40 Tools and Resources For Creating Beautiful DIY Product Photography

Good product photography is important. It increases the perceived value of your products and makes your website appear more trustworthy.

But taking your products to a professional photographer can be expensive if you're just starting out. That’s why we put together the ultimate DIY guide to beautiful product photography, so that you too can shoot some gorgeous pictures that sell.

As a follow-up, we’ve compiled 40 tools and resources to help you take your own product photos. These include resources on lighting, recommendations of experts, and things you need for your home studio.

For the shoot

1. Your iPhone

At 8 megapixels, the iPhone 5s offers a great camera. Check out the apps we feature later, like Camera+, that turn your iPhone into an even more powerful machine.

An iPhone shot in action. Credit to the Cocoanetics blog.

2. Foldio2 - Portable Mini Studio

Foldio is unfolding a whole new level of possibilities in DIY product photography. The world’s 1st portable studio (mini studio) comes with a foldable compact design, dual LED light strips, 4 backdrops and many other essential components.

3. Camera: Nikon D5200

For a camera at a somewhat lower price range, you might consider the Nikon D5200 at $650. Both PC Mag and CNET call this a mid-range SLR of excellent quality.

And if you're a fan of cameras from Canon, consider the Canon EOS T3. It's excellent quality at its price of $450.

4. Camera: Nikon D610

Jeff Delacruz, the expert who put together our original DIY photography guide, uses this camera because it's: “affordable but high-quality,” “second only to the Nikon D800,” and also because its file size is small at 24.3mp. At $1900, this is the Cadillac model of cameras here.

5. Tamron 90mm 1:1

Jeff recommends these lenses to go with the D610, for its depth of field, for its 1:1 focus, and because it's at a good price.

6. Ravelli APLT2 Tripod

You need a tripod for a steady image. Jeff recommends specifically that tripods needn’t be expensive. Here’s a great one for $20. It’s light and extendable.

7. Joby GorillaPod

Your iPhone needs a stand too, and you can’t go wrong with the GorillaPod. It’s a small tripod that promises to grip smartphones tightly. Its legs are flexible, which means that it can be wrapped along a surface.

8. breffo Spiderpodium

As an alternative to a tripod, you might get a stand like the Spiderpodium. It fits not only on a table, but even on a bike or in the car.

9. Camera+

Shooting on the iPhone? Camera+ is an app that enhances the capabilities of your phone camera in really powerful ways. You have the ability to change shooting modes, adjust touch exposure, and set up a grid to guide your shots.

10. Arqspin

Arqspin is a product that lets you capture 360-degree shots. If you want your customer to view a product at all angles before purchase, for example of a shoe, this is the tool to use. The basic feature is $19.95 a month; you’ll also need to purchase a spinning disk, which ranges from $99.95 to $349.95.

11. Folding Table

From Jeff: “A standard folding table works best, and a width that’s between 24 and 27 inches is ideal.” We’ve found one here at a cheap price for 24 inches.

12. Seamless Background Paper

Seamless background paper from Savage is the industry standard, and is used as a simple background for the photos of your products. Use it with a sweep, below.

13. Sweep

As an alternative to background paper, you can get a sweep. These can be propped up to be used as a support stand. Wrap it with background paper and you’ll get a smooth background without a visible corner or fold.

14. Mat Board

If you can’t get a sweep, find a thin Mat Board, which are a more easily available alternative. You should still be going for pure white here.

15. Cyclorama

You might also consider using a cyclorama to create an “infinite curve,” or a horizon line type in the photo.

16. Gray Card

A gray card is a standard middle gray reference used to produce consistent image exposure and color. Use it as a reference for lighting.

17. Light Tent

A light tent softens the light and removes reflections when shooting reflective objects.

18. Homemade Light Box

For those who are really serious about shooting their own products, we’ve included this guide to construct your own light box. With a lightbox, you’re able to better control the lighting.

Want to know how to use all of these products? Then head over to Jeff’s guide.

Photo editing after the shoot

Taking the photo is only the first part of producing great photography. Editing it to make it the best it can be is nearly as important. Here are some tools, some super-sophisticated and even some free photo editing software.

19. GIMP

The GNU Image Manipulation Program can’t quite do all that Photoshop can do… but it’s free. Download GIMP and you’ll get most of the photo editing features you need.

20. FotoFlexer

If your needs are basic and you don’t have a great volume of pictures, you can upload a photo to a site for editing. FotoFlexer offers a great deal of effects and shapes to enhance your photo.

21. Pixlr

Pixlr is another online tool, and can also be downloaded to your phone as an app. If you’re shooting people, you can use Pixlr to remove red-eye and whiten teeth.

Credit to Wesley Hancock's blog.

22. Photoshop Express

Want to edit a photo on your phone? Use Photoshop Express – it’s free.

23. TouchRetouch

TouchRetouch is an app that specifically removes unwanted objects or contents for your photos. Have an unwanted guest in a shot? Is the moon distracting from a night shot? Edit them out. It’s only 99 cents.

24. Clipping Magic

Clipping Magic is an online tool that lets you remove the background of your product. If you dislike, say, the lighting and the colors behind it, you can remove your product to create a uniform background. It can also be used to refine edges and reduce blur.

25. Photoshop Elements

You know of Photoshop. It’s the photo editing software that can do all you can ask for and then some. The more lightweight version is called Photoshop Elements 12 and costs $80. A free trial is also available.

26. Photoshop Lightroom

Lightroom is a tool for editing photos and organizing them. It’s especially useful for managing large quantities of photos. As an addition to Photoshop, it also organizes and processes large numbers of images.

Want professional help?

Have to turn to a professional? We have a few suggestions.

27. Products on White Photography

This is Jeff Delacruz’s studio. You can’t go wrong with the guy who wrote the original ultimate guide on DIY photography. Ship your products to Jeff in Chicago and his team will take all the photos you need.

28. Remove the Background

Remove the Background is service that strips the background of your images (like Clipping Magic, above) at a cheap price. It uses proprietary software and promises 24-hour turnaround at $1.45 per image.

29. Mister Clipping

Mister Clipping has been removing backgrounds since 2005, and provides handmade paths for clipping. Its prices range from $0.95 to $9.95 per image.

30. Shopify Photography Experts

There are of course hundreds of experts who are able to help you with not just photography, but also design. Many are experienced with helping Shopify merchants.

A few other guides

We’ve suggested the tools to set up a DIY studio, but we haven’t really told you how to use them. So we’ve put together this list of resources as guides to using them.

31. DIY Photography, from A Better Lemonade Stand

We’ve been focusing heavily on Jeff’s walkthrough of DIY photography, but there are other good walkthroughs as well. Check out this one, from Richard Lazazzera. He didn’t have to spend over $50 getting his studio set up.

32. tuts+

This guide, which involves string, duct tape, clamps, and coathangers, is more complicated, but the results are beautiful.

33. Digital Photography School Guide

One last guide for you, from Darren Rowse at the Digital Photography School. It involves very basic materials, like a cardboard box, to create very good photos of products.

34. CameraShy

If you want a general photography blog, check out CameraShy. Ingrid blogs regularly and offers intro courses on basic photography.

35. Strobist

The Strobist blog is dedicated to the trickiest part of photography: Lighting. Take a look at its resources on every aspect of controlling your product photography lighting.

36. Tech Company video tutorials

Are you a video learner? Take a look at this 15-part series focusing on everything from lighting, to editing, to shooting jewelry in particular.

37. Forrest Tanaka video tutorial

For a more concise video to understand product photography, check out the 17-minute guide by Forrest Tanaka. It features a complete product workflow from planning, lighting, editing, and publishing.

 

38. Jen Carver photography workshop

Jen Carver hosts regular webinars and workshops, online and around the country. She’s especially skilled at publishing photography for children, and has been featured in eight magazines.

39. Tabletop Photography

If you’re the reading type, check out this book by Cyrill Harnischmacher. Its subheadline is: Using Compact Flashes and Low-Cost Tricks to Create Professional-Looking Studio Shots.

40. The Art and Style of Product Photography

This book is our last recommendation for a resource. The author is a professional photographer whose work has been published in Rolling Stone, Elle, and US Weekly. It’s a quite comprehensive guide.

Product photography is a key part of your business

Product photography is important, and we want you to do it right. It can be tricky, but good photos are crucial to generating sales. That’s why we’ve provided you with tools and resources to practice getting good.

Don’t be a poorly-designed site with badly-lit photos. Get great at product photography today.

About The Author

Dan Wang is a Shopify Content Specialist studying economics and philosophy at the University of Rochester. Talk to Dan on Twitter.