Lighting product photo shoots does not require expensive equipment, only proper light placement.
Photography studios may receive a wide variety of requests from clients, such as shooting glamour shots, actor headshots or family portraits; however, if you're interested in expanding your client market then you'll want to include product photography within your list of services. Product photography is used for advertising copy, websites and for business portfolios to showcase products. As with any type of photography, lighting is vital for beautiful pictures. If you're budget is slim-to-none, you may create professional quality product lighting without having a professional-level budget.
Instructions
1. Purchase three tungsten shop lights from any home improvement store, or a professional light kit if you can afford it. Purchase one 150-watt tungsten light, one 100-watt light and one 75-watt light.
2. Position the product in whatever manner you wish to photograph it. Typically, products are placed on tables or on some other solid surface.
3. Place the highest wattage light, 150-watt tungsten bulb, slightly to the right of the product. This light will act as your key light, or main light source. The height of the light should be along the same horizontal plane of the product; however, feel free to raise or lower this light to achieve the effect you desire.
4. Position the 100-watt tungsten light on the left side of the product. Adjust the height of this light to counterbalance any shadows created by the key light. Like the key light, adjust the height of the light according to the effect you wish to create.
5. Place the 75-watt light directly behind the product. The purpose of this position is to create a rim of light around the product to separate the product from the background. Typically, the backlight is placed below the product, and the light beam is pointing toward to top portion of the subject. You may reverse this position and have the light above product or directly behind the product. Again, move the light around until it creates the ideal backlight.
6. Adjust the camera's white balance to "tungsten" to ensure the camera properly captures the colors of the product. Because tungsten and other artificial sources of light are dimmer than the sun, adjust the camera ISO settings to 400 so more light is absorbed by the camera.
Tags: 150-watt tungsten, 75-watt light, behind product, directly behind, directly behind product, height light, light around