Friday, May 25, 2012

Product photography setup

OK, this particular photograph isn't that great, but it's my setup for photographing small items. I found a couple of very inexpensive Lagra work lamps from IKEA, they were only $4.99. The Sparsam bulbs were $7.99. I have a tungsten/halogen light source setting on my camera. So now the only thing I have to do to my photos is crop and re-size them. My products sit on some white subway tiles.  If I wanted a softer light I might tape some parchment paper over the lights, but I'm happy with the harsh light, even the reflections in the tiles.  I have three lights in total to light up my products. My shop. I have a few product photos to fix at this writing.

I had a prof in my photography course say you should always aim for the best primary image. Before I had been messing around attempting color corrections with limited success.

I noticed that most treasuries on Etsy get made with items having white backgrounds. The grayer the background, the less likely it is that an item will be selected for a treasury.  So I want to make my backgrounds as white as possible. There are exceptions such as when the background fits into the treasuries color scheme.

Update: I now have 4 lights in my setup, and I put parchment paper over them to soften the light. 

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