Recently I bought a new watch. As a photographer, I did what any crazy normal photographer would do – I took lots of photos of it.

Needless to say, after taking a bunch of product shots of my watch I was all excited and needed something else to photograph… but what next?

The only thing that came to hand was a pack of mints. But these weren’t just any mints; they were a girly and very pink tin of peppermint mints – complete with a slide away compact mirror. Don’t leave home without one.

I swear they weren’t my mints. Honest.

I bought this watch when I was in Canada. It is made by the well known Canadian brand Roots.

How to bring out the best in a product

I enjoy the challenge of product photography. It’s not as simple as it might seem. Getting an exposed and in focus image is one thing; however, bringing out the best in a product is something else all together.

Composition

For me, the basis of a good product shot starts with composition; getting the product sitting nicely and photographing it from a good angle. This will produce an aesthetically pleasing image, but it won’t bring out the best in a product. To do that we need to get the lighting right.

Lighting

The lighting will make or break a product shot. Why is the lighting so important? Lighting enables us to achieve a couple of things that are essential to bringing out the best in a product:

• Shape and Contours
  Skillfully used lighting will bring out the shape of an object and emphasizes its curves and contours. An image on screen or paper is flat, so we must use the lighting to accentuate the 3D shape of the object.
• Texture and Details
  Lighting can be used to show emphasise texture and detailing in a product (such as the texture of the leather and the detailing of the stiching on my watch).
• Influence the observer
  Lighting allows us to draw the eye to certain elements of a product, whilst detracting from others. Shadows can hide the things we want to detract from, whilst the highlights are used to accentuate and promote the parts we want to stand out.

How to get product photography lighting right

Unfortunatley this is a big topic, and one that I am not going to go into detail about today. To understand how to light a product well, we first need to understand the dynamics and behaviour of light.

One of the best places to start is to read a good book.

There are numerous books around about lighting and photography, however, one book that I have found to be especially good and which I would highly recommend is Light: Science and Magic: An Introduction to Photographic Lighting.

I plan to post a few articles about lighting and the way that I understand and apply lighting in my photography in the future. Until then, I would recommend reading this book and also taking a look at Strobist to learn more about lighting.