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Ecommerce Glossary

Softbox, diffused light, beauty dish and shooting table

Updated: 14 October 2026

A softbox is a light modifier that turns a small, harsh lamp into a large source of soft, diffused light. This page also explains diffused light, the beauty dish, shadowless photography and the shooting table, and how each of them changes a product photo.

Diffused light

Diffused light is light that reaches the subject from many directions at once, because it has passed through a scattering material or bounced off a large, matte surface. It gives shadows soft, blurred edges and a smooth gradient from the lit side of a product to the dark side.

Whether light is soft or hard depends mostly on the size of the source, its distance from the subject and how much diffusion sits in front of it. The sun is huge, but so far away that it appears as a small disc in the sky and casts crisp shadows. On an overcast day the whole layer of cloud becomes the source, which makes it nature's own softbox.

Linen bag with dried leaves hanging on a pale wall in soft light

Where diffused light comes from

A diffuser in front of the light - a softbox, a frame with diffusion fabric, tracing paper or a white net curtain over a window. The light passes through the material and leaves it in many directions.
A bounce off a matte surface - a white reflector, a wall or the ceiling. Matte paint and paper reflect light diffusely, scattering it at many angles rather than one.
Daylight without direct sun - an overcast sky, or a window that the sun is not shining straight through.

Why it matters for product photos

Diffused light shows a product's shape and colour without black holes in the shadows or burnt-out spots on glossy surfaces. A bottle, a lacquered box or a metal cap reflects the light source itself. A small source leaves a tiny, hard highlight, while a large one lays down a broad, gentle highlight that describes the form.

Distance cuts both ways. The closer a large source sits, the softer the light, but the faster it fades towards the back of the set: under the inverse-square law, doubling the distance leaves only a quarter of the light. With the lamp right next to the product, the front comes out bright and the back and background noticeably darker.

Common mistakes

Source too far away. From a distance even a big softbox turns into a small source and the shadows harden.
Confusing diffused with shadowless. The shadows stay; only their edges soften. Completely flat light wipes out the texture of fabric and embossing.
Diffusing everything. Hard light has its place: an organicshot at marszalstudio is deliberately shot on a coloured background, with the feel of sunlight and a crisp shadow.

If you would rather receive finished images with even, soft light and clean white around the product, order packshots on a white background. A packshot costs from €9 net without retouching and €18 net with retouching.

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Softbox

A softbox is a light modifier: a closed fabric box fitted over a flash or continuous light. The lamp fires into a reflective interior and the light can only escape through a white diffuser at the front, so a small, harsh source becomes a large source of diffused light.

What a softbox is made of

Speed ring - the mount that joins the softbox to the light. Mounts differ between brands; Bowens is a common one, used for example across Godox's studio softbox range.
Rods - flexible wire or fibreglass spokes slotted into the speed ring, which tension the fabric like the ribs of an umbrella.
Shell - black on the outside so no light spills from the sides; silver, white or gold on the inside to bounce it forwards.
Inner baffle - a second layer of diffusion fabric inside the box, usually found on larger models. It evens out the light so the centre is not hotter than the edges.
Front diffuser - the white panel across the face of the box and the last diffusing layer.
Grid - an optional fabric honeycomb (egg crate) that narrows the beam and cuts down spill.

The larger the softbox, the softer the light and the less defined the shadows; step down in size and the shadows get harder. A grid makes the light more directional, so it is easier to light the product without brightening the background at the same time.

Shapes and sizes

With products, the shape of a softbox matters more than with portraits, because any glossy surface mirrors it. The sizes below come from Godox's Bowens-mount softbox catalogue, as an example of what is typically on the market.

Shape	Example sizes	In product photography
Square and rectangular	60 × 60, 60 × 90, 90 × 90, 80 × 120 cm	key light; shows up as a rectangular highlight on bottles and gloss finishes
Strip (stripbox)	22 × 90, 35 × 160, 50 × 130 cm	long, narrow highlight along the edge of glass, metal and lacquer; rim light from the side or behind
Octagonal (octa)	95, 120, 140 cm across	broad, wrapping light on larger products and clothing; round highlight

How to place stripboxes around bottles and jars is covered in our guide to photographing glassware.

Common softbox mistakes

Softbox too far from the product. It loses what you bought it for, because from a distance it acts as a small source.
Softbox too small for the product. With shoes or a handbag, a small square gives shadows barely softer than a bare flash head.
Inner baffle left out. The centre of the box burns hotter and shows up as a bright patch on a shiny product.
Light flaring into the lens. A softbox placed behind the product shines straight into the camera and flattens contrast; a grid or a black flag between the light and the lens solves it.

Beauty dish

A beauty dish is a shallow, round reflector fitted to a light, with a deflector disc in the centre that hides the bare flash tube and throws the light back into the bowl. Its light sits between a direct flash and a softbox: directional and contrasty, but with a gentle transition at the edges of the shadows.

Typical diameters are a few tens of centimetres. Elinchrom makes 44 cm and 70 cm Softlite dishes, and the white Profoto Softlight measures 52.5 cm with a 65° spread. In Elinchrom's beauty dish test, light from the dishes fell off more abruptly than from a 70 cm octa softbox, and the author's starting point is a distance equal to the diameter of the dish.

Interior, deflector and accessories

Silver interior - punchier highlights and more contrast, but it can create hot spots on very reflective subjects.
White interior - softer, more even light with fewer hot spots and a less punchy result.
Deflector - a silver or gold disc blocks the direct light completely (gold also warms it), while frosted and translucent discs let some of it through. The 44 cm Elinchrom Softlite sold by Wex Photo Video comes with all four.
Grid - narrows the spread of light and raises shadow contrast a little.
Diffusion sock - fabric stretched over the dish that softens the highlights but widens the spread.

Beauty dish in product photography

The beauty dish is linked with portraits and beauty work, but it earns its place with products too. It helps where a large softbox looks too flat and a bare head too harsh: matte packaging with embossing, the texture of a cream, or an advertising shot where the product has to stand out sharply from the background, as in cosmetics product photography.

Take care with mirror-like objects such as chrome, polished steel or glass: they reflect the whole dish, dark disc in the middle included. For packshots of glossy products on white, a large softbox or a stripbox is usually the better tool.

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Shadowless photography

Shadowless photography is a way of lighting and editing a product shot so that the product casts no visible shadow on the surface beneath it and the background comes out uniformly white or a single flat colour. It is the standard for ecommerce packshots, catalogues and marketplace listings.

Platforms are specific about it. For the main image, Amazon's guidance on its Seller Forums asks for a pure white background (RGB 255, 255, 255), a product filling at least 85% of the frame, and no extra text, graphics or watermarks.

How a shadow-free shot is made

The background is lit separately. The backdrop gets more light than the product, so it turns white and the cast shadow disappears into it. The product itself is lit by large, diffused sources from the front and sides.
Light from below. On a shooting table, a lamp under the frosted top brightens the spot where the shadow would normally fall.
Retouching. Leftover shadow and grey tones are cleaned up in post-production. The product can also be cut out and placed on pure white; the same cut-out gives a PNG with a transparent background.

Shadowless does not mean without modelling. The shading and half-tones on the product itself have to stay, because they show its form; only the shadow cast onto the background goes. Under completely flat light a mug or a box looks like a paper cut-out.

Multitool packshot on a white background with no shadow under the product

Reflections on glossy products

A shadowless shot of glass, gloss paint or foil is often a fight with reflections as well. One method is cross polarisation: polarising film in front of the lights and a polarising filter on the lens. Rosco sells its 7300 polarising film for cutting glare from glass, water, paper and certain metallic objects, but it transmits only 38% of the light, a loss of about 1.5 stops.

How to set the filter on the lens itself is explained in our guide to polarising filters.

From the studio: at marszalstudio a standard packshot is a 2000 × 2000 px JPG on a white background. A shadow under the product is a separate add-on ("Add shadow"), as are a grey background instead of white and a transparent PNG ("Remove background"), each €3 per photo on our price list. A perfectly white background, clean edges and texture are the job of premium retouching at €9 per photo.

Shooting table

A shooting table (also called a shadowless table or still life table) is a photo table with a top made of frosted, translucent acrylic sheet that curves up from horizontal to vertical. The top can be lit from below and from behind, so no shadow stays under the product and the surface flows into the background with no visible horizon line.

Manufacturers describe the top as semi-permeable white acrylic that can be effectively illuminated, with an adjustable tilt for the upright part. For its XXL mobile shooting table, walimex pro gives a load of up to 20 kg and allows lights under the top or behind the table.

Model	Top	Height
Quadralite Photo Table S	60 cm wide, up to 130 cm long	60 cm
Quadralite Photo Table L	100 cm wide, up to 150 cm long	70 cm
Falcon Eyes ST-1020A	100 × 200 cm	62.5-100 cm, adjustable

A small table is enough for jewellery, cosmetics and small electronics, while a larger one suits shoes or handbags. For furniture and bulky items a table is no use: a white paper roll is pulled all the way down onto the floor instead.

White paper backdrop rolled out between two studio lights

How to light a shooting table

A lamp under the top or behind the table lights up the acrylic and removes the shadow under the product.
A softbox in front or overhead lights the product itself, and a second one at the side or a white reflector fills in the shadows on its form.
The backlight is set so the background is white but no brighter than it needs to be. An over-lit top eats into the edges of the product and lowers the contrast.

Common shooting table mistakes

Scratches and dust on the acrylic. A lit top shows every scratch, so keep it clean and never slide products across it dry.
Too tight a bend. A sharp kink in the curve shows up in the photo as a line or a change in background brightness.
The top reflecting in the product. The glossy base of a bottle or the lacquered underside of a box mirrors the bright sheet, so allow for it when placing the lights.

A cheaper alternative is a light tent, sold as a light box: a folding cube of diffusion fabric that works well for small items, but has no light from below and leaves less freedom in placing the lights. We compare both approaches in our guide to light box photography, and kit for working at home in your home studio for product photography.

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Softbox, beauty dish or shooting table: which to choose

Choosing a light modifier comes down to whether the product is matte or glossy, and whether you need a clean packshot or a shot with character. The table below sums up the sections on this page.

Tool	Light	Best for	Watch out for
Rectangular softbox	soft, even	packshots on white, clothing, most products	moved too far away, it gives harder shadows
Stripbox	soft, narrow	edges and highlights on glass, metal and lacquer	narrow beam, usually used in pairs
Beauty dish	directional, contrasty	texture, advertising shots, cosmetics	dark centre disc reflected in mirror-like surfaces
Shooting table	lit from below	small and mid-sized products with no shadow	scratches, dust, the top reflecting in the product
Light tent	diffused from several sides	small items, working at home	little freedom in placing the lights

Two tall strip softboxes lighting a grey studio backdrop from both sides

If you would rather not build a kit, you can hand the shoot over. You order in the app and send the products by courier to our studio in Warsaw. During the live session, which is included in the price, you see every frame as it is taken, approve it or flag it for correction, and mark a distracting reflection with a brush or a pin. Details: how to order product photography.

Frequently asked questions

What does diffused light mean?

It is light that reaches the subject from many directions, because it has passed through a diffuser or bounced off a large, matte surface. It gives soft shadows without hard edges. Nature makes it under an overcast sky; in a studio it usually comes from a softbox.

What is a softbox used for?

A softbox turns a small, harsh source such as a flash or continuous light into a large, soft one. It is used in portraits, video and product photography whenever shadows should be gentle and highlights on shiny surfaces broad and even.

What size softbox do I need for product photography?

Choose a softbox clearly larger than the product and place it close, because the bigger the source relative to the product, the softer the light. A rectangular box works as the key light, and a narrow stripbox helps with bottles and glossy packaging.

Softbox or umbrella: which is better for product photos?

A softbox encloses the lamp in a box with a black shell and lets light out only through the front diffuser, so it is easier to aim at the product. An umbrella bounces light off its inner surface and spreads it more widely. For product work a softbox is usually more practical.

Beauty dish or softbox?

A beauty dish gives more directional, contrasty light that falls off faster, while a softbox gives soft, even light. Packshots on white are usually lit with softboxes; a beauty dish suits portraits, beauty work and advertising shots that need more texture.

What is the difference between a shooting table and a light tent?

A shooting table has a rigid, frosted acrylic top that can be lit from below and leaves plenty of room for lights. A light tent is a folding cube of diffusion fabric: cheaper and smaller, but with no light from below and less freedom in placing the lights.

How do you take product photos without shadows?

Light a white background more brightly than the product and aim a large, diffused source at the product itself. A shooting table or light tent makes it easier but is not essential. Any leftover shadow is removed in retouching, or the product is cut out to a transparent PNG.

How do you get rid of shadows in a photo?

In an editor such as Photoshop or GIMP, a shadow on a plain background is cleaned up with the clone stamp, healing tools or adjustment layers with masks. Leave the shading on the product itself untouched, otherwise it will look flat and pasted in.