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Are you interested in product photography as a business you can start at home? Do you need to promote your own products, such as jewelry, on a website like Etsy? Maybe you are looking for photography ideas just for fun? If you answered “yes” to any of the above, then you need to keep reading! We’re going to explain the simplest product photography setups that are also budget friendly using items you probably already have around the house. So let’s get started! First of all, once you have your products gathered, you will need backgrounds. The size and type of background you choose will depend on the size of the items. Smaller items can be places on colored wrapping paper, scrapbook papers, tissue paper, even brown paper bags work with some products. Contact paper and wallpaper can be used for medium sized objects. Some papers have patterns that look like marble and wood; however, solid colors may be a better choice for a few reasons. First, patterned papers may be copyrighted and if you plan to sell an image or promote another company’s products you would need to secure copyright permission to use it. Secondly, some patterned papers may compete for attention with the product. Tin foil, slightly crumpled and then flattened, makes a nice bokeh (background blur) and in larger pieces can be used for large objects and even for portraits.
Larger objects may require a large poster board, a roll of backdrop paper, or you can use fabric. Fabrics come in many different textures, colors and patterns including reflective and wood-looks! If you don’t have fabric or you don’t want to make a purchase, you can also use fabrics from blankets, sheets, and items of clothing. Fabric can also be draped around objects and under objects.
My favorite “hack” for product photography backgrounds is to use a computer laptop screen or tablet screen with images on them. I download an image that is free to use for commercial and business purposes from a website like Pixabay or Pexels and use it full-size on the screen behind the object. Websites like these have thousands of images you can choose from and there is no worry about copyright! You can quickly switch out images until you find a background that you really like.
The only drawback to using the computer screen is that you have to be careful about glare and bright reflections. We’re going to explain how to take care of those issues in the section on lighting, but first we need to finish with the setup. Depending on the item and how you choose to set up the background, your background might also be under your item. For example, if you are using fabric you might drape it under and behind the object, or shoot at an angle where you don’t capture the foreground or the background. When using paper or a backdrop roll, many photographers set the paper up in a “sweep.” This means that the paper is vertical behind the object, but then at the base it is curved out and under the object horizontally so there are no seams.  Setting up a paper or fabric background that then curves under the object is called a "sweep" In addition to paper and fabric, there are other items you can place under products such as old pieces of tile or waste sections of countertops. For example, when installers cut out the section of the countertop for a sink hole, that piece is often waste. Tile, such as crisp white subway tiles make nice backgrounds for food photography. Natural stone tiles complement products like perfumes and essential oils or soaps and make nice contrasts with cut gems and pearls for jewelry photography. An old photo frame can be repurposed as a platform to put object on. Placing colored paper or fabric under the glass or Plexiglas allows the color to show but you also get a nice reflective property. This is especially effective with white and a white background.  Image from Pixabay.com My favorite item to use as a platform is an old tablet. The glossy black makes a nice reflection, especially for tech type items or jewelry. As an example, we took a simple charging block and used the laptop screen as a background. With practice you will start to get a feel for what types of backgrounds and platforms will complement the products you are taking photos of. Many product photography setups also make use of additional props. While having the object by itself might look very nice, sometimes other items are needed to balance the image or improve the overall feel of the composition. The props can be simple and many items can be found around the house. Rocks and tree bark can make nice textures. Wildflowers, leaves, grasses are all good too. Small and medium size boxes can be used as props or for height so you can stagger the height of items. In the ring images previously seen above, we used a piece of tree bark from the woods near our house. We set the wood on a small black box to give it height and a computer screen was used as the background.
Leaves, acorns, seed pods, pine cones, and other natural items like shells are also good choices. Once you start to gather items, you can keep them in a little shoe box and have them available to reuse. For food photography, some props might include powered spices, wooden spoons, nice china cups or plates, herbs, and sugar cubes. There is definitely an art to the arrangement of items and you will learn what looks good and what doesn’t through trial and error, as well as practice. Looking at examples of similar items online can also spark your creativity and provide ideas for arrangements and props. Now let’s talk about lighting and light reflections. If you have a window area where you can set up a table, like a card table, then you can use free natural light! If you are using a computer screen or tablet as part of your set up you will need to adjust the direction of your setup as well as the angle of the computer screen so that you are not getting reflections from the camera’s point of view.  Image by FocusEd Camera: Rotate your entire table/setup or move the computer angle and screen angle to remove glare and reflections If you don’t’ have a window area, or even with a window, you might still need additional lighting. It is always surprising to me how much light is actually needed for most photos! The exception would be if you want to try “low key” lighting. For low key lighting you actually need a room that is dark! (Visit our website at https://focusedcamera.weebly.com/free-mini-tutorials-videos--extras.html and sign up for our email list and you can get an instant free download for low key lighting at home).
Additional lighting does not have to be expensive. It can be very inexpensive lights from hardware stores, such as the clamp style lights used as work lights out in the garage. A two pack of clamp lights is under $20 and they even have built in reflectors on them! You can also get bright LED lighting – a pack of two – for under $30. Professional photographers might be aghast at the suggestion and tell you that you need professional lighting. Professional lights can cost hundreds of dollars and while they do have benefits, such as allowing you to adjust the color temperature or intensity of the lights, there are workarounds to save you the expense. When you take photos make sure that you shoot in RAW, that way you can adjust the color temperature in Lightroom or other editing software. If the lights are too intense, move them farther away! You don’t need flashes or lights that are timed with your shutter release (unless you are doing water splash photography). For the majority of product photography you can use continuous lighting, like that light you might already have out in your garage.
Now that you have all your lighting taken care of, let’s go back to glare and reflections for a moment. If you are getting overhead glare turn off overhead lights. Rotate your table and your entire set up so you are getting as much light as you can, but keeping the direct reflections off your product (and/or computer screen) from the camera’s point of view. Make sure if you use the computer laptop screen that you test different angles to get the least glare. Using some creative movement you usually can find a sweet spot where you don’t have hot spots and reflections. However, that still might not be enough. Sometimes you will need a way to diffuse light. There are several “hack” solutions for this. If you have a large area, like a whole window area, a white fabric shower curtain (I got one at the $1 store) can diffuse light. This also works well for portraits. You can diffuse the light on your flash or your extra LED lights by making a softbox or using tissue paper. There are plenty of DIY instructions online for making flash and light diffusers and softboxes. Be careful that you never put paper or fabric over the hot style lights like incandescent and halogen – that would be a fire hazard!
You can also make your own “light box” using a big plastic bin like the one I use in my setup. It’s not perfectly clear, so it diffuses the light. Bins like these are available at the hardware store and you might even be able to get one at the $1 store. There are also lots of DIY tutorials online for making light boxes for product photography using a large cardboard box and white tissue paper and white poster board as the backdrop.  Image by FocusEd Camera: The plastic bin is not perfectly clear so it diffuses light like a light box Now you are ready to take some photos! Obviously, you need a camera. The camera you use does not have to be expensive or even a DSLR. The charging block image above was taken with an older generation Android phone. Current smartphones are even better. Some of the other images shown as examples throughout were taken using a very old Rebel camera. You do not have to invest in an expensive camera to get started taking product photos. Whatever camera you have on hand is the best camera to use! You can shoot handheld if you are steady. If you have enough light shutter speeds should be fast enough, but if you are going to invest, I would spend the money for a great tripod, and get one that can also allow you to do some flat lay work. I love my Manfrotto tripod and the 90 degree shooting tilt has come in handy for more than just product photos.  Image by FocusEd Camera: A tripod that is sturdy and can reach 90 degrees is helpful for flat lay product photography Now a few final tricks, or “hacks” for some cool effects! If you want to suspend something, then clear fishing line can be used to make items look like they are levitating. You will need Photoshop or a similar program to edit out the fishing line in post. It can also be a good idea to also secure the item at the base so that it is not swaying around. When you have an object that just won’t stay put, some console tape or gaffer’s tape and help keep items in place and when removed they do not leave a residue. A loop of console tape held the ring in place in the images I included above. If any of the tape shows you might have to edit it out later. If you want some cool colored lighting, try a colored gel or tissue paper over your camera’s built in flash or over top of your lighting (again do not put paper over hot bulbs). Some inexpensive LED puck lights can also create interesting effects when placed under or behind objects. Some smartphones and apps (Flashlight app on iOS and Color Flashlight on Android) also allow you to change the color of your phone screen and use it as a light. These colored lights can also be used for creative effects.
So there you have it, a complete set up for product photography using items you probably already have around the house! Even if you have to buy some garage lights, some colored papers or fabric, and make a diffuser for your window or a light box for your products, you can have an awesome setup for under $50.
It’s the most inexpensive, simplest set up for your product photography! We’d love to see your images, so share them with us on Twitter @focusedcamera and use the hashtag #photofun. Comments are closed.
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