There are many niches in photography, but one we don’t talk about often is taking product photos. Even though these types of shots don’t fall under the professional umbrella — we’re not talking professional product photography, just product shots for an online store — almost everyone at one time or another has had to sell something on eBay or (not for the faint of heart) Craigslist.
And so, we thought we’d share this short “how to” video that Jessica Marquez of Miniature Rhino put together for Etsy. It offers beginners a few basic tips that can help take your product shots (and hopefully sales) to the next level. Read more…
If you need a tabletop photo studio for nice-looking product shots, a quick build involves using a piece of poster board and some household lights. If you have a bit more time, money, and carpentry skills, you can do what Nick Britsky did and construct a dedicated mini photo studio. He started the project by creating a mockup of the studio using Google’s Trimble’s free and easy to use SketchUp 3D modeling program. Once he knew what pieces he needed, he had all the wooden parts cut out at his local hackerspace i3 Detroit. He then combined the pieces according to his model, painted the wood white, added a couple of lights from his local hardware store, and covered the sides with white ripstop nylon.
You can find more pictures of the studio here. If you’d like to build one for yourself, you can grab the Google SketchUp file that Britsky used from his website.
Needing a portable light box, Instructables member HHarry came up with a ingenious collapsible design that has built-in lighting. He’s also written up a tutorial on how you can build one too, but be warned: the materials may cost you up to $80, and you’ll need a good amount of know-how. However, if you’re looking for a hefty weekend project and need a convenient way to light and photograph small objects on-the-go, this one’s for you.
