflectror panel that will bring back some of the main flash light to the camera.
• You could use another flash unit in front of the product you are shooting.
• You could also use your on camera flash.

In this case we used another flash unit.Start at a low power fill flash and get up until you see the results you expected.

Here is the process we did:top photo 1/16th power,middle photo 1/4th power bottom photo 1/2th power.

We stopped at 1/2th power as it looked good to us.

Here are the results:

There you go you have your setting,it took about 10 minutes to set it up.

Now its your time to try you ability.Share your photos  and comments with as!

Enjoy!!!

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