Product photography, as the name suggests, is a type of commercial photography that showcases the product by highlighting its best features. Several factors play a crucial role in lighting the product, such as the light used for product photography, the background used, the quality of the camera, the angles from which photos were taken, and at last the final editing. Among all these factors, one of the most crucial is the lighting used in your images.
In this blog post, we will discuss the following things:
Table of Content:
Importance of Lighting In Product Photography
The Best Lighting Setup For Product Photography
Importance of Lighting In Product Photography
Ecommerce Photography By Impression Photography
Generally, a lot of professionals focus on a good camera or the type of lens, but only a few focus on the power of lighting. Lightning in product photography has the potential to decide the outcome of what the picture will look like and how many customers are going to buy the product.
The knowledge of lighting can set the whole mood and tone of the picture. Supposedly, if you want to give the picture a sad mood, adding lights behind the picture will do it; on the other hand, adding light in front of the product will lighten up the whole mood of the picture.
Lightning is crucial in product photography in the following ways:
- It helps improve the quality of the picture.
- It helps in focusing only on the product and creates a distraction-free environment for the customer to focus on the product.
- Helps the photographer capture even the smallest details of the product.
- Gives the brand the advantage of being able to represent itself in a powerful manner through its product photography.
- By using lighting in your power, you help boost the impression of the product on the customers, thereby compelling them to buy the product.
The Best Lighting Setup For Product Photography
The lighting setup is as crucial as the lighting in the room. The space of the room will have a huge impact on how the lights are going to reflect in the room. From using a well-built studio to having the ideal lighting tools, all are important in deciding the outcome of your product photograph.
For having the best lighting setup for product photography, the factors that you need to take into account are as follows:
- Using a well-designed studio
- Establishing proper studio lights
- Well-crafted lightning tools
- Flawless lighting arrangement
Let’s look at these factors one by one:
Using A Well-Designed Studio
Before jumping into the hassle of perfecting the lights, it’s ideal that you check whether you are working in a well-designed studio. A studio helps you minimize the reflections on the surfaces. There are various products, like jewelry, glass-made objects, and metallic objects, that are hard to photograph as they reflect too much light while clicking.
One of the major factors that you need to keep in mind while photographing different objects, especially shiny ones, is moving the light in various ways until you find the best configuration.
Establish Proper Studio Lights
The source of the light has a high impact on product photography. You have to decide if you are going to photograph using natural or artificial lights. If you are going to use artificial lights, then you have the option of choosing from three types of lights: fluorescent, LED, and tungsten. Each has its peculiarities, they will create a different effect while photographing.
Well-Crafted Lightning Tools
You don’t need the fancy ones; having simple, well-functioning tools would be enough. To create a white background, you have the flexibility of using plasterboard or cardboard. The background that you are using helps in diffusing some lights and softening the particular shadows.
Flawless Lighting Arrangements
The last but crucial factor is deciding on the ideal lighting arrangement in your studio. You can have the following lighting setup in your studio:
- Buying a lightning box
- Careful consideration of the angle of the lightning
- Choosing between ring light, overhead light, and full coverage
Top 8 Product Photography Lighting Tips
As you go on about understanding the lighting setup and arrangements, now you must be in search of some critical tips that can give you useful guidance on how to use lighting to your best advantage.
Tips are as follows:
- The first step is the most basic and takes the most time to grasp. It might sound simple, but a lot of amateur photographers make the mistake of capturing snap after snap and not focusing on the lightning part. Carefully understanding the basics will help you navigate the journey of capturing the best photos in less time.
- Having a basic sense of key light, full light, and backlight. The key light is the main light in your photography, and the light is directly pointed toward the product. Full light is the secondary diary light that is placed on the opposite side of the camera. As the name suggests, it does the work of filling the room with light. Backlight is the lighting that is placed behind or above the product.
- Be sure of the background used. Though most of the product photography focuses on a white background, several brands will require you to adjust the lighting according to the theme of the product. Thus, focusing on the background is important to make sure that the background does not overpower the product and helps in highlighting the best features of the product.
- Using diffusers has the charm to alter the quality of the product photography. At the same time, understand the basic difference between harsh and soft lights. They have the power to either make your product stand out or make it go bland or washed out.
- The closeness of the light also affects the overall quality of the product.
- The right lens choice along with the angle of view also has to be kept in mind.
- Learning the basics of manipulating light. As men and women perceive light differently, you must take these factors into account.
- Know the final editing work to create a great effect on your product photography and use the colors to their best.
Read more: Editing Product Photographs With Adobe: To Make Your Product Photographs Highly Converting
Conclusion
Product photography is a smart investment, as it is going to help your business to be recognized and reach your customers better. One of the key things that play a pertinent role in product photography is the lighting effect. Understanding its requirements and employing different techniques to highlight your product in the best manner are crucial steps that can go a long way in determining the quality of your product photography.
