In photography, the right equipment can significantly impact your results. Whether you’re a seasoned professional or a beginner, investing in quality tools is crucial for capturing striking, high-quality images. This article offers a comprehensive list of product photography equipment, including essential shooting tools and lighting gear.
What equipment do I need for product photography: A list of essentials
Here is the product photography equipment list:
- Camera
- Lens
- Tripod
- Remote trigger
- External hard drive
- Backdrop
- Air blaster
Camera: The foundation of your product photography equipment
Your camera is the foundation of your photography equipment. When selecting a camera, you’ll typically choose between two types: cropped-sensor and full-frame. Full-frame cameras have larger sensors, enabling them to capture precise colors and produce a cleaner depth of field (the range in front of and behind the subject that remains in sharp focus). Cropped-sensor cameras, with their smaller sensors, capture slightly less detail, offer a reduced depth of field, and may alter focal lengths when using interchangeable lenses.
Both types can deliver professional-quality images, though full-frame cameras are often ideal for detailed shots of smaller items, such as jewelry or press-on nails.
Lens: Enhancing the quality, clarity, and depth of your photo
Investing in a quality lens can greatly enhance your image quality, impacting clarity, depth, and the overall look of your photos. A macro lens is ideal for detailed close-ups, while prime lenses offer sharp focus and superior image quality. Be sure to choose a lens compatible with your camera.
For product photography, commonly recommended lenses include a 100mm macro, a 60mm macro, and the versatile 24-70mm zoom lens.
- 100mm macro lens: With a 1:1 magnification ratio, the 100mm macro lens captures intricate details, making it perfect for small items like jewelry and accessories. Known for its sharpness and minimal distortion, it also creates a pleasing bokeh effect, adding a professional depth of field to highlight your subject.
- 60mm macro lens: This budget product photography equipment provides excellent sharpness and minimal distortion, making it suitable for medium-sized items like food or small electronics. Though it has a slightly lower magnification ratio than the 100mm, its compact, lightweight design makes it easy to use during extended shoots.
- 24-70mm zoom lens: The 24-70mm zoom lens is highly versatile, covering wide to telephoto focal lengths for various product sizes, from watches to furniture. Its constant f/2.8 aperture ensures consistent exposure and strong low-light performance, making it a favorite among professionals for diverse shooting conditions.
Tripod: Ensuring stability and consistency in your shoots
A tripod is a three-legged stand designed to hold your camera steady, making it essential for product photography to maintain consistent framing and composition across shots. It’s especially helpful when using slow shutter speeds, which are often needed for smaller apertures to achieve greater depth of field.
Using this product photography equipment is straightforward: place it on a stable surface, mount your camera, and adjust the legs and head to try out various heights and angles. For beginners, an affordable tripod works well—plenty of good options are available for under $30.
Remote trigger: Minimizing camera shake for sharper shots
A remote trigger helps eliminate the risk of camera shake, which can cause slight blurring when pressing the shutter button. It’s essential for all product photography sessions, especially when using a macro lens for intricate close-up shots with white backgrounds.
External hard drive: Storing your photos and maintaining workflow efficiency
Photography demands substantial storage space and processing power for both saving raw images and running editing software. To prevent overloading your computer’s internal drive, consider using an external hard drive for photo backups and to maintain an efficient workflow. For most photographers, a storage capacity of two to five terabytes should be sufficient for storing and backing up images.
Backdrop: Enhancing focus on your product with a clean background
A backdrop helps keep the attention on your product, highlighting its details without any background distractions. For a simple, solid color like white or light gray, you can easily use a large roll of paper, a white sheet, or a ready-made white backdrop. For smaller items, such as jewelry, a light tent is an excellent choice as it provides a clean background and is compact enough to fit in limited spaces.
Air blaster: Keeping your shooting environment and product photography equipment clean
Dust and debris can ruin your photos, so keep an air blaster handy to ensure a clean shooting environment. It’s also useful for regularly cleaning your camera lenses and bodies to maintain optimal performance. For example, the COLBOR AirMaxx A1 delivers 100,000 RPM airflow with noise under 85 dB, featuring a Type-C charging port and a compact design. It is ideal for photographers in any setting. You can use it to clean your photography equipment or as a blower for creative shooting effects.
Lighting equipment for product photography: Tools you need to upgrade product photos
While natural light works well for lifestyle photography, studio lighting is the standard for product shots. Here are the lists of lighting equipment for product photography:
- Continuous lights
- Diffusers
- Reflectors
Continuous lights: Offering consistent lighting and real-time previews for your product shots
Continuous lights are ideal for both product videography and photography, offering constant illumination of your subject and allowing you to see a real-time preview of your final shot. The photography lights sold at the Moman Store like portable Moman on-camera lights and professional COLBOR studio lights are great options for beginners featuring affordable prices and reliable performance.
Diffusers: Softening light if your product photography equipment produces harsh shadows or contrast
If your lighting setup for product photography produces harsh shadows or too much contrast, diffusing your light sources can help create a softer, more flattering effect. Here are some options to consider:
- Scrim: Scrims are the most cost-effective choice. You can use a white sheet, light fabric, or a ready-made Westcott scrim to diffuse the light by mounting it over your light source.
- Umbrella: Photography umbrellas offer a step up from scrims. They diffuse light outward, providing a broader, softer spread of light—ideal for larger products like furniture.
- Softbox: A softbox is often the most effective option. The walls on all sides trap the light, preventing it from spilling out, and focus the light onto your subject for a soft, even illumination.
Reflectors: Directing light on the product for balanced exposure
While not essential, reflectors are helpful when you need to direct light onto certain areas of irregularly shaped products with harsh shadows. Budget-friendly options like foam board and white poster board work well, but you can also find packs of light reflectors designed for photography.
FAQs
What is the list of 360 degree product photography equipment?
360-degree product photography showcases your items from various angles. To start capturing your own 360-degree images, the product photography equipment you’ll need includes a camera, some accessories, a turntable, and specific software.
- Camera: You can use anything from a point-and-click camera, a smartphone, or a high-end SLR.
- Tripod or camera mount: A stable setup is important to keep your camera steady during the shoot.
- Remote trigger: This helps avoid camera shake when triggering the shutter.
- Lights: Proper lighting is essential to make your product look its best.
- Turntable: Some turntables require manual rotation, while others connect to the camera via a computer, where photo capture software can automatically take shots.
- Photo editing software: Product photography tools like Adobe Lightroom are perfect for editing, toning, and cropping your images.
- 360-view software: This software turns your images into an interactive 360-degree view.
What gear is essential for DIY product photography?
To get started with DIY product photography, you'll need a camera, tripod, backdrop, reflectors, and lighting. A good digital camera or a smartphone with high-quality camera features can serve as your primary camera. A tripod is crucial for keeping your shots steady and ensuring sharp focus. For backdrops, you can use seamless paper, fabric, or even materials you have at home. Reflectors are useful for bouncing light and filling in shadows, and you can create DIY reflectors using foam boards or aluminum foil. Proper lighting is key; you can either invest in studio lights or use a combination of natural light and affordable options like table lamps and softboxes.
How do I set up product photography equipment for a home studio?
To set up a home studio, choose a spacious area with minimal distractions. Use a table to hold your backdrop and products. Position your lights at a 45-degree angle on either side of the product, and place reflectors to soften shadows. Mount your camera on a tripod, adjusting its height and angle to frame the subject properly. Ensure there’s enough room to move freely and make adjustments as necessary. Keep your studio clean, organized, and flexible, so it’s easy to adapt for different products.
