The Best Camera Settings for Product Photography

Product photography isn't as difficult as it sounds. If you can adjust your camera settings properly then you can have great product photos. The last thing you will have to do is optimizing your product photos.

The best camera settings for product photography are not fixed. It depends on the product and the feel you want your photos to radiate. In this simple guide, you will get the idea and adjust the camera settings according to the result you want to have before the product photo optimization. So, let's get started.

Shoot in RAW Format

RAW files are also called digital negatives, for they play the same role as the negative does in film photography.

RAW is a file format that is uncompressed, with no automatic adjustments made. They are also processed at the highest image size possible according to the size of your camera sensor.

When shooting product photography, it’s vital that you shoot in RAW.

If you are e.g. a wedding photographer and you need to shoot many photographs then can just shoot in .jpeg. This is because the images will not need much optimization or processing later.

Product photography demands a lot of finessing during post-processing.

Shooting in RAW will allow you to retouch product photos without wasting any of the data. RAW format also gives you a much wider spectrum of color to work with. This is essential if your photographs will go to print.

Shoot in Manual Mode

When you’re a novice, one of the speediest ways to improve your photography is to learn how to shoot in manual mode.

Manual mode allows you to set -at least- 3 main things:

• your preferred aperture

• shutter speed

• ISO.

These camera settings are responsible for the brightness of your photo (exposure). They affect the overall look of the image.

When shooting in auto mode, you’re letting the camera do the job. It might be tempting, but it unusually gives you absolute exposure.

The automatic mode is a camera's guess and it 's impossible to be accurate all the time. On most occasions, lighting conditions are far from ideal.

On these occasions, we need to be able to take control of our camera settings to capture the right exposure and get the most reliable results.

Use a Small Aperture

Aperture points to the size of the opening in the lens that lets light pass through to the camera’s sensor.

A small aperture is a high f-stop number, like f/16 or f/22.

F/1.8 will let a lot of light into your lens, while f/22 will allow very little.

So why would you want to use a small aperture in product photography? Because the aperture also controls the depth of field.

This is the area of your shot that’s in focus. When shooting products, they should be completely in focus.

This is not as significant in some other types of still life photography, such as jewelry photography. Blurry backgrounds are truly a beneficial aesthetic there.

Keep Your ISO Low

When thinking of exposure settings for product photography, it’s commonly favorably to keep your ISO as low as possible. ISO settings control how sensitive your camera sensor is to light.

Setting your ISO high is helpful when shooting in low light situations or with smaller apertures. The obstacle is that it also injects a grainy quality into your photos identified as “noise“.

Noise will deteriorate the quality of the image. It can be fixed slightly in post-processing but the results are always messy and the procedure is time-consuming.

That's why working with a small aperture and high ISO needs artificial light.

Use a Low Shutter Speed

How fast your shutter opens and closes? That what you set with adjusting the shutter speed. Higher shutter speeds will let you "freeze" the shooting subject. Slower speeds can create motion blur which is preferable in very specific cases.

In product photography, there's no motion. This is why you should avoid even the slightest motion.

It’s essential that you shoot product photography on a tripod with low shutter speed. This will assist you to bring more light into your camera.

Your photos need to be sharp and crisp.

A tripod will also free up your hands. It will let make adjustments without losing your frame.

Lighting setup for shooting product photography

Select the Appropriate White Balance

To get images that render whites and every other color accurately, you need to fix your white balance.

This will differ depending on the lighting circumstances. Ideally, you’ll be using studio lights like a couple of mono heads or even spotlights.

In this case, you can put your camera’s flash setting on ‘Daylight” and adjust later what needed in Photoshop.

When shooting in natural daylight, you should establish your white balance to “Auto”. Use a grey card to get an accurate reading of the white balance so that you can adjust it later in Lightroom.

Auto white balance is rarely taking the right decision for you. It gives a blue shade when shooting in natural light.

White balance is quite significant in product photography especially if you’re shooting on a white background.

Use Automatic Focus

You might feel capable of manually focusing your camera but the automatic focus rarely dysfunctions.

If your camera has many focus points to choose from, you don’t have to bother about getting your subject into focus.

In product photography, it’s very crucial for the entire product to be in precise focus. The purpose is to represent it accurately to the consumer.

By using automatic focus, you can set your camera to lock focus on your subject, resulting in absolutely sharp images.

Retouch Your Product Images

Product photography always requires retouching. It’s essential for the photographs to look as clear as possible. This means proper lighting and color treatment.

Retouching in Photoshop is the ultimate step that will get your images to look as professional as possible.

That's why great product photos lead to more sales. Read also the ten image optimization tips to boost your sales.

Conclusion

Product photography can be a very challenging yet worthwhile kind to shoot. The answer is using the right camera settings on a tripod to guarantee you take sharp photos. And then you can close by cleaning up the images in post-production.