How to Take Better Photos of Your Products
I know many small brick and mortar business owners who were forced to close their doors due to Covid-19. I also know that many of you have rallied and gotten an online shop up and running. Keeping your virtual doors open is a great way to be bringing in a little income during this time and keeping things afloat. While you may not have the resources to hire a professional photographer (or the ability due to lockdown) I want to help you learn to take better photos of your product at home. Having clear, well-lit photos is key to selling your product online. So how do you get them? Here are a few simple pointers for you as you launch into the world of e-commerce!
Step one: Find good light!
Walk around your home and look at where there is the most light coming in the windows (usually it will be on the North side of your house). Set up your makeshift photo studio in the spot that has the brightest diffused light from a window. Diffused light is indirect. You don’t want harsh shadows, so avoid the window with direct sunlight coming through (that shouldn’t be difficult if you’re in the PNW like me 😜) . If you don’t have a big window, try opening up your garage door and shooting to the side of that. Speaking of the side, you most likely want the light to be coming in from the side of the frame. Sometimes I shoot on the floor by a window, but oftentimes (and on particularly dark days) I raise my scene on a table or countertop to gain a little more of that nice, diffused sidelight. One of my favorite places to shoot in my home is on my kitchen counter pictured below.
Step two: Find a basic background.
If there is a plain wall near your window light this makes things super easy, but if you don’t have one don’t worry. Find something white to put behind your scene. In a pinch, a bed sheet will do, but I prefer to use a piece of white poster board. You can put one underneath your product and one behind it to create a little softbox. And if your shadows are too harsh, you can even put a third on the side of your scene opposite your window to bounce light back on your product. If you want a different background than plain white, but still want it to look clean and professional, look for vinyl backdrops on Etsy (I love my marble backdrop from Ink and Elm).
Step three: Shoot it straight.
The best product photos are shot with very straight angles. I like to either shoot product at a 90-degree angle (straight on) or from straight above (this is called a flatlay). Get as straight as you can in camera and then if you need to you can finish the job in an editing app if necessary (Snapseed is great for this if using a smartphone)
Step four: Shoot slightly overexposed.
This just keeps things bright and cheery and makes sure your whites are truly white. If you are shooting on your phone, use the little brightness slider to adjust this (look for the sun icon…on my pixel it’s on the right side of the screen).
Step five: Use portrait mode.
If you are shooting on your phone, try using portrait mode to make your product stand out from the background. This works especially well if you are trying to style your product with any props or on a less simple background. Just pull your product away from the background a bit and tap the product for it to be in focus and the background to be slightly blurred out. You want your product to be the main focus!
