Product Photography

A polished product shot can look effortless, and that illusion can mess with how you judge your own work. This video is a straight look at how one advertising-style image is built, and it pushes you to stop guessing and start planning.

This might be the most reliable desktop camera arm you can get, especially if you shoot tabletop products or content.

This travel tripod goes over the top and offers angles that most taller tripods can’t. If you’re someone who requires versatility in your lightweight tripod, this is for you.

Lighting is critical when photographing products, perhaps nowhere more evident than working with a wine bottle. It’s about creating a striking rim light, illuminating the label, and managing reflections, and this helpful video tutorial will show you how.

A telephoto lens might not be the first lens that comes to mind for photographing products, but this recent version of Sony’s 70-200mm offers it as an additional use case. Let’s see what it can actually do.

“Ridiculous”, “oversimplistic”, and “immensely frustrating”: photographers worldwide are weighing in on the broad social media label "AI Info". While some industry leaders see the value of the designation, the blanket “AI Info” label is also criticized as being oversimplistic. This rollout is causing some photographers to feel punished for using basic tools in Photoshop to avoid the label. I talked with some of the biggest names in commercial photography and retouching to get a pulse from industry experts. 

Truly affordable macro lenses, especially for hobbyists who are just starting out, are tough to find. The Pergear 60mm Macro lens promises magnification beyond the standard 1x reproduction ratio, but at just $200, can it really deliver usable results? In this hands-on review, I’ll test out this lens and take a detailed look at its performance.

It seems that the genre of product photography is booming right now. I come across hiring ads for product and e-commerce photographers all the time. With e-commerce being such a big market, or at least where I live, there is a lot of need for product photographers. I learned the basics of photographing products many years ago, and it has come in handy several times.

The ability to make objects appear as if they are defying gravity is a captivating skill that can help you capture attention. This technique, often employed in product and still life photography, adds a touch of magic and intrigue to your images, leaving viewers wondering how you achieved such a feat. 

Color.  Vivid green forests, melty brown chocolate, voluptuous red lips: color is the reason that compels so many of us to reach for our cameras. When I was approached about reviewing Datacolor's Spyder Checkr Photo, I was skeptical. Color is one of the most-often stated reasons clients approach me. Was this little device just another gimmick marketed to chroma junkies, or was it a tool that would fine tune my color-centric work? I gave it a try, and I’m here to share my findings with my fellow artists who love color as much as I do.

The classic fish tank shot, a staple in product photography, is being reimagined with a modern twist. This helpful video tutorial will show you how to create your own dynamic images.

In my previous article, we talked about the technique and tips for performing focus stacking for e-commerce shoots. In this article, we will further expand into discussing the advantages of using focus stacking techniques, apart from the obvious reasons of getting the entire product to be in focus. There are a few more logical reasons and advantages behind focus stacking.

Wine bottles can be a real challenge to light and photograph, particularly with their curves and reflective glass. Nonetheless, you can learn quite a lot from the process. If you would like a fun weekend project, check out this great video tutorial that will show you everything you need to know to create a professional wine bottle product image. 

Ecommerce images represent a product on the web to provide potential customers with an accurate representation of the products. Therefore an efficient workflow that enables you to get an image of a product that is fully in focus is extremely crucial. Check out this article to find out how easy focus stacking might be the answer for you if you find yourself struggling with focusing issues.

In our biggest FAQ about product photography yet, we discuss some of the most common questions a photographer at any skill level might have, from simple ones about settings to complex ones about the type of reflection a leather surface produces under hard light. This article was created to help you create better product images.

CGI is usually associated with movies, but it has its place in photography too. In fact, you create elaborate and creative backgrounds for your shoots using CGI software.

There's definitely more than meets the eye with this new standard zoom lens option. Aside from a wider range and a smaller size, let’s see what else this has to offer.

I'm probably preaching to the choir here, but, I think it's a good idea to hire a professional photographer that specializes in what you need. It's for this reason that I hired a professional photographer, despite the fact that I too work as a professional photographer. In this article, I'm going to discuss why. 

The role of AI is being discussed more than ever in creative fields, even where we previously thought it had no application. Among the various thoughts and emotions that arise when discussing AI in the creative arena, there is one that sees it as a tool — one of many that an artist may call on. Today, we're looking at a video that approaches a graphical AI tool, Midjourney, with that mindset.

When you are shooting, do you think about what aspect ratio you need your finished shots to be in? Where will the photos go? Will they need to fit multiple aspect ratios for social, web, and other places? Here's a way you can make sure your images are perfect for each final ratio you need. 

While the industry move to subscriptions has had pain points, I think it’s a net benefit for post-production.

If you are like me, you probably have a closet full of random tiles, boards, and construction scraps just in the event you need an interesting surface to shoot on. These new photography surfaces by Duo Boards set out to change my messy studio, and this photography tutorial shows you how useful these backdrops can be!

Based in Zurich, Maya and Daniele used three separate lights to create white light. It’s not an easy thing to do, and this is a great example.

Shooting products in a studio environment is not the easiest form of photography. It takes patience, knowledge of light sculpting, and clever post-processing. People also incorrectly assume that you must have a great deal invested in equipment.

Did you know studies have shown that viewers form an opinion of people within 1/10th of a second of seeing them? In a similar way, viewers judge brands with a cursory glance. Brands rely on design elements such as color, shape, line, and font to communicate their identity and values.

There is a lot more room to be creative in product photography than you might initially think, and part of creating compelling imagery is knowing how to add your own stylistic touches in a way that complements the product's purpose. This excellent video tutorial will show you one such example of that by guiding through lighting, shooting, and editing a bold cosmetics product image. 

Product photography is a tough genre that will really challenge your lighting skills and attention to detail. The great part about it, though, is that you can practice it at home, even if you do not have much space, and the techniques you pick up are applicable to a wide range of other genres. To help you get started, this great video tutorial will show you a simple and straightforward product shoot walkthrough.

If you’re into macro photography, you might be wondering why so many macro lenses emphasize a wide aperture; f/2.8 is nice to have, but when focused down to 1:1, it’ll leave you with no depth of field. From my point of view, Venus Optics seems to have had the same thought. They built a macro lens with a spec sheet that’s focused on delivering macro results. Is this the new best option for macro photographers?

A product shot on a clean, white background with no distractions is a look that will always be in demand, though it presents some challenges to the photographer creating the image. Those challenges increase when the product is translucent and lets light through it, but this excellent video tutorial will show you how to deal with such a situation to produce a professional final image. 

Product photography is a deceptively deep genre of the craft and to get the most out of it requires experience and often a lot of lighting equipment. But that isn't to say lots of lighting equipment is always necessary. Here is how one photographer uses only natural light and still gets some beautiful results.

Photographing an object with a reflective surface can be a challenge, and you’d imagine that it gets even worse if the entire thing is made out of shiny metal. Here’s how to create perfect photos of cutlery with just a single speedlight.

Photographing glassware is especially challenging, as controlling the reflections can be particularly difficult. Even if it is not something you normally do, it is fantastic lighting practice, and this excellent video tutorial will show you how to photograph clean glassware on a black background with only speedlights.

What can be achieved in post-production alone is incredibly impressive of late, with simple in-camera work undergoing transformative changes once it's loaded onto a computer. In this video, watch one videographer turn the most basic of product images into an expensive-looking advert.

If you're interested in becoming a commercial product photographer but you don't have access to a large studio, powerful strobes, or innumerable backgrounds; don't be dismayed. There are plenty of lighting and compositing tricks you can learn in order to build that killer portfolio that will land you better-paying gigs.

There is no better reminder that strong technique and knowledge of how to shape light are what create good images than seeing a professional make compelling photos use basic equipment. This fantastic video tutorial will show you how to create a professional-level product image of beer using entry-level equipment and also walk you through the retouching process in Photoshop.

Food and product photography backgrounds can be incredibly difficult to come by in certain parts of the world. There are lots of tutorials out there about how to create your own textured backgrounds and wood backgrounds. But vinyl backgrounds are the bomb when it comes to portability and saving space. Creating them isn’t too difficult either.

Even if it is not your specialty, product photography is a great genre to practice because it will seriously challenge your lighting and editing skills, both of which will likely carry over to other genres in which you work. This fantastic video tutorial will show you how to light, shoot, and edit a dramatic multiple-product shot using just three speedlights. 

Handmade selling is on the rise and with it comes an increasing number of new product photographers. Quality product photography is essential for marketing your goods, but it doesn't need to be expensive or overly technical. In fact, there are some easy things that you can adjust that will help elevate your product photographs to the next level!

Whisky bottles are a favorite subject for product photographers and this shot adds an interesting twist: the bottle and tumblers are impossibly balanced on one another. How was it achieved?

Good photography is much less about the gear you don’t have and much more about using the gear you do have.

Given the global pandemic of COVID-19 (and the year that shall not be named), I very quickly found out that I am indeed, contrary to previously held opinions, an extrovert (and not an introvert). But given the situation, I wasn’t photographing people. What could I make that would work well with the images I already create? I do quite a bit of fashion and beauty work, so why not products that go with those?

Shooting products has been a staple of many photographers, but with the advantages brought by CGI, more and more companies are starting to make changes to how they create images of their products. Why are they moving, and do photographers need to adapt?

There are so many trade secrets in photography, but when I moved into food and drink, I found it almost impossible to get any real info on how to do anything of use.

Long exposure photography is a staple of the craft and a right of passage for beginners, but if you have some photos or a time-lapse that wasn't a long exposure and you think it might have looked good as one, look no further.

There are lots of great options from pre-made to digitally printed backdrops available, but a lot of them are not cheap, and if you want to have a wide variety, it adds up quickly. That is why I supplement my collection with my own homemade DIY backdrops. 

Color grading can make or break footage, no matter how impressive the clip is. But did you know you can color grade in Photoshop? If you're not familiar with Premiere Pro or other video software, this could be very useful indeed.