Product Photography - My Tips and Tricks

I did it! I finally got my Etsy shop back up and going....see...






Of course, one of the first tasks I had to tackle was product photography. With the rebranding came new products, and therefor new pictures. I am by no means an expert in product photography, I'm sure you can look at my images and tell that, but I have picked up some tips and tricks along the way that you may find useful.

Now.. I may get stoned for admitting this, but I don't use a fancy pants camera for my product photos. I have one, but today's cell phones are so fancy schmancy that the images from my phone are just as good as the ones from my camera, and it makes social media so much easier. I have the images right there at my fingertips and can easily post to Facebook, Instagram and Twitter whenever I wish.

While I may not use a fancy pants camera I do still set-up my photography "studio" area in the same manner that I normally would. Here are my basic supplies.

• Tripod
• lighting
• backdrop
• props

Tripod

I purchased this tripod off of Amazon 

This height is perfect for jewelry and smaller items, but for clothing I needed a taller free standing tripod, so I improvised.

Now the mount part of this tripod should have screwed off and screwed onto my existing tripod. Notice I said should. It screwed off just fine, but the screwy part on my big tripod was mysteriously missing, so    zip ties to rescue... I zip tied that sucker onto my big tripod and voila... instant tripod!

Lighting

One simple word is all you need to remember for lighting...MORE. You may think you have enough light, but chances are you don't.

I have two of these.

They each have 150 watt natural light bulbs. The natural light is important, ordinary light bulbs give a yellow tint to everything, but with a natural light bulb you get white light, which is what you need for good photos. I really need two more of these, but I just haven't bought them yet.

In addition I have approximately four other lamps and lights that use that each have 60 watt natural light bulbs in them.... and I could still use more!

Backdrop

Your photo backdrop can be as simple, or as complex as you would like it to be. I typically try to keep one wall in my house free of any furniture or wall hangings so I can have a designated photo area. For the time being I am using my awesome silver polka dot dining room wall.

You may choose to just use a wall, or you can easily hang a sheet, paper or cloth wherever you please to create an instant backdrop.

Props

Depending on what kind of products you sell will depend on what kind of props you need. Since I sell clothing, jewelry and accessories I need obviously needed some sort of mannequin/dress form and a jewelry display.

For jewelry displays you can often whip something up using items from the around the house. 

Just drape some cloth, lace, etc, over a wine glass, or any glass and you have an instant earring display. 

Hope your still with me, because this is just the beginning. Check back for my next installment in the product photography series. but until then here are some more tips and tricks for product photography.