Taking product photography is not just about pressing the shutter button. What else do you need?
Paraphrasing the words of a well-known song, we can say that: “to photograph anyone can, a little better or a little worse”.
What is needed for product photography?
Creating the perfect product photo is not just about preparing the product, choosing a frame and pressing the shutter button. Photographic equipment, lens, lighting, background and photo editing software, among others, are also extremely important.
Camera or smartphone
As you already know from our previous posts https://marszalstudio.pl/smartfon-kontra-profesjonalny-aparat, you can take product photos with both a professional camera and a smartphone. The first option will work best, because by using the camera you will get much better quality and plasticity of the image. This choice, however, carries with it requirements for knowing how to use such equipment, as well as much higher costs. So if you’re a budding entrepreneur, without huge advertising budgets, creating photos for social media, go ahead and take photos with your phone.
Product photography lens
Deciding to use a camera? Pay attention to its lens! In product photography, the use of wide-angle lenses, which seem to be attractive because of their ability to capture a wide plan, is discouraged. Their dark side, however, is that they distort perspective in closer shots, which can make the photographed product look unattractive. And after all, that’s not the point!
A safe option would be a standard lens, which is said to best reproduce how the human eye sees. For full-frame cameras, this will be a 50mm lens. Long-focus lenses, such as 70mm, 85mm or 105mm, will also work well for product photography.
Adequate lighting
Lighting is extremely important. Soft light that does not produce harsh shadows may be appropriate. You can shoot in daylight or artificial light, flash or steady light. We wrote about how to create product photos in daylight in a previous article ➡ https://marszalstudio.pl/jak-fotografowac-produkty-w-naturalnym-swietle/, so here we will zoom in on the subject of artificial light.
A professional product photographer will rely on studio lights, with steady or flash light, diffused and softened through a softbox. Many also use LED lights. A solution you can use at home to create packshots is a shadowless tent complete with led strips. Using it is very easy, plus it does not take up much space.
Background for product photography
Although we have already devoted an entire article to product photography backgrounds ➡ https://marszalstudio.pl/jakie-tlo-do-fotografii-produktowej-wybrac/ it is impossible not to mention them in this overview. Their selection in the process of preparing product photos is also extremely important. If you make packshots bet on a white background (even a piece of bristol will work great at home!). If, on the other hand, you are creating product arrangements choose the type and color of the background paying attention to the nature of the product. For beauty photos, elegant stones can work, the solution for culinary photos can be wood, for example.
Post-production software
As they say, last but not least in this list is a photo editing program. To make the product look perfect, retouching is necessary. Photographers usually make it in Photoshop. However, working on layers for many can be a challenge, so for beginners we suggest looking out for apps that, with the support of artificial intelligence, automatically remove the background. We have outlined a few of them in a recent article ➡ https://marszalstudio.pl/zdjecia-na-bialym-tle-aplikacje-ai/.
Taking product photos
As you can see, creating the perfect product photos is a process in which a number of elements need to be taken care of, starting with equipment and ending with editing software. You can go on this product photography adventure on your own, or you can outsource it to a professional. At Marshal, we will take care of everything from A to Z, and the results will surely delight you.
