Tips to get better Product Photos | Santhosh Raj

Today is an era of E-Commerce, where every product that is produced be it a Bell pin or an aircraft Photographing it and putting it on a website has become a primary to-do list of any manufacturer or a merchant. Therefore the jobs that come for photographers on product shoot is flooding and many desire to become one.

In an intention to equip some upcoming photographers and photography enthusiasts I decided to give some tips to shoot a product. Throughout my journey as a photographer everyday in my work has taught me lots and lots of new techniques. One certain thing that i have learnt is Photography is a ocean, and it is updated every second in some corner of this globe,
Here are some of the Tips for product Photography.
1. Cleaning the Product:
Make sure that the product is clean, or else clean it properly that there is no dust or finger prints on it. In the product Photography the Product is the Hero and when shooting with a High Resolution Cameras with more than 22 Mega Pixels, every minute dust or a finger mark would be clearly visible and at the end of the day it would over show the beauty in it.
2. Selection of Background

Product Photography Background

Normally when we shoot a product, we must keep in mind where the photograph would be used. Now a days the photos are mostly used for Print advertisements and E-Commerce websites. In such conditions try choosing contrast backgrounds, as every minute detail of the product gets highlighted. And most importantly make sure that the edges of the product are clear and do not merge with the backgrounds. This is the knot we always leave loose, the edges are the portions that makes the product look highlighted from the backgrounds, so don not forget to concentrate on the edges.

3. Lighting

Product Photography Lighting

For any type of Photography , lighting is the blood line, remember photography is all about lighting. When it comes to product photography the lighting becomes a bit more important. Before lighting conceive the product in your mind and imagine it in a 3D (3Dimensional) perspective.  You must light the product in such a way you get soft shadows on one side, for which you must light the product on one side alone. In order to achieve some soft lighting and shadows instead of giving direct lights you can sure some reflectors and bouncers.
4. Focus

Product Photography Tutorial – Back ground Selection

Focus is what the aesthetics of Photography all about. When it comes to Product photography it is always advisable to use Manual Focus instead of  Auto focus, because in auto focus the camera decides the portion to be focused but it works well with other shoots but when it comes to products, the area to be focused and highlighted vary according to the product and it has to be decided by the photographer. Once you have set the focus before triggering the shot click on the Depth of Field (DOF) button to ensure that your focus is right.

5. Format

Product Photography

When it comes to Product Photography it is always better to shoot it in RAW format, because it gives you the liberty to adjust the White Balance and Exposure in the post production. The another important advantage of shooting it in RAW is the freedom to give output in TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) format which is used for printing.
And Finally as always said its not the Camera that is important but the person behind the trigger. So before shooting anything do a basic research on it, if it’s a product do a study on the purpose of the shoot, the audience for the particular product, and the target for which you are shooting the product. The basic research will always enhance your choice in Backgrounds and lights for the shoot.

Hope this blog would have been useful for you.

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