For small businesses, taking professional-looking product photos can be a daunting and expensive task. Hiring a professional photographer or purchasing expensive equipment may not be within their budget, but fortunately, there are affordable options available that can help them achieve high-quality product photos on their own. In this article, we will discuss how small businesses can take their own product shots or product reels using inexpensive LED lights, a digital camera, and even with a mobile phone.
Step 1: Setting up the Shot
The first step to taking professional-looking product photos is setting up a proper set. This involves selecting a clean and clutter-free background that will allow your product to stand out. This is where the majority of your time will be spent when you start your shoot. While you can use a white poster board or a plain-coloured fabric as a backdrop, which is great for product catalogue shots. For your particular brand, I recommend researching current trends online to see what’s popular. The key is to keep it simple so that your product can take center stage. For this shoot, we only used what was available in the shop.
Once you have your background in place, position your product in front of it. Depending on the size and shape of your product, you may need to use a stand or prop it up with something to get it into the right position.
Step 2: Lighting
Lighting is crucial to creating a professional-looking product photo. Without proper lighting, your photo can look dull, flat, and unappealing. One of the most affordable lighting options for small businesses are LED lights. These lights provide a bright, clean, and consistent light source that can help highlight your product and bring out its best features.
Position your LED lights on either side of your product and adjust their angles to achieve even lighting. You may also want to experiment with different angles to create shadows or highlights that can add depth and texture to your photo.
Step 3: Camera Settings
To capture the best possible photo, it's essential to adjust your camera settings. If you're using a digital camera, set it to the highest resolution possible, and use a low ISO setting to avoid grainy images. For mobile phone cameras, select the highest quality setting available and use the camera's built-in gridlines to align your shot.
If you're using a digital camera, adjust the aperture and shutter speed to control the depth of field and exposure. A lower aperture will create a shallow depth of field, blurring the background and keeping the focus on your product. A higher aperture will create a deeper depth of field, keeping more of the background in focus.
Step 4: Editing
After taking your photos, you may want to do some editing to enhance their appearance. This can be done using free or low-cost photo editing software, such as Affinity Photo or GIMP. Other software like Adobe Photoshop or Lightroom tends to add up in costs as they are based on monthly subscriptions. A great mobile app that I use regularly is Snapseed by Google (which was used to edit the image below). Super easy to use. Some common edits include adjusting brightness and contrast, colour adjustments, cropping, and removing any unwanted objects.
Conclusion
Taking your own product shots can be a cost effective way for small businesses to create great branding photos that can showcase their products and attract potential customers. By following the steps outlined in this article, and with a little time, practice and experimentation, you can capture stunning images that will help your products stand out in a crowded market. You will be on your way to creating awesome-looking product photos using inexpensive LED lights, a digital camera, or a mobile phone.