In this first post, I will teach you how to set up a photo studio at home on a bootstrapped budget. You will be surprised to see how easily you can turn your living room (or spare bedroom, garage, etc.) into your own home photography studio so that you can consistently produce quality white background product images for your online store. The home photo studio below cost less than $300 USD to set up (with camera!), and you will be pleasantly surprised with the results.
You can use this setup to shoot a range of products such as clothing, footwear, accessories, jewelry, and more! Let's get started.
Part 1: Home Photo Studio Shopping List
Professional photo studio lighting equipment can be confusing and expensive. The good news is that it's possible to create the same quality images without the bulky, high-tech equipment most professional photo studios use.
High-end equipment and gadgets do have their benefits, but they simply are not necessary to create great looking product images.
High-end equipment has its benefits but is not necessary to create great looking product images.
The bare essentials list of at-home photo studio equipment:
1. Camera ($320)
Everyone has a camera these days, whether it's built into your phone, an old point-and-shoot or something more on the professional side. I am here to say that you don't need the best of the best for great product images.
That being said, if you have room in the budget for a quality machine, go for it. Keep in mind that your camera is just 1 of 5 factors that will affect the final outcome of your product images. Your home photography studio setup, lighting, product styling, and using the best product image editing service all play an important role in the creation of quality product images.
So don't stress about the camera. I suggest that you first try to use what you have at home before you go on a shopping spree (here's a guide to smartphone product photography). If you are set on buying new equipment, I suggest that you purchase a camera that at a minimum has manual settings for exposure and aperture.
What to buy? Well there are tons of great cameras on the market, and for the budget conscience E-tailer, I suggest something along the lines of a Canon PowerShot SX620 HS, which is more than enough camera to get the job done. This camera retails at $230, has manual settings, takes clean and crisp images at 22 Megapixels, and has built-in wifi capabilities. Remember that you can also get a great deal on used cameras on eBay or Craigslist to bring the price down even further!
2. Memory Card ($9)
Don't forget your SD memory card! This is what your camera will use to store your images on during a photo shoot. Memory is cheap these days and a modest capacity SD card (+16GB) shouldn't run more than $10 bucks. For DIY product photography, you don't need to worry about speed class. Without going into detail, speed is more relevant with video or burst photography.
$7 – SanDisk 16GB SD Memory Card
3. Tripod ($13)
A tripod is an essential part of your home photography studio because it will allow you to stabilize your camera and work in rooms where the lighting is not optimal (such as your living room!).
In the second part of this post, I will show you how to adjust your camera's manual settings depending on the light in your studio. You do not need to spend a lot of money on a tripod, but it is absolutely essential that you buy one. Below, I have listed a great budget friendly option:
$13 – Lightweight Camera Mount Tripod Stand With Bag - 16.5 - 50 Inches
4. Roll of Seamless White Paper ($35)
To create a seamless white photo backdrop, I recommend that you buy a large roll of white paper to place behind your product. You can buy rolls of white paper at most office supply and camera stores.
It is important to get a long roll of white paper, because you need to create a seamless white "sweep" (a curved seamless background behind the product), in order to reduce the amount of post-production work your images will require after shooting. There's a reason e-commerce photography is synonymous with white background photography.
The width of the roll of paper should be larger than the product you are photographing. I recommend a good standard size of 53 inches across. You can find ones that are smaller and wider, but this is a great length for most product sizes. It may not work for large products like furniture and equipment, or shooting on-model apparel; in those cases you will want something wall length and large.
$35 – Savage Seamless White Backdrop Paper 53” wide x 12 yards
5. Foam Core Board ($23)
Use a piece of white foam board ("foam core") as your reflector. White foam boards are utilized for "bouncing" light from the window of your studio back onto your product. The purpose of using a foam "reflector" is to reduce the shadow on the side of the product opposite to the window. This technique provides "fill light" and will give your product an even, clean look. Like the white paper roll, you can find foam core board at most office supply and camera stores.
6. Folding Table ($100)
You will also need a photo table to allow your white backdrop "sweep" to fall across, so you can position and style your product accordingly. You don't want your product too high or too low, because it won't be comfortable or easy for you to take photographs of your product. I suggest a foldable card table for easy clean up. You can use the photo table anywhere, making its portability very convenient as well! You can find tables like this under $50 at your local hardware store or online.
7. Duct Tape or Clamps ($9-$22)
You will also want a few rolls of tape or clamps to secure your white paper sweep backdrop to your photo table so nothing moves while you are photographing your product. Duct tape is quick, convenient and easy to find, while clamps make for easy clean up and reusability. You can find both at your local hardware store.
8. Window ($0)
Last on our list (and most important) is having access to a large window that allows for a lot of natural light. Make sure you do a little house cleaning and clear some space in the room to work around the window. The key is having ample natural light and a workspace that allows you to move around comfortably while taking photographs.
Whatever the size of your product, you will want the window to be significantly larger. The bigger the window/light source the more even and soft light there will be. The smaller the window/light source the less light and more directional it will be. If you are photographing small earrings, a smaller window will work fine—but in my case I am photographing shoes, so the bigger and wider the better.
In most cases, utilize the largest window in your home. The windows I have used are in my dining room and measure 50" by 50". Just remember, when it comes to DIY studio lighting, the bigger the window is the better.
So that's it! Now just head out to the store, and for under $300 you will be converting your spare bedroom room into a home product photography studio. Just don't tell your spouse that you learned these tips from us! Now that you have all the necessary equipment to photograph your products, follow my next steps and get your home photo studio set up in 10 minutes or less!
Part 2: How to Set Up Your DIY Photo Studio
Step 1: Table & Window (1 minute)
Start by positioning your foldable table near your window. Our goal is to have even, natural light on the product. That being said, it's important to point out that we do not want direct sunlight to hit the set. I will cover the optimal time to photograph your products in Part 2 of this post. You should also be sure to allow yourself enough room to move around the table to style and shoot your product once the backdrop is set up. I've learned that being in a small space can literally cramp your style.
Step 2: Seamless White Backdrop Paper & Tape (3 minutes)
Now unroll your white background paper roll and tape it to a wall, ceiling, or something that can hold it up (like a large box or a book stand). I will be using my ceiling, because my window is in the middle of the room and this will allow my paper sweep to fall nicely onto the photo table. Tape the sides of the paper to the table as well, so your setup doesn't move while you are shooting pictures. Stabilizing the white photo backdrop also helps me keep things clean and organized which allows me to focus on my camera.
Step 3: Product (3 minutes)
Before placing your product on the white background sweep, make sure to clean and prep your object before you photograph it. This sounds like common sense, but you would be surprised how many people forget this critical step! Keep in mind that a little cleaning can save you a lot of post-production work. If you are photographing jewelry, make sure to clean and shine all your chains and gems.
If you are photographing footwear, make sure to brush, shine or clean off any dust or scuff marks. This can reduce your post-production time greatly, but don't worry if your product isn't 100% perfect, as it is possible to fix the remaining defects in Photoshop.
Make sure to clean and prep your object before you photograph it.
Now place your product in the middle of your white backdrop and directly in front of where your camera will be placed. I am photographing a pair of women's heeled pumps, and I will be taking multiple images of this shoe to capture as many angles as possible for my product listing. When you rotate your product, make sure to keep your tripod, camera, and object in the exact same place for each shot, so that the product is framed the same way for all images. Doing so will make your images more consistent and will reduce the amount of post-production time needed to perfect the images.
Step 4: White Foam Board "Fill Light" (2 minutes)
Depending on the window light that enters your room and the color of your product, you may need to add extra "fill light" to complete your DIY photography lighting with even lighting on each side of the product. As I explained earlier, the larger the light source the more light on your subject.
Without Fill Light
With Fill Light
In my case, I have a great large light source, but I am photographing a black suede pump and generally black products need an extra fill to see texture and detail (because it's darker). To do so, I cut a small piece from my foam core board and propped it up vertically using a roll of duct tape. You can get creative with what you use for the prop. The important things are that your foam board stands straight, is positioned opposite to the window, and is the same size as your subject or larger. When set up, the light coming through the window will bounce off the bright white board and "fill" the shadows on the left (darker) side of the shoe. As you can see in my images above, the bounced light fills in the back and side of the shoe nicely allowing for detail to be present.
Step 5: Camera & Tripod (1 minute)
Extend the legs of your tripod and adjust it until the top of the tripod is flush with the surface of the table. Make sure your tripod is level because it will be easier to adjust your camera when it is attached. Now, attach the camera to the screws or clip on your tripod.
DO: add extra free space on top and bottom
DON'T: too tight around product
It's good to fill your product in the frame of your camera, but make sure to leave space around it.
Once your camera is secure, start playing with the position of the tripod by looking through the viewfinder on your camera while directed at your product. You will want to fill your product in the frame of your camera, but make sure to leave extra space around your subject so you have room in the image.
You may need to raise the neck of the tripod like I have, to ensure the best possible view of your product from top to bottom. If you feel like you're too close or too far away, try utilizing the zoom feature on your camera lens. In my case, I have a fixed (or "prime") lens, which means I cannot zoom in and out with it. I will have to manually move my tripod and camera closer or farther from my subject.
The benefit to using a prime lens is that you can get closer with a lower aperture and achieve quality images. But since we need a higher aperture and won't be using lower ones, the benefit to having a zoom on your camera or lens is that you can position yourself close or far from your product, which allows much more versatility. This may change what you set your aperture and shutter speed to, but I will explain those in the next lesson!
So that's it: one trip to an office supply store, a $300 dollar equipment investment, and 10 minutes worth of home photography studio prep time and you are now set to start shooting great looking product images! That wasn't as bad as you thought it would be, right? In the second part of this post I will explain exactly how to optimize your images by using your camera's manual settings. In part three, I'll show you how to edit product images, if you don't want to use an online photo retouching service.