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How to photograph a clear liquid bottle using inexpensive gear and unusual modifiers

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Bottles are always a fun and challenging photography experiment, especially ones that contain crystal clear liquids like vodka. I don’t buy vodka often and when I do, it rarely tends to stay full long enough to have any time in front of the camera, but Dustin at Workphlo has definitely put some thought into photographing this one using some low budget kit and very interesting techniques.

If you’ve watched Dustin’s videos before, you’ll know he’s a fan of compositing when it comes to product photography. And this particular technique pretty much requires it as he cuts paper to act as reflectors on just small sections of the bottle’s label.

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These are three biggest mistakes you make when shooting beverages

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Shooting reflective surfaces can be a tricky task, especially if you’re a beginner. And naturally, we all make mistakes. In this video, Alex Koloskov talks about the three biggest mistakes photographers make when shooting beverages, but he also teaches you how to fix them so you can improve your photos.

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How to shoot atmospheric photos of glass with just a couple of speedlights

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Photographing glass can be a very tricky topic if you don’t know how to approach it. It doesn’t react to light the way that most of the subjects we shoot do, because there’s really nothing to actually light. It’s all about the lit objects that reflect off it or refract through it.

You don’t need a lot of fancy gear to photograph glass, though, and in this video from Dustin at Workphlo, we see how we can photograph glass with a very simple setup utilising just a couple of speedlights, a small strip softbox and a diffuser.

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This is how table affects light when photographing wine bottles

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There are many things to pay attention to if you want to take flawless product photos. One of them is certainly the surface you use for placing the products. While it can be important how it looks, the table you use also affects the light. In this video, Dustin Dolby of workphlo shows you just how much of a difference it can make when you use tables of different sizes.

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Here’s how to light a product with only one or two lights

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Light is one of the key elements of photography, and product photography is no exception. If you’re just starting out, it’s certainly good to learn how to work with light and get the look you want. In this video, Jay P Morgan shows you how to create simple lighting setups with just one or two lights and how to control the light so that you achieve different results.

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How to deal with tricky reflective surfaces and create stunning product photos

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When doing product shots in the studio, reflective surfaces could be very tricky to handle. But of course, there are methods to deal with them and light them to show all their beauty. In this video, Dustin Dolby of Workphlo shares a comprehensive tutorial on lighting and photographing tricky, reflective products. And what’s more, you don’t need fancy gear. Prepare simple lighting modifiers, your DIY spirit, and Photoshop.

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Here are Five product photography tips and tricks to get those creative juices flowing

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Product photography is a lot of fun to experiment with, even if you’re not a product photographer. It can teach us things about composition, light and how different surfaces react to that light which we might not otherwise have discovered. But once you’ve gone past the basics, how do you push yourself to go that bit further?

In this video, the folks at COOPH offer up five great tips for creative product photography that you might not have thought of. Some will challenge your technical abilities while others are just to get those inspirational juices flowing.

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The Photon is a product photography “light tent” updated for the 21st century

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The humble light tent is both loved and loathed by product photographers all over the world. On the one hand, it’s a great way to get some quick and easy, relatively clean shots of small products for eBay or your online store. But on the other, they don’t exactly offer the kind of control that a lot of product photographers strive for.

Well, the light tent has seen a technological upgrade. This is the Photon, which is essentially three customisable light panels that cover your products which you can control from your phone to emit whatever light pattern you desire. It’s just gone live on Kickstarter today, and it’s already pretty close to its goal in just a couple of hours.

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This genius trick gives you an infinite white background for shooting small products

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This is one of the coolest “hacks” I’ve seen in a while. When tasked to shoot a bunch of small products on a white seamless, you have two options. You can either build a white seamless set, light it and get everything just perfect. But that takes a lot of time and effort.

The other option is what filmmaker Justin Gustavison did. He strapped a white piece of card to his camera, placed the camera on a turntable and then surrounded it with the subjects he had to shoot. Justin posted the results to Instagram and it looks like it works brilliantly.[Read More…]

How to shoot professional-looking product photos with just one light

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There are plenty of cheap, DIY product photography tricks (the one with a garbage can will probably forever be my favorite). If you’re on a tight budget, you can always use one of these and get professional-looking shot without using tons of expensive gear. In this video, Ed Verosky shows you how to take great product photos at home using just one light.

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