Lighting Tips For Better Product Photography
The importance of photography is well understood when one goes through the pictures in the glossy pages, brochures, catalogues etc. and gets to see how attractive and perfect the object in focus appears. Product photography is in vogue and professional photographers are mainly aiming at becoming product photographers considering the importance of the same in the present times. While photographing an object, a professional photographer will always have to keep a number of things in mind. They cannot simply place the object before the camera and start clicking. This is what laymen do, and this is the reason why these layman photographs are never of any real value.
The first aspect of professional photography relates to lighting. Photography lighting refers to the kind of lights the objects are exposed to while being pictured in film. When the lights are conducive, the photographs will come out well. now the question is what is meant by ‘conducive lights for photography’. When we speak of suitable lights, we basically refer to what is known as ‘soft light’. Soft lights are those that do not cast very dark shadows of the object which has to be photographed. This is in comparison with harsh lights, that tend to cast very dark shadows. Take for example, photographing in the sun in the summer afternoon will never produce anything of value and can lead to one of the worst product photography ever. However, when one pictures the object in a shaded area in the same summer afternoon, the effect will be dramatically different.
Photographing a product can take place both indoors (that is, in a photography studio) or, outdoors. In either case, one will have to ensure that the light is soft. To determine whether the existing light is harsh or, soft, one will just have to take any object and place it against the source of light. If it casts a very dark shadow, the light source is surely harsh; and if there is very light shadow or, no shadow at all, the light can be considered soft and good for photographing the product in question. Photography lighting can be altered at will. This means, if the lights happen to be harsh, it can be converted into soft lights. For this the product photographers usually make good use of external aid.
Take for example, if the lights in the studio happen to be harsh, the photographers use white cloth or translucent plastic to cover it and make it softer. Other methods like bouncing the lights from opaque walls and other matt surfaces can help in diffusing the harsh light and make it soft. Diffusion of light is also possible out doors. While you cannot in any way cover the sun with translucent plastic or, white cloth, you can wait for cloud cover to diffuse the otherwise harsh light or, can use a shade. The purpose of product photography is to project the image of the product in the best possible way. Some areas may have to be highlighted and the others may have to be subdued. Placing the light source at different angles, like the sides, top, bottom etc can achieve this effect.
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