Friday, August 07, 2009

My top 5 tips to taking a good product picture

I am no expert...however I am often told that I take pretty good pictures for my etsy listings. Here are a few tips I have picked up along the way. (click the pictures to see a more detailed size)

1. Learn about the macro settings on your camera. If you do not have your user manual anymore you can most likely find information online. Just look up your model number and "macro settings".

Notice how the camera is trying to focus on everything in the "without"
pictures. In the "with" picture only what you want to showcase is in
focus the rest is nice and blurred. It may seem like a small difference...
but It really does make a nice photograph that is easier to look at.

2. Use as much natural light as possible. Open every window shade in the house. Or better yet, go outside!

3. Buy a large sheet of white paper. Using good lighting and white paper will give you a lit from all angles look. Take the sheet of paper and tape it to a wall or object so that the paper acts as the background and the flooring for your product with a nice curve.

You do not need a piece of paper this large, we just had this
around the house. Also, Set yours up on a table and wall to
save your back!

4. Use angles to your advantage. Extreme angle shots are a trick that even professional product photographers use. Think about shaving razor ads or cell phones, cars, even food products. Angle shots are a way to make your product look cool and larger than life. It's also a way to make something simple look artsy and a fantastic way to capture details.

5. Get to know a photo editing program. It doesn't need to cost $500 but you should find something that has the basics like contrast, cropping, and color/white balance.

This is a huge difference with just one command - Auto Levels. In
Photoshop thats - shift+command+L. Seriously thats all I did!

A few notes:
I recently started using a mannequin which has completely altered the way I photograph and edit my products. Be ready to try different things each step of the way. For example if you make white products, try shooting on a shiny black surface instead. Also, to safe yourself time and headache, make sure everything is clean. Your surface and your product should be dust free, hot glue stringy free and so on That stuff DOES show up when you use your macro settings.

I hope this helps!

Teneisha a.k.a. 10eisha

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3 comments:

  1. I love this and needed it.. thanks, im going to be redoing all my photos someday soon, i hope! i will book mark this post

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  2. I can trade services with you when we do the modeling thing. I will bring some paper up and we can do it all in one shabang!

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