Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Anyone have any suggestions on how to create great looking product photos of my product to be uploaded to my site?

I`m not looking to spend alot of $$ in this area, I`m hoping for some do-it-yourself tips.

Thanks,

Ruffneck

 

i would check out
CameraJim.com

It shows some real simple staging examples for eBay photography.
The size of your product will have a huge effect on the system you go with.

Lighting and a closeup view is important.  Of course a lot depends upon the product.

You can take your own photos with most any digital camera imgaes do not have to be 300 px on the site 72px is fine.

~Roland

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Web Design | Best Beef Jerky | ecommerce articles | Follow vwebworld on Twitter

If your going to use some digital camera make sure you use natural sun light for the photo they will turn out much better than using a flash at night. Also if you want a white background go get a sheet of white posterboard large like 24x36" and place it so that it creates a natural curve from the floor (where your product will sit on) up the wall (back side of photo) this will hide the seem between the floor and wall, make sure NOT to fold the posterboard, you want it to create a 1/4 pie shape. Then place your product and take the photo.

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He who gets greedy like a pig, gets slaughtered like a hog!

If you`re trying to do it yourself, I really agree with the natural sunlight comment. Even I break some general rules from time to time, but the natural sunlight (no flash) typically make the best shots. Just be careful about direct sunlight... it creates a glare.


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Vincent Wilcox (a.k.a. KRAKR)
Drummer
My band: Letters Make Words

Thanks to everyone for great advice!

I`m going to go get some posterboard and start taking shots to see how they turn out.

I loved this site! I need product photography myself sometimes and i don`t have a lot of $$ to spend on it either. I do have a friend who is an amateur photographer and he has helped me out for a very small fee.


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Sharon Murphy
Owner
Northwoods State of Mind, Inc.
NorthWoods

Well, some of my product pictures were taken by me with a digital camera on automatic.  I put them on an end table in the middle of the room with natural light coming from both sides.  I also had every light in the room on for balance.  I don`t remember if the flash flashed . . . and then I uploaded it through the scanner program.

jillybeans

Depending on your budget, I would highly recommend looking at some of
the kits from http://
www.tabletopstudio.com.

I saw a dramatic difference in shot quality when using their EZcube light
tent.

Aside from a product like this, here are a few suggestions for improving
shot quality.

• Always manually white balance your camera before starting a
  shoot. Even if the lighting conditions seem similar to your eyes, white
  balance anyway. Our eyes are much less affected by changes in light
  temperature than digital cameras. If you do nothing else, do this.
• 
  Regardless of the shot, use a tripod.
• If possible, use software that
  will let you capture directly to an attached computer. As an alternative, try
  4 or 5 test shots and then review them in an image editor like Adobe
  Photshop or Elements before you commit to shooting lots of products.
  You`ll often catch problems with the exposure that you wouldn`t see on
  your camera`s LCD.
• Pay attention to the angle that you shoot your
  products from. Move the tripod (up, down, left, right) rather than using
  the "tilt" adjustments to frame your shot.
• Pay attention to the edges
  of square items and watch for barrel distortion or a "fisheye" effect. This
  can sometimes be corrected by zooming out and repositioning the tripod.
  You can get rid of this during "post-processing", but it`s much easier to
  correct it at the source.
• If possible, try and establish a workflow for
  shooting and editing product images. If you have a checklist of to-do
  items for each shoot your much less likely to waste time with mistakes
  and re-shoots.
• Learn about making selections in your photo
  editing program. Removing the background from your shots can make a
  big difference and add a pro touch to your photos. It takes some effort to
  learn the techniques, but it`s well worth the results. Even under ideal
  conditions, you won`t always be able to get a "perfect white background".
  
• Don`t rely on your camera`s built-in flash. Invest in some
  inexpensive (less than $50 on eBay) 5000K flourescent bulbs and
  reflectors instead.

Good luck!