Quality product shots can make a big difference on how attractive a product is to potential customers and can greatly improve chances of a sale. Whether you’re taking pictures for a customer or photographing your own stuff, it’s worth the time to get it right.
Cleanliness
Dirt, smudges and fingerprints will not do. I get clean chamois for getting every smudge and fleck of dust off anything small and wear exam gloves to keep from adding my own fingerprints.
When it comes to hair and fiber, your static lens brush works best. Take the same care you’d use cleaning your lens glass.
Background
Instead of opting for professional background paper, I head for the craft store. There you can find fabric by the roll and folding cardboard presentation blanks that come in a variety of colors. It’s also no problem to cut them into different shapes to accommodate odd size objects. Because they have fold out panels, you can layer diffusion material over the top.
I use white backgrounds as much as possible and over-expose them slightly to make them pop and hide any imperfections in the material.
Lighting
Your studio flashes in a softbox or umbrellas will be fine. Space them off to each side at a high angle. The goal is to reduce shadows as much as possible. If it’s a glass object and you’re worried about catch lights, use some fabric cover over the top of the background panels.
Float the object to eliminate shadows – If you can float the object on a piece of glass raised three or four inches, you can eliminate most of the shadows. Pick the angle of shot to eliminate reflections or use a polarizer.
Use a Longer Lens
I use an 85mm in front of an APS-C sensor, slightly longer than you’d use for a portrait.
Take Lots of Photos
Take pictures from different angles, top and bottom views and with any accessories or options attached. Most people will just want the straight in look, but those who are really interested will look at all the pictures you have. My experience with successful eBay sellers indicates those who use the maximum number of pictures sell more items.
The work is in the setup. Once you have the staging, you might as well shoot all the angles.