The intro image you see above was photographed for an online store, which sells various types of arts and crafts imported from West Africa. The web designer who made the online store asked me to photograph the entire inventory (close to 100 individual products) using the same basic parameters. He needed everything to appear on a pure white background in order for each shot to fit with the overall design of the site.

Towards the end of this lesson, we will explore some of the considerations related to using images to sell on the web. First, let's explore step by step how the image above was created and then how the same setup was used to photograph other individual products.

Setting up the Background
Choosing an appropriate tabletop and background was the first step. Sawhorses are great for tabletop product photography for several reasons. They are light, portable, relatively inexpensive, and they allow the use of a translucent surface with a light placed underneath the table pointing up. For this shot, I did not need to use any kind of floor light, but having that ability makes the sawhorses highly versatile for shooting products.

I set up my sawhorses with a piece of heavy black Plexiglas as my surface, but any solid surface would have been just as good (i.e. plywood, particle board, etc).

I positioned the tabletop flush against the wall. This allowed me to create a white sweep using a large piece of 2-ply mat board attached to the wall with masking tape. I made sure that the mat board I was using was big enough to accommodate the largest item I needed to photograph. [figure 1]

It is important to note that this photo shoot did not require a large studio space. In fact, I was able set everything up in the comfort of my own living room. All I needed was to clear an area approximately 8-feet by 8-feet, which was accomplished by moving a large sofa from one side of the room to the other.

Positioning the Main Light
With tabletop and background in place, I was ready to begin setting up the lights. For the main light (also known as the key light), I chose to use a Photoflex 1000-watt Starlite with a 3-foot OctoDome® nxt. I positioned the light at about 45 degrees to the subject and as close as I could. [figure 2]

This kind of octagonal-shaped SoftBox is generally meant for portraiture, so my decision to use it for product photography was a bit unorthodox. Product photography is usually done with a rectangular-shaped SoftBox, mainly because rectangular reflections on highly reflective surfaces, such as glass or chrome, are much easier to control than round reflections.

The main advantage of the OctoDome is that it spreads light evenly in the direction it's facing. This is great for portraiture because it creates a softer, more wrapped around quality of light on a person's face.

For my product shot, I was mainly concerned with achieving a soft quality of light, which would illuminate the products as well as the background evenly. Since I did not have to deal with any highly reflective surfaces, I felt that the OctoDome was a perfect choice to light these wooden statues.

Here's the result shot using just one light. [figure 3]

Just as I had planned, the quality of light in this shot is soft and the spread of the light is even across the entire right side of the background. Of course, the left side of each statue is still in deep shadow, and further, there is a shadow across the left side of the white backdrop. Remember that one of my objectives here was to achieve a pure white background all the way around the entire image.

Adding a Second Light
The next step was to add another light, which would act as a fill light. For this, I chose to use an identical continuous light with a 3-foot OctoDome, the exact same setup that I had for the main light. I positioned this second light to the left of the subject at roughly the same distance and angle as the main light. [figure 4]

In the result shown here (figure 5), the background is completely white and the statues are illuminated evenly from both sides. As you can see, the octagonal SoftBoxes are ideal for this particular subject. The light is spread evenly across the entire backdrop and for a SoftBox this small, the softness of the light is really hard to beat.

In reviewing the last shot using two lights, I knew that I was on the right track and by most people's standards this shot would have been acceptable for an online store. However, I still felt that I could experiment more with the positioning of the lights to further enhance the lighting on the subject itself. At this point, I directed my attention to the formal elements of each statue in the shot. I began to examine the finer details such as the shape, texture, and the reflections caused by each light source on every side and surface of the wooden statues.

Overall, the shot looked good, but I was a bit displeased with how these two lights were reflected in the wooden surfaces of the statues. I was particularly turned off by the double reflection on the head of each statue, where you can clearly see two large highlights right next to each other. This felt awkward because the light source no longer had any clear sense of direction. This made the lighting look unnatural.

Even in a studio situation where multiple lights are being used, I usually try to create the illusion of a single light source. Since there is only one light source in nature (the sun), we are psychologically accustomed to seeing things lit from only one side. Recreating this kind of feeling in the studio will make the subject appear more natural looking even if there are many lights being used.

To take the next shot, I decided to move my fill light back, away from the subject. I positioned the fill light at about twice the distance from the statues as the main light in order to create a 2:1 lighting ratio. [figure 6]

In the result, we can see that the highlights on the left side of the statues have been significantly reduced, which makes the lighting seem a bit more directional. However, doing this introduced a new problem. By moving the fill light farther away from the subject, the left side of the background now had a slight hint of a shadow and was no longer a pure white. [figure 7]

Before I move on to discuss any more lighting changes, let's review our steps so far. [figure 8]

• First, I positioned my main light to the right of the subject, angled at about 45 degrees, and as close to the subject as possible.
• Next, I added a fill light using an identical setup positioned in exactly the same way on the opposite side of the subject.
• Then, I moved my fill light back to reduce its intensity thereby creating a 2:1 ratio.

The series of images shown above represent the standard accepted approach for most high key, catalog style shots. The second image in the set, which was taken with two lights on either side of the subject angle at about 45 degrees, is the most foolproof way to ensure flat, even lighting and a clean, white background.

Many eBay sellers use this kind of setup to photograph just about any item for an online auction. The advantage of using this simple setup is that every shot looks clean, professional, and the process is highly efficient, which is important when you have a large volume of products to shoot.

That said, I knew that having these highly versatile, professional quality lights at my disposal meant that I could do a little more to really fine-tune this shot.

Experimenting with Rim Lighting
After examining my best results so far, I decided to try a much different approach with the fill light. This time I positioned the fill to the left and behind the statues. [figure 9]

Doing this turned the fill light into more of a rim light. In some ways this is similar to the rim lighting technique often used for a dramatically lit portrait.

The result was extremely different from any of the other shots above. The rim light worked beautifully to outline the left side of each statue with a luminous glow. Best of all, the background was back to being a pure white all the way around. [figure 10]

This shot looked just about right. As far as online markets are concerned, this is also a perfectly acceptable image, which is bound to attract potential buyers. My only reservation about this image was the fact that the statue on the left (closest to the rim light) was getting a little bit blown out, especially on the left side of the head.

At this point I felt that there was nothing more I could do to improve this shot without making some major changes to the lighting setup. Excited about the last result, I began to have some new ideas for further lighting improvements, which would involve altering the way I had been using my second light source.

Using an Overhead Light
First, I removed the rim light and took it completely apart. I kept the same Starlite® head, but this time attached a Photoflex® Small HalfDome®. Then, I used a boom to position the light directly above the statues. Notice that the HalfDome is angled slightly toward the background and away from the lens. [figure 11]

The result shot is shown here. [figure 12]

In this image the background is still a pure white thanks to the angled HalfDome. Also, the statues now have a hint of light delineating the top edges, such as the head and shoulders areas.

Adding a Small Reflector
To add the final touch, I decided to use a similar rim lighting idea that I used previously, this time in a much more subtle way. To do this I positioned a 22 inch silver reflector to the left and behind the statues. [figure 13]

This time the result felt just about right. [figure 14]

In this shot, the main light was doing most of the work lighting the subject, which gave the lighting a good sense of direction. The HalfDome above, and the reflector to the left as a subtle rim light, added just the right amount of light to the edges of each statue.

The light looks natural, the background is white, and the product looks shiny and new. This shot is definitely a keeper!

Shown below, is a quick side-by-side comparison of the last three results. [figure 15]

• The first in this series was made using a 3-foot OctoDome positioned as a strong rim light on the left side of the subject.
• The next shot was made by replacing the rim light with an overhead light consisting of a small HalfDome suspended from a boom.
• In the final result, I added a 22 inch Silver LiteDisc® reflector to bring back a little hint of a rim light on the left side of the statues.

Experimenting with Lens Focal Length
Having achieved just the right kind of lighting for the look I wanted, I decided to make one more minor change to this composition. For all of the previous results, I had been using an Olympus E-510 with a 50mm f/2.0 lens. This lens is great for most product photography as it creates the least amount of distortion.

For this image, I decided that a little bit of wide angle distortion might improve the shot by making these three statues seem more three dimensional. For the next shot, I replaced the 50mm lens with a 24mm lens and moved the camera closer to the subject to arrive at a similar composition. The result is shown below. [figure 16]

The wide-angle lens worked perfectly to create a great sense of depth in the shot. Due to the wider perspective, the statue in the middle now appears larger and closer, while the two statues on either side have been slightly reduced in size and appear to be farther away in the background.

Here is a side-by-side comparison. The first image is my final result using a 50mm lens and the second image is the same shot using a 24mm lens. [figure 17]

Which one is better? I'll leave that call up to you. For me the latter version using the wide-angle lens is simply more interesting and is better at engaging the viewer, which is always important when you are trying to sell the product using only a small image on the web.

With my central hero shot in the bag, I was now ready to apply the same techniques to photograph the other products for the online store. To photograph the next single statue, I decided to go with one of my previous setups shown earlier in this tutorial.

For this shot, I setup my main light to the left of the subject and positioned an identical light (another 3-foot OctoDome) on the right and behind the subject to create a strong rim light. [figure 18]

The result shot is shown here. [figure 19]

As you can see the strong rim lighting solution worked great for this single statue mainly because it helps to accentuate the strong vertical lines. Using an overhead light in this case would have been less effective.

It is important to realize that none of the lighting setups discussed so far represent the "right" solution for every subject. Even though my assignment was to photograph a set of very similar looking items, I still made a point of treating each item separately and determining the appropriate lighting placement based on the subtle intricacies of each individual piece.

The set of images shown below were all made using the same set of lights shown throughout this tutorial. Nevertheless, each shot was fine-tuned by positioning the lights carefully in an effort to compliment the shapes and textures of each individual piece. [figures 20, 21 & 22]

Using Your Images for Online Sales
Once I was done photographing every item for this assignment, my next task was to hand the images off to the seller. Since the web was the final destination for these images, I knew that I would have to resize my large, high-resolution files and optimize them for the web. To learn more about optimizing images for the web, check out the lesson titled, "Preparing Images for the Web: Part I" and "Part II" located in the Digital Editing Section of the Web Photo School.

As previously mentioned in the introduction to this lesson, having high quality, professional images of your products is the key to getting noticed on the web. Whether selling on eBay is your thing or if you plan to build a comprehensive online store, the quality of your product photos can either make or break a possible sale.

For example, here are two screen shots of real eBay auctions featuring two of the wooden statues that I photographed for my client.

The first screen shot shows an eBay auction created by the seller using a poorly lit, improperly exposed shot taken with a basic point and shoot camera. [figure 23

The second example is another eBay auction featuring a similar wooden statue. For this one, we made use of the image that I shot using my simple, two light studio setup. [figure 24]

From this real life comparison it should be easy to see which one of these very similar items is more likely to get noticed in an endless sea of products competing for our attention.

In conclusion, here is one final example of how these images were used to sell product on the web. TerangaArt.com is an online market place offering a wide selection of imported arts and crafts.

The image shown above is a screen shot of the home page. Remember that high quality product photography need not involve a giant studio and a closet full of expensive equipment. In most situations, a little planning, some basic gear, and the right technique is all you need to make your product images appear to fly right off the home page and into your customer's lap.



Photographed and written by Garry Belinsky, contributing WPS Instructor.