Lesson task 1.1

This week I had to draw up a list of the most important aspects of a product photograph. I had to mention at least five things referring to shadows, lighting, quality, ISO and editing. Here is my answer:

Lighting

Lighting is the most critical aspect. A great product photography has very soft lighting to avoid harsh shadows. To get soft lighting you can use a professional light tent or infinity curve table lit with softboxes or go for a cheaper DIY method and built your own tent using storage boxes and reading lamps.

Where to place the lights to achieve good lighting depends on the texture of the object. The guide from this week lesson was a helpful starting point for me as a newbie in photography:

Shiny objects on the other hand are tricky to light. In addition to reflecting light they also reflect their surroundings. How to photograph shiny objects:

• Avoid using the camera’s built-in flash. Use a continuous light source to see your adjustments and see the impact on reflections.
• Use a diffusor which spreads the light source across the surface and creating a larger and softer light. This can be a diffusor sheet placed in front of a light or a softbox.
• Photograph in a room with white walls to avoid reflection on the object.
• Place the camera at the same angle and position as your light, but on the opposite side of the object. This is to reduce reflections of the surroundings by replacing them with reflections of the light.

Camera tips

• A tripod is a helpful tool if you are planning a fair amount of product photography.
• If you are using a light tent, place your object in the middle and adjust the lamps until you don’t see any harsh shadows.
• Use manual mode to keep full control
• Choose lowest ISO value, max 100 to reduce grain
• White balance sunny is the most natural color temperature
• Set shutter speed to 1/8 or above
• For best result position the camera at the same height as the object or slightly above it. Position the camera so you can see the entire product through the viewfinder and make sure the object is centered with some whitespace around it.

Editing

It’s best to only do editing that is really necessary such as cropping the image, cleaning up undesirable marks using the healing tool, sharpening a bit and adjusting levels.