9 Professional Product Photography Tips: How To Avoid Common Mistakes (On Budget)

 Do you photograph your products yourself? Quite a bit of work, but well worth the effort.

Get the most out of it by taking professional-quality pictures. RiseZoom shares a few Product Photography Tips with you.

9 Professional Product Photography Tips: How To Avoid Common Mistakes

1. Be inspired

It always pays to spend some time researching. Find websites whose product images you like or use Google image search to find good photos of similar products. Analyze these photos: camera angles, exposure and the available image types are interesting.

2. Stick to one type of lighting

A common mistake is using different types of lighting. The light source must be of the same type for accurate and consistent colors. Otherwise you produce different looking product photos. Most digital cameras recognize the light source automatically or allow the white balance to be set manually. However, the difference between daylight and room light is too great.

3. Do not use a flash

Many find it difficult to properly light. The best tip is to avoid flash light. Instead, we recommend uninterrupted lighting. The best - and free of charge - is daylight. Get the best photos on a cloudy day around noon. However, being dependent on daylight can be very limiting, so buying a few lights is a good solution.

You can get some really good energy-saving light bulbs that don't heat up and are ideal for product photography. Use two, preferably three, light sources. Arrange white reflective materials around the product. White cardboard or styrofoam reflect some light from the light source onto areas of the product that need more light.

Use a fixed place for photos, build a set that you use again and again. With a light box for product photography you can take even pictures - you can also build this photo box yourself.

4. Use a tripod

A tripod is a must for product photography. Almost all cameras have a standard tripod mount. This means that photos can always be taken from the same angle - and significantly longer exposure times are possible.

You can get a Professional Tripod for a price you won't find in stores here from Amazon:

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5. Use a monochrome image background

Product images often require a white background. This is especially true when selling on marketplaces like Amazon. Instead of separating the background with an editing program when you take your product images against a plain background, it is better to use a neutral gray right away.

6. Make the most of your camera settings

By paying attention to the few important settings on the camera, you can improve your images dramatically. Get out your camera's instruction manual and start experimenting.

Aperture value

If you have a DSLR camera or a good compact camera, you should be able to set the aperture value. A small value results in a rather shallow depth of field and a high value a deeper depth of field - the higher the number, the more focus there is.

White balance

Adjusting a camera's white balance allows you to correct for the color distortions caused by the type of lighting used. Images with accurate colors reduce returns, so it's important to pay attention to this area. You can either use the camera's WB presets (typically inside = English indoors or outside = English outdoors) or a setting that you have adjusted yourself.

7. Consider reflections

Reflections have a tendency to work against amateur photographers. When photographing reflective objects such as jewelry, you should check what is being reflected from the objects. The easiest way is to use pieces of black and white cardboard. Position it right next to and around the object and use the camera's viewfinder to see what happens. Keep moving the pieces until the desired effect is achieved. In some cases a light tent helps.

8. Take your time editing images

Edit your pictures: The tonal correction, the cropping, the resizing and the alignment can turn a product picture that is just ok into something really fantastic.

9. Educate yourself

You never stop learning - and that is why it is worthwhile for you to continue to train yourself on the subject of product photography. Good starting points for this are the risezoom blog or this course with more than 2000 Successful students:

Easy Product Photography with iPhone, Smartphone or Camera

If you prefer reading, we recommend this great book by Allison Earnest:

The New Lighting for Product Photography: The Digital Photographer's Step-by-Step Guide to Sculpting with Light

If you're into photography and want to learn from the best. We present to you this complete guide with more than 230,000 successful students with a 30 Day Money Back Guarantee: Photography Masterclass: A Complete Guide to Photography

If you need more product photography tips you can check it out this article: https://www.bigcommerce.com/blog/how-to-rock-product-photography-on-a-budget/

Or you can simply watch this video:

Those were our "9 Professional Product Photography Tips: How To Avoid Common Mistakes (On Budget)" for you. We hope you enjoyed! Don't forget to leave us your question down below in the comments. We would love to hear from you.