Photography Lighting Part 4 — Photographing Products Without Making Them Look Like Snapshots

The difference between an online snapshot and a product photograph is often mostly lighting.

You have made a beautiful piece of jewellery, embroidered a design or printed a personalised mug. In your hands, it looks impressive. In the photograph, the metal looks dull, the colours seem wrong and a bright reflection obscures the design.

The camera has recorded the object. It has not shown why someone should value it.

In the earlier lighting articles, we explored direction, softness and the use of one or more lights. Product photography brings those decisions together: every shadow, reflection and background should help the viewer understand what you are selling.

Start with what the customer needs to see

A product photograph has a job to do. Before arranging lights, ask what matters about this particular object.

For jewellery, it might be the setting, finish and sparkle. For electronics, the controls, connections and shape. For embroidery, the stitching and texture. For printed products, the design must be readable and the colours believable.

In my own work, the connection between making and photographing is particularly useful. Laser engraving, embroidery and printing all produce details worth showing. A photograph should communicate the care that went into making something.

That means choosing an angle for a reason. A mug might need one photograph showing the design and another showing the handle. A small electronic device may need a front view, a rear view and a close-up of its connections.

One attractive image rarely answers every customer question.

A simple setup that gives you control

Start with one light and a stationary subject. You need:

• A camera or phone, preferably supported on a tripod or stand.
• A plain background: card, paper or a suitable fabric.
• A large diffused light source, such as a softbox or a window without direct sun.
• White card to lift shadows and black card to deepen them or shape reflections.
• A clean product, with dust and fingerprints removed.

Curve a sheet of card gently from the tabletop up behind the product. This creates a continuous background without a distracting horizon line.

Place the light to one side and slightly above the subject. Put white card on the opposite side if the shadows are too deep. Avoid mixing daylight with room lighting that gives a different colour cast.

For a stationary product on a tripod, use a low ISO and let the exposure take longer if necessary. On a camera, f/8 can be a useful starting point, but inspect whether the whole product is sharp. At close distances, you may need a different angle, smaller aperture or focus stacking.

The purpose of these settings is repeatability: you should be able to move a card and see exactly what changed.

Shiny products photograph their surroundings

A polished ring, glossy mug or glass-fronted device behaves partly like a mirror. It reflects the light source, the room and sometimes the photographer.

Consequently, a small bare lamp can appear as a harsh bright spot. A large diffusion panel can appear as a broad, smoother highlight. Broad, soft illumination is a useful foundation for photographing products with varied finishes. The Ultimate Product Photography Lighting Setup

You are arranging both the light falling on the product and the scene reflected in it.

Move the light, rotate the product or change the camera angle slightly. Watch where the highlight travels. A bright patch across a printed logo is a problem; a controlled highlight along the curve of a mug can help explain its shape.

Try placing narrow black cards beside a silver object. Their dark reflections may define edges that otherwise disappear into a pale background. White cards can create lighter reflections. Adjust them while looking through the camera.

Adding more lamps is not always the answer. Sometimes the most useful change is a small piece of card.

Light tents: useful, but not universal

A light tent surrounds a small product with translucent material. With suitable lights outside, it provides broad illumination and helps replace distracting room reflections with a simpler environment.

It can be useful for batches of small catalogue items. However, very even lighting may make an object look flat. Embroidery can lose its texture; engraving can become difficult to see; jewellery can lose its sparkle.

Try lighting one side more strongly, changing the product angle or introducing a carefully placed dark card. For textured crafts, an open tabletop setup may give you better control.

Choose the setup according to the material and the information you need to show.

Polarisation: reduce glare without losing character

A circular polarising filter on the lens can reduce reflections from many non-metallic surfaces, including glass and some glossy finishes. Rotate it while watching the result. Its effectiveness depends on the surface and viewing angle; it will not remove every reflection.

Do not expect it to solve reflections from bare polished metal. For those, concentrate on diffusion, cards and angles. Hoya Filters

A more advanced technique is cross-polarisation: place appropriate polarising material over the light sources, after the diffusion, and use a lens polariser rotated to suppress the reflected glare. This can help reveal detail in glossy printed work or artwork. Use materials suitable for the lighting equipment and account for the reduced light reaching the camera. Edmund Optics

Compare the result with an ordinary exposure. Suppressing too much reflection can make a glossy finish appear matt. Filters can also affect the appearance of electronic displays.

The aim is to show the real product clearly, including the finish the customer will receive.

Five products, five lighting decisions

Product	A useful starting approach	What to check
Jewellery	Broad diffused light for metal, with a small additional light if gemstone sparkle is needed	Defined edges, visible setting and controlled bright points
Electronics	A soft side light and white card, adjusted around glossy panels	Readable controls, visible ports and reflections clear of important details
Embroidery and fabric crafts	Light from an angle across the surface	Stitch texture without shadows overwhelming the design
Printed cards and artwork	Even lighting; two balanced lights on opposite sides can help	Accurate colour, square alignment and no glare obscuring print
Mugs and curved printed objects	A large diffused side light, with the object rotated carefully	Readable design and a highlight that describes the curve

Try it: turn one snapshot into a product photograph

Choose a mug, small craft item or electronic device. Keep the camera position and framing consistent throughout.

1. Take a reference photograph. Use your normal quick method and note the distractions.
2. Clean the product and simplify the background. Photograph it again.
3. Introduce one broad side light. Switch off conflicting room lights and inspect the shadows.
4. Add white card. Move it closer and further away to compare how much shadow detail you recover.
5. Control the highlight. Adjust the product or light angle. Try black card if edges need definition.
6. Compare the images. Check colour, readable details, shape and reflections at a useful viewing size.

Which change made the biggest difference? Often it is the moment a reflection stops covering the feature you wanted to show.

Photograph the final setup as well. That record will help you reproduce it for the next item.

From a good image to a commercial set

For a business, consistency matters alongside individual image quality. Products photographed at different scales, with different colour casts and unrelated backgrounds can make a collection feel disjointed.

Mark the camera and product positions. Record lighting distances and settings. Use a neutral reference for white balance, and inspect colours on a suitably calibrated display when colour accuracy matters.

A useful commercial set can include a clear catalogue view, a detail photograph and an image showing scale or use. Leave space for text when preparing promotional crops.

This is where commercial photography services add value: planning and producing a coherent set for websites, brochures and social media. Through Philip M Russell Ltd, this connects naturally with my studio and media-production work and the practical needs of small businesses and makers.

Editing should support an accurate result. Remove incidental dust, correct colour and refine exposure; preserve the product’s true shape, finish and workmanship.

Let the photograph show the workmanship

My guiding question is simple: does this photograph help someone appreciate what has been made?

Soft light can describe a curve. Angled light can reveal a stitch. A controlled reflection can make polished metal recognisable as polished metal.

Choose one product this week and give it twenty minutes of deliberate attention. Clean it, simplify its surroundings and move the light before reaching for another piece of equipment.

A snapshot shows that the product exists. A considered product photograph helps people understand its quality.