(Part 2) Reddit mentions: The best photo shooting tents

Honestly, I get a lot of compliments on my food photos, but I know I still have a lot to learn. In particular, I usually do a pretty rushed job because I've just finished cooking and now I want to eat! That said:

• Make sure you have lots of light, in particular natural light. My kitchen is good for a few hours during the day, but I installed a daylight bulb in the overhead fixture to make it a little more usable for photography. (Unfortunately, the daylight bulb makes the kitchen look a little too cool in real life!) I also bought a cheap photo tent and a couple of lights on Amazon for when I'm cooking at night.
  
• You want a nice, clean plate. I don't try to get fancy with arranging things — I usually just pile it high in the center of the dish — but I'll wipe down the edges of the plate if I splatter something, and maybe sprinkle on some chopped herbs or grated cheese on top of the dish to give it some visual variety.
  
• I take most of my photos pretty close up. I should really use a macro lens, but I haven't bought one yet. Instead, I use a 35mm lens that can still focus pretty close, and then I crop in even more in Photoshop. Shooting close, especially with a large aperture on the lens (which you can only really control if you have an SLR camera), helps give very selective focus, which almost always looks good in a food shot.
  
• The food I like to cook uses a lot of vegetables and is thus pretty colorful. It's always harder when you're photographing something that's just brown! This is yet another reason to eat your veggies.
  
• Lastly, for the book, everything gets a little boost in Photoshop. Most photos don't look that great out of the camera, but just auto levels (which corrects the exposure) and a +10 to the color saturation helps a lot.

By market research, I meant to go look at other shops and what other people are making and how they're pricing it. :) Typically, how you price your products will be at the very least enough to cover your production expenses. Because if you can break even, then you're not losing money, right? However, as a business, that's not very practical, and you need to have some kind of profit in order to grow and develop new items. So find the price point that will break even, then add more depending on how much profit you want to make. That's the very basic, very simplified version of it. You also then have to consider what other people are paying for similar products, and then you have to think, "If I price my item at the same price or a higher price, what can I do to make the consumer choose MY product over my competitors'?"

Think about what kind of brand image you want to convey as well and make sure it's cohesive!

This lighting cube thing plus some really good sunlight or white/daylight bulbed lamps will be great for photography. If you don't want to spend on a DSLR, you can always get a higher megapixel point and shoot that has good macro functioning and then experiment with that to see what angles/lighting/setup/etc. give the best visual representation of your product.

Edit: By rules and stuff, I meant generally, what is the bare minimum that you need to achieve in order to sell something that will go on someone's skin? A full ingredients list, for example, and any declaration of plausible allergens. Etc.

Hope that helps!

I just took a photo.

At one point I was in the process of making a couple mockups to use but, given that I work with several different breweries that use many different label sizes, it just seemed easier to go the photo route instead of building like 15 different mockups.

It all depends on how you decide to display things on your website. I like to have it so it looks like the cans are floating on my page so I just have to ensure I get the photo right so I can completely blowout the background to white.

I do this with a $25 studio lightbox I got off amazon; it even came with 2 little tripod lights. I'm not sure why it's currently listed for $36 though, it was $25 when I bought it. Anyway, this way it only takes a little post editing to totally knockout the background.

An actual digital mockup might be easier for certain aspects of the process but if you're going to have numerous label sizes to accommodate different can and bottle dimensions it might just be easier to go the photo route.

In addition to all these other tips

- Get a tripod with an adapter like this if you're using cell pics:https://www.bestbuy.com/site/joby-gorillapod-3k-smart-k or just a regular tri-pod if you're using a digital camera. If you're using a digicam, read the manual. It has good advice and will teach how to get the right settings.

- Do you not have windows? Maybe create a photo "studio" there that includes all your photog tools.

- Add your personality! Do you love fiesta plates? Fine bone china? Rustic metal cutlery? Figure out your "aesthetic" and maybe buy some (cheap-ish) dishes especially for plating. If you like a really clean, product-style aesthetic, light boxes are your friend.

I've never used bellows for macro before but I've used a cheaper version of those extension tubes. Do you think something like this soft box light tent would help with the shadows? I got one for product photos at work and have just started getting interested in doing some macro stuff again, it's been a pretty long time. By the way, your other photos are really nice as well.

Just two things;

You may want to invest in a Light Tent, something cheap like this would work, for your images of accessories and kits. The lighting in the images could really be better, and would help give the viewer a more clear image of what they are buying.

Additionally, there is nothing in the "Support" tab, maybe just some contact info or something. Perhaps even additional FAQ information could go there...something.

Otherwise, the site looks nice! I'd buy from you!

if I win, I love rootbeer, and am proud of my own DIY rootbeer, but would love to try yours! 18-12mg is fine for me, in a 50/50 pg/vg if possible

Miniature photography is one of my favorite hobbies, for the best results I suggest spending the money on a good light box with diffused sides and top such as this . After that got to lowes/home depo/ harware store get a few clamp lamps and some day light bulbs for them. Put one lamp over the top and one on each side. (I put mine at a 45 degree angle so half goes to the sides and half to the front of the box.) So for $70 bucks max you will have a perfect set up for shooting minis, just remember to do things like focus stacking to get fully focused shots. In my flikr pool is examples of this, almost 90% of the stuff here is shot in a light box with this setup.

Yeah, I've just found the photo tent idea and did a quick google search. This seems like a good thing to start with. Quite cheap, I can test the waters and build something better later on. I don't know if 60x60 or 80x80 though. Considering that the LACK table is only 50x50, on the outside, I guess 60x60 should do the trick? Just have to find a way to handle filament hen, it may fit in with 80x80 too. Hm.

This one and this one look cool too. With included LEDs, so camera would work better. Maybe even a permanent solution.

I have both, as in the first link and more modern version with built in LED lights that not need to be changed every 6 months.

First version works well, but you have to replace 2400K halogen lamps with other free standing lamps with more suitable for photography color color temperature (5,500-6,500K), if CFL, they have to be changed every half of year or year.

With built-in LED, 6,500K lights are already included and no need to use additional space for free standing lamps. There are simpler plastic versions of it, like this. Many sellers offer it, at different prices.

I remind that my father loves Photography, I found this gift for him, he may loves it. Thanks for your advice!

Ah, gotcha. Just a single camera on a tripod with a turntable. I have one of the cheap amazon product photography diffuse box things to make lighting and masking way easier. The whole setup is pretty cheap. Outside of the camera, a d7000 and 50mm prime that I've had for years for normal photography, there's maybe 150 bucks in other stuff. It's pretty much: take part to scan, throw some baby powder at it, slap it on the turntable, rotate rotate rotate, adjust camera position, repeat as necessary.

https://www.amazon.com/ComXim-Professional-Photography-Turntable-Automatic/dp/B07KF4QDL8/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=photography+turntable&qid=1570398701&sprefix=photography+turnt&sr=8-3

Really the only thing I would state in general is improving the quality of the pictures. It's difficult to judge mini's when the picture of them is too far away, or blurry due to lighting. I highly recommend looking at the sidebar's photo tutorial to improve reception of your miniatures. Myself, I am getting a small lightbox to aid in photography. Not to mention it makes your mini's look better if you have a professional (or at the very least) clean looking background.

Pretty decent actually. It's amazing some of the terrible photography you see on eBay... and a lot of it still sells. These aren't perfect but they're good enough to sell the item.

I use this and I'm very happy with it. Only issue is that it's not great for bigger items. https://www.amazon.ca/StudioPRO-Portable-Photography-Lighting-Lightbox/dp/B00TIAH33U/ref=sr_1_11?s=photo&ie=UTF8&qid=1523894242&sr=1-11&keywords=photography+lighting+kit

As a beginner, use a light box aka a light tent.

Indoors with a light box gives you the most control. Being made out of glass, those items will reflect everything around them, so you want to be able to control those reflections and place them exactly where you want them.

You'll want to be able to vary the intensity of the light, and its distance from the light box. You may at some point want to use more than one light. You'll be more productive and learn more working inside under controlled conditions instead of trying to use the sun.

I use this one. You might also want to look into:

• lintless gloves to handle the merch without leaving fingerprints or lint
  
• tacky wax to hold things in place as you photograph them
  
• bulb blower or canned air
  
• different surfaces on which to photograph your products, whatever you can find
  
• a laptop and/or capture software for shooting tethered, I recommend Capture One
  
• a retouching service, they can be pretty inexpensive and give your images a final polish, work the cost into your fee
  
  Some of this might sound like overkill, until you start shooting.

I'm using this Light Box. It's really decent value for the money and I'm glad it has a second LED strip since most similarly priced boxes only include 1.

As for camera, I'm just using my Samsung Galaxy S6's camera set to "pro" mode and I'm saving the images into a raw format. I'm still dialing in on the ideal exposure and shutter speed settings to get the contrast and colors to really pop.

I have this one and it's nice because the 2 mini sub ends go to one regular sub port so you only need one charger.

www.amazon.com/Upgraded-Foldable-Portable-Background-Adjustable/dp/B01JHR5I8A/ref=redir_mobile_desktop?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&ref=yo_pop_d_yo_pop_d_pd_t2

thing works great.

I bought this one and am very happy with it.

picked up this as well, and while the lightbox is really nice and folds up flat, the lights are kind of shit, at least for my needs. you could probably do better

the macro stand, though, I'd buy that again in a minute if I needed it. It's designed very well and has a nice geared track.

Thank you so much! I try really hard for good pics! I just use my Samsung Galaxy S8 with this light box!

One small critique.

For your finished pieces you want to show off, invest in a photo tent.
They don't cost much and they will help to direct peoples focus on the piece and not the Tidy Cat box in the background.

For "in progress" stuff, take any picture. :P

I know, it took me quite a while to remove the shadows even to this point. I just ordered one of these, so next time it'll hopefully be a lot easier!

My phone has a really awesome camera (Carl Zeiss on the Nokia Lumia 950). I bought a light box and did a little test shot. It's a smaller box than I imagined (I don't have large items anyway), but it works really well. $16 on Amazon.

Something like this is what you need. This set includes lights and makes it easy to take professional photos for your postings.

I was mistaken about the Sony. It's capable of creating 240 Megapixel images from a 4x4 array of image captures via pixel shifting!
https://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sony-a7r-iv-initial-review-what-s-new-and-how-it-compares

I have no idea if it's a feature worth exploring for photogrammetry. I'm guessing that the extra pixels would be offset by extra noise and computation time. I hope I'm wrong and it turns out to be the holy grail of cameras for photogrammetry.

I'm on the same page with you about the turntable. I don't remember who mentioned it here recently but they found a $99 motorized turntable with an 88 lb. capacity and a remote control on Amazon. By the time I got around to buying it, the price had already dropped to $62! I doubt I could make one for that price.

The price is now back up to $90, but that's still a great deal in my opinion. I can't wait to try it out.

• Soft box - Nice even light distribution, more commonly used to product photography.
  
• Any strobe will do, even remotely triggered speedlites
  
• Polarized Filter for your lens - Wet surfaces reflect light back to the camera, causing highlight spots. Using polarized filters, you can limit this side effect.
  
• Macro Lens - Only if you need to really get up close to the food. Very close focus
  
  

Not the Amazon basics. One made by Havox. The backdrops are made from thick laminated paper/cardboard. They bend and can be rolled up. It's matte and almost no reflections. But sometimes you can see the color of the item cast in the shadow. (Which is not really a reflection).
I chose this one because they include 4 light strips, have good CRI (for realistic colors), and it is pretty sturdy, yet very lightweight.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071VW8BX2/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_ajADCb22CQZ76

Thanks! Its actually extremely simple. I use a lightbox from amazon that has a built-in LED strip (https://www.amazon.com/Fredhome-Portable-Lightbox-Photography-Backgrond/dp/B01M0HCVKM/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1493021664&sr=8-8&keywords=light+box+led) and I take the pics in RAW format on my iPhone. I later edit them on Lightroom.

http://www.amazon.com/Polaroid-Studio-Includes-Carrying-Backdrops/dp/B0057OX3JY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1418402909&sr=8-1&keywords=portable+photo+studio

It's only a touch more expensive (like £3 more!). Also, free shipping.

This is pretty cheap and looking at the reviews, it doesnt seems like a bad place to start.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01K42ZCXI/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_v.VtzbFE4JGJ4

Yup that'll work. You can also get a professional one pretty cheap too.
http://www.amazon.com/CowboyStudio-Product-Photography-Chroma-Backdrops/dp/B001TKD6WY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1343681747&sr=8-1&keywords=product+soft+box

Alright so we have one of those tent things the owners had bought before. It looks similar to this: Tent Thingy
It only has the blue option for a backdrop but maybe I can order a white one for it. Some of our product is blue and does not stand out very well. Also no matter how hard I tried I could never get all of the wrinkles out. This was before I bought photoshop though so maybe with the clone tool I can fudge it.
I do have a question about the lighting. Are the lights special in anyway? We have a lot of these trouble lights around the shop that I could probably rig up somehow. I guess I just didn't realize the right way to use the tent thing.

your photos aren't the greatest. i'd advise staying away from patio furniture. you might want to invest in a light box. it seems like you only have 3 or 4 hats, for sale, you might want to keep it simple with a one page layout, without "related products". the full front page slideshow also seems a bit excessive, i'd go with a simple banner half banner without a slideshow, or just scrap it altogether and list your products instead. the full page and the black text at the top kinda bleed together. also, the word "baseball" on the back of the "LA" hat is misspelled.

I found a Studio Lightbox Tent, it looks good. What do you think of it?

1. set your white balance based on that white background before you start shooting.
   
   
2. the shadow is pretty harsh. if you can swing it, use a soft box, instead of the sun.
   
   if you try these 2 things, the lighting for your photos will be more consistent, and your shadows won't be nearly so harsh.
   
   edit: if all your pieces are small, like this one, you might consider a soft tent, which will soften those shadows more than a single soft box.

Hi Guys,

I want to built a small product photography space at my appartment and need some advice regarding the gear.

The image that I want to achieve should be pretty basic with maybe a little bit of styling later (from the front as well as from the top). Here are some examples: https://imgur.com/a/ykVy9Rz.

My problem is that I don't have a lot of space so the equipment has to be portable in some form and not a lot of experince in the field so I am not sure what to look for. I am rn thinking about a studiobox (like this).

Maybe you guys can recomment a specific product/setup. My budget is around 200-300€ but I am willing to pay more if it is worth it.

Like Lowfat_Cheese said, a light box works wonders, and doesn't break the bank: https://www.amazon.com/Foldable-Portable-Lighting-Background-adjustable/dp/B01JHR5I8A/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1495326749&sr=8-11&keywords=light+box

If you're looking to do product photography, focus on proper lighting first. I'd recommend you should get a small lens kit for your iPhone and one of these

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00TIAH33U/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_lpFYzbG1FDQQM

No matter what kind of lens you use, it really comes down to lighting. Properly diffused lighting. I would spend the $150-200 on a pair of strobes like this and product box like this. You'll also need this to fire the speedlights. It all comes out to about $135 before shipping.

If i was going to be spending that much money I'd go with the one that had 232 reviews for only $10 more.

http://www.amazon.com/StudioPRO-Portable-Product-Photography-Lighting/dp/B00TIAH33U/

Get a product photography setup, like this light box. Then get a mini rotating table like this.

This usually runs around 19$ depending on availability: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GKG4JVE/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_lO5Syb549D0KW

This is the kit I bought:
https://www.amazon.com/Fovitec-StudioPRO-Photography-Fluorescent-Lighting/dp/B00TIAH33U/ref=pd_sim_421_3?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B00L5TGT82&pd_rd_r=ZW5E866HS7TXEB73390Q&pd_rd_w=3TTgm&pd_rd_wg=a3QBQ&refRID=ZW5E866HS7TXEB73390Q&th=1

I had my own mirrorless camera and knew basic photography and photoshop. I bought:

https://www.amazon.com/CowboyStudio-Photography-Table-Studio-Lighting/dp/B002SOBPH8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1494214933&sr=8-1&keywords=cowboystudio+studio

and this

https://www.amazon.com/CowboyStudio-24in-Photo-Soft-Light/dp/B001TKEUNI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1494214955&sr=8-1&keywords=cowboystudio+light+box

and have done all my shots for 10 skus.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01JHR5I8A/ref=ox_sc_saved_image_6?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A2IXKAD5ED4Q12

They spent $50 on that? You can buy a reusable, collapsible unit for about half.

This one! Http://www.amazon.com/Idirectmart-Photo-Table-Studio-Photography/dp/B004LP8G0G/ref=wl_it_dp_o_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=M82GDJRYPF6Q&coliid=I3OYD1PK9DCFOJ

I have this light box on my wishlist.

I got one of these from Amazon. I have it set up next to a window and it really cuts down on the glare and shadows that I used to have when I started out taking photos.

www.amazon.com/CowboyStudio-24in-Photo-Soft-Light/dp/B001TKEUNI/