As a startup you’re definitely going to need lots of product photos, but you may not have the budget to hire a professional photographer every time you need new images. However at the same time trying to snap the photos that you need yourself may not produce results that are nearly as impressive as you hoped.
If you want to up your game and start capturing more impressive product photos without stretching your budget, there are a few tips that could make a significant difference:
- Use softened natural light
If you’re on a budget and don’t want to invest in lighting, you can simply use natural light instead. However you should take steps to diffuse it so that it is soft and doesn’t cast any hard shadows.
One option is to find a large open window and then place a cloth or white paper over it. It should let light through, but diffuse it so that it doesn’t cast a shadow.
Of course if you want you could use other types of lighting, and for example you could build your own softbox while spending next to nothing.
- DIY a chair-mounted sweep
In most cases you will want to snap your product photos against a plain white background that looks seamless. That normally requires a sweep – and you can quite easily build one of your own.
All that you need is a chair, a roll of craft paper and a few clips or pegs. The craft paper should be clipped to the top of the chair and then allowed to fall over it seamlessly.
One of the advantages of a chair-mounted sweep is that its portable, so you can move it next to your window if you want to use natural light.
- Invest in a tripod
The one piece of equipment that you should invest in is a tripod. Getting a tripod will let you fine tune the angle that you are photographing your products, and then capture multiple images from that same angle while swapping in new products as well.
Overall it will save you a lot of time and effort – and on top of that it will ensure that your camera is kept still, which will help improve the quality of your photos as well.
Keep in mind that you don’t need an expensive tripod, and you should look up ways to choose the right tripod if you aren’t sure what you need.
Needless to say it helps if you know a bit about post production so that you can adjust the white balance, crop, and make other alterations after you’re done. On top of that learning how to watermark photos can help as well, so that they don’t end up being ripped off by others.
It should be noted that even with the tips above it will take some practice for you to capture truly impressive product photos for your startup. That being said you should be off to a great start – with good lighting, a nice seamless background, and the ability to capture multiple high quality photos.
About Carson Derrow
