You might've heard the
saying that people eat
with their eyes first.
Well in the world of
e-commerce, they buy
with them first too.
Photography plays a crucial
role in selling products.
But before you go spending
thousands of dollars on
that new camera and lighting
setup, I'm going to show you
how to take amazing product
photos on a budget, by simply
harnessing the power of your
smartphone and natural light.
Online trustworthiness of your
brand is often judged based
on how you visually presented
since online shoppers
can't touch your products.
They really base their
purchasing decision
on the value that the
product photo conveys
that often means having
high quality, beautiful,
product photography.
So to get started, here's a
list of everything you need.
A cell phone.
The higher, the mega
pixel count, the better.
A mini tripod.
It's a low investment
with a high payoff.
It stops camera shake and
can help you standardize
product photo angles.
And trust me, your arms
will thank you later.
A white backdrop.
Your backdrop should
always be white because
it reflects natural light
onto the product resulting
in an evenly lit photo.
Remember to look for pure
white as off-white or cream
will be more difficult
to control light with.
Scotch tape.
You'll want tape to hold
things down and to fix
things to your backdrop.
Sticky tack also works great.
White bounce boards.
When you're lighting with
a window light, there will
be a bright side where
light is striking the
product and a shadow side.
The shadow side will
typically be too dark.
And so we need to use
something white to reflect
the light back into the
shadow, brightening it up.
The right room.
What I mean by this is
you're going to want to
be in a room with windows.
The bigger the window,
the more natural
light, you'll get in.
Diffuser paper.
And to smash that light button
and subscribe to our channel.
All right guys, so one
thing I realized we forgot
to include was brackets.
So I went over to the dollar
store, picked up these
handy-dandy barbecue skewers,
and they're going to give
us all the support we need.
Okay.
So now that we have the list
of things we need, let's start
putting these things together.
Place your table as close
to the window as possible.
You'll want to start with
the window 90 degrees to the
right or left of your setup.
When shooting next to a
window, you want to shoot
when the day is brightest.
Take a look at the weather.
Is it a fully sunny day
or is it an overcast day?
If the sun is too strong,
you don't need to completely
scrap a photo shoot.
Instead, hold a thin
white sheet that light can
pass through known as a
diffuser against the window.
So as you can see behind
me, there's a lot of
sunlight coming in.
This is going to create
a really blown out image,
so we're going to want to
use some diffuser paper.
As I said before, you can use
parchment paper, but my window
is pretty large, so I'm going
to use this drop sheet that I
picked up at the dollar store.
And it's going to give
us the exact same effect.
This will soften the light and
create a less harsh effect.
Avoid hard light at all
costs, as it often makes
colors look more saturated and
will highlight even the most
minuscule flaws, not normally
visible to the naked eye.
If the sun suddenly
decides to hide behind the
clouds, causing the level
of natural light to drop,
make sure that you have
your foam boards on hand.
That's so that you can
bounce and intensify the
light to fill shadows.
Using a white surface helps
reflect natural light from
the sun back onto the product.
Don't be afraid to play with
the angle of the reflector
to find the right balance
between shadows and lighting.
Also, don't forget to
turn off all the other
lights inside the room.
You're shooting it.
As other light will
contaminate the set.
This is really important and
is such a common mistake.
I definitely know
I've made it before.
I'm not going to lie,
the most crucial part of
every photo setup is the
lighting and it's also the
hardest part to get right.
There's no quick fix or
one size fits all solution.
Different products will
require different lighting
since they're different
sizes and dimensions.
It's up to you to
figure out what works
best for your products.
Be open to trying and
adjusting new things.
Once you get a handle on the
basics, it'll be a case of
trial and error until you
find the perfect formula.
Now that we have our
setting and lighting sorted.
Let's think about angles.
No one just wants to
see a straight to camera
shot anymore, especially
not with products.
We want to visually answer
any questions that your
customer might have, that
the product descriptions
don't fully explain.
That's why having a variety of
camera angles is so important.
The ultimate goal is to shoot
your product from every angle,
giving your customers a 360
degree view of the product.
If you're not sure
which features you
should capture, focus on
features that showcase the
quality of your product.
Take closeups of the
fabric, print detail,
texture, or even your
products being put to use.
Be sure to highlight
the detailed elements of
your product, especially
the ones that customers
might want to inspect.
For those new to
product photography, I
recommend moving around
the product rather than
moving around the camera.
Keeping the product in roughly
the same place each time and
rotating it, means your final
shots will all be framed
the same.
Consistency here is key.
These are the main camera
angles you should be aware
of and experiment with
during your photo shoot.
Eye level.
This shows the product exactly
the way you see it in reality.
This is recommended
for your hero image.
High angle.
Shows the product from
above as if you're looking
down at it from an angle.
Low angle, from below.
As if you're looking
up at the product.
Bird's-eye.
This shows the product
directly from above
as if you're standing
directly over it.
Slanted.
This shows the product
from one side as if
you're looking side on it.
Finally, we're ready to shoot.
Now, before we start busting
at our phone, here's a
checklist of tips we're going
to run through to ensure
your phone is ready to shoot.
Firstly, ensure your phone is
charged and you have backup
storage to store your images.
Set up your white balance.
To properly set the white
balance according to the light
temperature in your setup,
touch the WB button and then
touch the white background.
Check your exposure.
Touch the circular exposure
button and then touch
your product, so that the
camera knows to properly
expose the product.
Keep things in, focus.
Touch the circular focus
button and then touch
your product so that the
camera knows to properly
focused on the product.
Make sure you lock your
settings when you're finished
adjusting parameters,
make sure to tap each one
again, to lock it in place.
This will keep the camera
from auto adjusting the
settings while you're
taking your images.
When shooting, we're going to
want to avoid the zoom feature
as this significantly reduces
the quality of the image.
Avoid using the flash as
this will overexpose your
photo and distort the colors.
Once we have our shots,
we can start editing them
right from our phone.
All right, guys, now that
we're done shooting our
product photography, we're
onto the next crucial step,
which is editing our photos.
Now don't get intimidated.
You don't need a supercomputer
and we're not going to be
doing any intense, deep
dives into editing software.
All you need is
your cell phone.
And to prove how easy editing
photos can be, we're going to
do it right here right now.
So the first thing you're
going to want to do is go to
the App Store and download
an app called Photoshop Mix.
So you're going to open that
up and you're going to go
to image where it says on
my phone, that's where I'm
going to pull them from.
We're going to go
to our recents.
We're going to come down here.
I think we'll, we'll go with
this picture of this teacup.
It looks pretty nice.
So, uh, first thing you're
going to want to do is
we did it on the white
background because it makes
it easier to isolate our
object from the background.
So, first thing we're
going to do is we're going
to come here and we're
going to go to Cutout.
When you get to Cutout,
we're going to hit Auto.
Okay.
Auto does a lot of the
work for us, but as you can
see, looking right here,
it's not exactly perfect.
So what we're going to do is
we're going to hit our smart
tool right down here, and
we're going to get in all
the parts that it missed.
Make sure to zoom in so that
you can really see the detail.
You really don't want to
get the white background in.
So if you do get the white
background, so you can
see right there as I did,
you're going to go to here.
You're going to hit Subtract,
and you're just going
to get it out of there.
There you go.
So now that we have
our image all cut out
from the background,
looking nice and crisp.
What we're going to do
is come up here to that
layer button and we're
going to hit add layer.
Now we're going to hit color
down here and we're just
going to go for the white.
White looks really
clean and you can't
really go wrong with it.
So there we go and, Oh,
where'd the image go.
It looks like it disappeared.
What we're going to do is
we grab this layer right
here and we move it down to
the bottom and there we go.
Now it's looking pretty clean.
I'm pretty happy with it.
We're just going to
hit, save, go to our
camera, roll and boom.
The image is done and
ready to be uploaded
to your Shopify site.
We'll show you
what it looks like.
It looks pretty good.
Most people won't ever
know that you filmed
it on a cell phone.
Other factors you can adjust
are aspect ratio, timer,
grids, and levels, as well
as highlight clipping, which
shows you precisely what is
overexposed in the image.
Once you've taken your images,
you can also adjust color,
exposure, tone, and contrast.
Additionally, you can upload
all of your images onto a
computer and work from there.
The choice is yours.
There you have it.
Hopefully this tutorial
has helped you realize that
there was nothing stopping
you from starting your own
business or taking amazing
quality product photography.
You don't need a fancy camera.
All you need is a
bit of ingenuity.
Don't forget to
subscribe to our channel.
What videos would you
like to see to help you
grow your online business?
Let me know in the
comments below.