A Beginner Guide to Product Photography & Camera Settings

Want to know the best camera settings for product photography? Don’t go anywhere! Because some great photography secrets are on their way!

I’m going to show you a beginner’s guide to product photography camera settings.

Anyone can follow these steps to get high-class and premium product photos. Even if you are starting out, it’ll be the most accessible beginner’s guide you’ll find online.

And these steps are proved to improve conversion in eCommerce and online shops. Don’t wait, start the guide and you’ll learn a lot about product photography.

What Is Product Photography?

Product photography is a process of capturing still images of products, often given to you by the companies themselves.

And it’s most often for commercial purposes only, such as marketing and sales.

It shows the customer the actual condition of the product. Thus, good product photography entices customers to buy the product.

Moreover, it improves customer attention to the products you’re featuring.

The demand for product photography is growing. The reason is the boom in e-commerce. It’s growing fast and therefore the need for excellent product photography.

An excellent visual is an essential part of any online store. And it influences the customer’s buying decision.

Camera Settings For Product Photography

If you are starting out, use any general camera like a DSLR. But using only a good camera isn’t guaranteed to work magic for you.

Instead, you need special camera settings for product photography.

Don’t worry – here’s the solution. I am going to show you how to make professional settings for product photography super fast.

Use Tripods

The tripod might seem less valuable, but in reality, it isn’t. Without a tripod, you may lack stability and consistency. And it’s super important for a product image capturing setting.

But again, if your budget is not matching up, use other objects. Things like a pile of books and such would work great.

Most of all, a tripod lets you capture your product’s image with consistency and minimizes that ‘vacation video’ shake!

Without a decent tripod, you might face problems regarding stability. And it would also improve your speed of shooting.

As you don’t have to worry about stability, you can boost your shooting speed.

Note: If you are into 360-degree product photography, make sure to try out a gimbal. It’s a really essential accessory that could be a game-changer for you!

And it offers you a steady camera angle while offering the most movement.

Make Use Of Product Lighting

Product lighting is a vital aspect of any product photography setup. With proper lighting, your product image will shine and attract the right kind of attention.

Similarly, if you can’t choose the correct lighting, your beautiful composition would get lost in an unclear look.

This is why you should consider lighting more than usual.

At first, you have two options. these are:

• Natural lighting
• Artificial lighting

If you have a smaller budget, go for natural lighting. For example, you can place your product photography session beside a big window.

Note: If your light is hard, defuse it with a cloth or white paper on the window. And it’s best to start a photo session at a time when the light is at its highest.

If you have the budget to get artificial lights, I would recommend you get a photography softbox. These will come in very handy!

Your primary light should be at the front, and the secondary light should be at the back or top.

ISO, Aperture, Shutter Speed, White Balance

In the following section, I will mention all the crucial considerations when it comes to product photography.

So, let’s start.

ISO

Let’s begin with ISO. It stands for International Organization for Standardization.

The lower the ISO, the better image you would get. An ISO of 100 works extremely well, in general. Increasing the ISO a little bit from 100 would also work fine.

Aperture

Then we have aperture. You should make the aperture as high as possible.

With a higher aperture, it means a higher amount of light is passing through the lens.

Also, it provides you total focus on your product. As a result, you get a proper image without any artifacts.

Shutter Speed

When it comes to the shutter speed, you need to make it higher and faster.

When you lower the shutter speed, this can create unwanted blurriness.

So higher shutter speed would result in a clear product image.

White Balance

Finally, let’s talk about the white balance. In short, you should select the option “Automatic White Balance” on your camera. It will choose the perfect white balance for your composition.

   

Make sure you set up your camera according to these points. Because with these settings, you can capture the perfect e-commerce product photo.

And, as a bonus, it’s much less likely to have any artifacts in the image.

Always Shoot In Raw

My advice for you is to always shoot in RAW format. It’s the highest quality image you can get from any photography session.

The best thing about the RAW file is you get a higher quality image to work with. And it’s the best choice if you are looking to ‘go to town’ in post-production.

RAW images would also provide you proper color saturation and depth. So, when you edit the image, it won’t lose its quality.

Edit Your Photo

Once you take your product photograph, it’s time to edit your photo.

Image editing would make your product image perfect and pleasant aesthetically speaking.

In short photo editing tasks, you can train yourself in image editing with Photoshop. But going for professional solutions would be the best option.

You can hire a photo editing agency for works like ecommerce photo retouching.

Also, check out if they provide you the best pricing, consistency, and high-quality works. This may be a productive way to go.

Many photo editing agencies are ready to retouch your photo. And they take shorter turnover time because of their skill and amount of resources.

But don’t worry if your budget does not support outsourcing.

Learn the basics of Photoshop and retouch the image as much you can.

What Gear And Equipment Do You Need?

To start off with, I should note that the equipment listed here is not always mandatory. But it’s good to have this gear at hand.

Below, I’m going to mention some of the essential equipment. And these are recommended for you to set up a product photography studio.

Tripod

The first thing on your product photography journey is the tripod. It’s an essential aspect of good product photography.

Moreover, a decent tripod doesn’t cost a lot. With a little bit of investment, you can get it done.

Studio Light

You can set up studio light by yourself or place the shooting table beside a window. It’s all up to you.

When you want to use the daylight, make sure you shoot your product photography at noontime.

Camera

I would suggest any camera for beginners. Or use any decent DSLR from Nikons, Sony, or other companies.

But, having a DSLR camera is not always mandatory. Thus, you can use your smartphone camera if it is decent enough.

Image Editor

You must know how to use software like Photoshop to fix your product photography.

Or you can outsource the image post-production task. You can rely on any freelancer or agency for eCommerce photo retouching.

Investing in some photography equipment can go a long way. It would increase your image’s quality.

As a result, it would convert a higher number of visitors into buyers.

So, be mindful when choosing your photo shooting equipment.

Best Tips To Avoid Artifacting

Whether you take landscape or product photos, there are always best practices to follow.

And these tips will make your photography smoother and more visually appealing.

And, even better, your photography would look fresh and artifact-free. So, let’s start.

Perfect Lighting

Ensure you have set up a lighting setup around your product that gives you the best chance of capturing dynamic-looking images.

Bad lighting can create artifacts that aren’t what you want to see in professional photos.

This is why you should make sure the lighting is correct and at the right angle before you click to take a single photo.

Avoid JPEG

JPEG is a well-known file type on the internet but not in photography because it compresses the image for portability.

As a result, sometimes it provides you with artifacts. To avoid artifacts, always use RAW or PNG file format.

Noise and Blurriness

We don’t like noise or blurriness in photos. To avoid them, make sure you keep your ISO low all the time.

It will give you a lower capturing time and provide you with high-depth photos free of artifacts.

You should also make sure that you’re using good hard drives. Sometimes storage system corruption can cost you unwanted artifacts on your photo.

Product Photography – Conclusion

It’s time to wrap up this article on product photography. Camera settings for product photography are a crucial factor. It’s the one aspect that most clearly determines your success.

While it seems hard at first, however, everything will work fine if you take care of some critical points.

And it’s not mandatory to have a high-end camera to start. Take your smartphone and get started taking some awesome product photography!

And remember, if you don’t have lighting, use natural light.

So, don’t sit idle. Get up and add product photography to the offerings in your business.