Product Photography Tips

I'm no professional, nor do I have a fancy $900 camera. I own a Coolpix S6300 :) It works lovely for what I do. Here's just some tips I've learned or expirimented with while taking pictures of the stuff I make

• Refrain from using flash! Flash on a camera will make your picture look washed out and not as detailed.
• Use the sunlight when it's available. Every tutorial I've read or watched always says to use the sunlight as your "flash". It makes the product look natural and you'll be able to see fine details easier
• Use a simple-ish background. This can help market your items and give you're business a "look". It just depends on the product. Sometimes busy backgrounds look better with different items, and sometimes it can be distracting. But in the end it's up to you. The best thing to do it play around with different textures, patterns and colors and find what works for you. Or when all else fails, a plain white background always works :P
• When you want to take pictures when it's dark out, or you can't get access to a sunny window, use a light box. This contraption was super easy to make and it works very well! There's tons of tutorials on the web. All you need is  a cardboard box, box cutter or scissors, Tissue paper/ tracing paper, tape or glue, a lamp with a bendy neck annnnnnd whatever you're using as a background. I'm currently using a light blue fabric with a semi sheer white polka dot fabric on top. I think it makes a nice effect :P
• Edit your pictures! You don't need a super expensive photo editing program to get quality pictures of your subject. Just a few simple edits will make your pictures pop! I don't mess with Photoshop because I'm not too tech savvy so what I use is ipiccy.com. It has easy to use filters and features to crop, touch up, and lighten your photos . Usually what I do is crop the photo to make the object be either in the center or to the left or right to make it more interesting. Then I apply vignette. I have found that it makes the product pop and makes it look a little more fancy :) Then I add a border and voila! 

Anywhoo, these are just a few tips I have found to get product pictures a little more professional looking. Hope they helped ^.^