Lighting for Product Photography 101
In this article, we’re going to look at the top-three types of photography lights used for lighting objects. These work for both photo and video, and will help you create clean product shots every time.
Traditional Lighting Setups
The most common way to shoot products is against a seamless backdrop with soft lighting that is even on all sides. There are kits you can buy online for this purpose, but you can easily recreate a similar set up in your home.
An example of a backdrop and lighting set up.
You can use anything for your lights, as long as you add some diffusion to the light source. This can be something as fancy as a pair of Aperture 300 mark IIID lights with a dome (approx. $2600), or something more affordable, like clip-on lights with a dimmer and a frosted shower curtain (approximately $30).
You can always use colored lights or a colored backdrop to add a pop of color to your product. However, be sure to know where your image will be used. if it’s going on a website with a certain color scheme, make sure the colors in your photo are in harmony with it. You probably don’t want to use bright orange backdrops on the product shots if the image is going to live on a cool, dark-theme website (make sure you discuss all this with the art director before the day of the shoot).
High-Speed Photography
High Speed Note: If you’re shooting a product at high speed, either as a slow-mo video, or even as a still, you will need MUCH MORE LIGHT. Some people have a hard time with that concept, but think of it this way: cameras capture light. If you’re a dog rescuer and you can normally capture all the stray dogs in a town in an 8-hour day, then to capture 4x times as many dogs, you need to have 4x more dogs in your town. When you shoot at 120 FPS, you’re capturing the light approximately 5x faster than you would at 24fps. Cameras can compensate by opening up the iris more (which can make the shot blurry) or by turning up the gain (which can make the shot grainy). In short, to get cool shots like these: you’re gonna need MORE light.
A high speed shot of a falling cup of tea.
Context Matters
The best way to get people to believe a product is something they could use is to let them see other people using said product. This is a good way of communicating that your product isn’t vaporware, and that there are people like them out there using it everyday.
For a product shoot in the real world, you’ll want to leave the white backdrop behind. A simple 2 or 3 point lighting setup should be fine. If you have enough lighting, you can open the aperture to get a nice soft background. Blurring the background allows you to direct the attention of the viewer to the product itself.
For wider shots of a product, you’ll want to have at least one broad, soft source of light (this can be your key light as well). There is a pretty good one (that happens to be free) that comes up most mornings in the east. You can use a diffuser to soften the effects of the sun and eliminate harsh shadows.
For fill, you can often use that same free key light (the sun) by using a reflector. Mirrors aren’t great in most situations, as the reflection is too harsh. Instead, use something like a white piece of cardboard for a softer “bounce” of light. Or if you want “warmer” light, a pop-up 5-in-1 reflector will be your best friend.
If you need to do this cheaper, you can go DIY. Get some white foam core with a sticky side, and on the sticky side make a checkerboard of silver and gold foil. The white side will offer a nice diffused bounce, and the reverse side can be used to bring more light in on wider shots, and add warmth to faces.
A store-bought, 3-in-one reflector.
Drama Sells
Ahhh, the coolest product shot—very avant garde.
To get shots like these, be sure to use a strong back light. Any of the small LED panel lights will do the job. You can often get them with various color output modes to create even more contrast. You need to practice the art of light bouncing too, it’s not enough to have a strong back light. Your shot will be much more interesting if you add a slight bit of fill to the front of the image as well.
Using a slider for video shots of products? Experiment with putting the lights ON the slider. Again, small LED lights like the Aperture MC are good for this. The shadows will change as you move the camera across the slider, which can add drama to your shot.
Bonus: Accent Lights—Including the Ones you Already Have
Most shots can be made more exciting by adding some color and movement in the background. You can use something like Quazar tubes with colored gels, or even inexpensive LED light strips for this purpose. Or bring out your Christmas lights and wrap them around your foam core bounce board (or anything else)! A television is another awesome source of light that can show any color and you probably already own one. Using pops of color or other custom visuals can make for an exciting, dynamic backdrop.
You can even project the images captured by your camera and use them as the backdrop for other shoots, similar to what The Verge did for their iPhone 12 review.
Be careful with cheap LEDs, as they can look funky on video, due to refresh rates. Sometimes that can be corrected by adjusting the shutter speed in the camera, but the general rule of thumb is the better-quality light you use, the less problems you’re likely to have.
And that’s it! Start experimenting with products around your house, like jewelry and cosmetics, and try working with reflective surfaces, both on the product and in the environment. (I'd like to see some cool shots using mixing bowls as a reflective surface to emphasize a product!)
Now get out there and start shooting! And be sure to tag @TongalTeam to show off your cool practice shots.
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Note From Tongal: "Lighting for Product photography" is part of a series of Tongal Community-written blog posts that were originally sourced in the Tongal Blog Open Call Project. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Tongal. Read more Tongal Community-written posts here and then Pitch us a topic you'd like to write about for the Tongal Blog!
