Upgrade Your Product Photography Lighting Setup: Top 5 Tips to Enhance Your Shots
Product photography is crucial to the success of online sales. A high-quality product image has the power to entice customers and make them eager to buy. However, achieving the perfect shot requires the use of proper techniques.
Lighting is a major component of product photography that can greatly enhance the appeal of a product. However, achieving optimal lighting in product photography can be challenging. It involves more than simply illuminating the product with a light source; a combination of factors is required to make the product stand out.
There are several types of product photography lighting setups that are commonly used, including the key light, fill lights and backlight. The key light is the primary light source and is usually positioned in front of the product but off to the side of the camera. It enhances the overall visibility and image resolution of the product. Fill lights are secondary lights with a low intensity that help create even lighting around the product. Backlights are positioned behind the product to provide a better definition of the product image.
It’s essential to have good lighting in product photography to showcase the product’s features accurately. Different product photography lighting techniques can be employed to enhance the images of products. Let’s explore these techniques in more detail.
What difference is made by good lighting?
Selecting an appropriate lighting setup is essential for achieving professional quality product photography. Whether using natural or artificial light sources, the quality and placement of the lighting play a significant role in determining the final image’s tone, clarity, and emotional impact.
Photographers must position their equipment to highlight the product’s features and make it visually appealing to potential customers. By experimenting with angles and curves, photographers can optimize their lighting approach for each product.
Different types of light, such as hard or soft light, can be used depending on the desired effect. Additionally, the use of light patterns, such as continuous or synchronized lighting, is also critical for achieving optimal results in product photography.
5 Tips to Create Tips and Tricks for good lighting setup
Here are five valuable tips and tricks for creating the optimal lighting setup for product photography:
1. Be creative and incorporate uncomplicated props to enhance your lighting
A professional product photography setup is not always necessary for sellers. With a few straightforward techniques, sellers can improve their lighting and capture better product images. For instance, if a diffuser is unavailable, a white sheet or plasterboard can serve as a substitute. To create a cost-effective setup, a standard lamp with a tungsten bulb can be utilized, with a white sheet covering the tip to diffuse the light around the product. For stable shots, the camera can be mounted on a tripod, and a plain wall or white paper can be clamped in the background to produce professional-looking results.
2. Arrange the studio lights correctly
To achieve desired results, different categories of studio lights can be utilized in product photography. Three primary types of studio lights used in product photography are:
- Fluorescent Lights: These energy-efficient lights are low-output and usually range from 60–100 watts. They are affordable and widely available, but may sometimes cause an undesired tint in the image.
- LEDs: These lights consist of multiple small light-emitting diodes, making them last longer and produce less heat. They are also energy-efficient and can be used for extended periods.
- Tungsten Light: This type of light is inexpensive and is mainly used in continuous light product photography softboxes. They are high-output adjustable lights that allow users to change the color temperature and brightness level according to their needs. However, they generate a lot of heat.
For eCommerce platforms, the ring light for product photography and continuous light product photography softbox are the most popular options. To achieve the best results, the product photography lighting setup should include three softbox lights, an overhead light, and at least two sidelights.
3. Reflections should be avoided
It can be challenging to capture quality photographs of products that have reflective surfaces such as jewelry, glass, and bottles. The reflective surfaces tend to scatter light in undesired directions, leading to compromised photo quality and distorted product colors, which can mislead potential buyers. To avoid these issues, photographers can use a photography-toned bulb with white light.
When capturing photos of reflective products, unwanted shadows, and camera reflections can be distracting and time-consuming to remove during editing. For example, photographing an emerald ring can result in capturing the camera lens’s reflection, which would require additional editing efforts to fix. Therefore, it’s crucial for sellers to prioritize the arrangement of lighting in their product photography to achieve the best possible results.
5. Types of background lightning
Ensuring that a product stands out in a photo shoot is crucial for capturing high-quality product images. Achieving this requires proper lighting arrangement to make the product bright enough to grab buyers’ complete attention.
To achieve the perfect shot, experimentation with illumination parameters is necessary. The lighting setup also depends on the eCommerce platform for which the product photography is being done. Below are a few lighting options that can help in capturing professional product images:
a) Use ring lights to create bright front lighting, and combine it with a diffuser for uniformity. This setup is ideal for headshots.
b) Overhead octagonal softboxes can be used for darker products to give them an edgy and ambiguous look.
c) Avoid using direct front lights for reflective products. It can also be too bright for other products. In such cases, sellers can use a fast lens at a low aperture.
d) For reflective products, using two lights on the sides is the best option. However, the user needs to optimize the angle to avoid unwanted reflections.
e) Three-light setups can provide a variety of coverage for product photography, allowing for capturing detailed shots, emphasizing form, differentiating background from the product, and more.
5. Use natural lighting
Using natural light with light curtains as diffusers can be an effective alternative source of soft light for product photography. To achieve the best results, it’s essential to avoid shooting when the sun is high in the sky. This can result in overexposed shots with uneven lighting. However, when the sun begins to descend, the resulting soft light can create bright and evenly lit product images. This is a great option for tabletop photography lighting and can produce impressive results.
Final Words
Choosing the appropriate lighting setup is critical for a successful product photoshoot. However, there is no fixed protocol for lighting as it varies based on product size, material, surface texture, and more. Finding the right conditions requires a lot of experimentation.
Before planning a professional product shoot, sellers should conduct thorough research by browsing catalogs and examining similar products online. This will help them gain insight into different possibilities.
To simplify the process, there are various applications and tools available that can automate the optimization process of product photography. These tools often include in-built features that provide ready-to-use photographs that comply with eCommerce platform guidelines.
DoMyShoot is an example of such an app. It includes in-app guides, making it easy for even non-professionals to conduct product photography. Users can select the eCommerce platform for which they need product images, click the photo, and submit it. The app automates compliance with guidelines, image quality, editing, and more.
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FAQs
Q. What is the process for using a ring light in product photography?
A. To use a ring light for product photography, position the ring light in front of the product and place the camera in the center of the ring light. Use a simple background and begin taking photos, making adjustments as necessary.
Q. Which types of light bulbs are recommended for product photography?
A. Fluorescent, LED, and tungsten lights are all suitable for product photography. It is recommended to use continuous lighting to achieve the best results.
Q. What lighting setup is recommended for product photography?
A. For optimal product photography, it is recommended to use key lights, fill lights, and backlights in addition to diffusers. This helps to create even lighting around the product, minimizing shadows and reflections in the final image.
Q. How can shadows be avoided when using LED lights?
A. Shadows can be reduced by using white light LEDs with reflectors and diffusers. This is crucial in order to showcase all of the product’s features.
Q. What are some tips for achieving good lighting in photography?
A. To achieve high-quality results in product photography, it is important to use a broad light source. A combination of different lights can also be used to emphasize important features of the product. Both natural and artificial lighting options should be explored to capture professional product images.
