How to photograph shoes for eCommerce - Full affordable setup

 

Today’s we are going to talk about ecommerce shootings. So if you ever experience the situation that somebody reached to you and say hey, can you do pictures of my website or can you do pictures of my ebay or for my Amazon store or anything related to product photography which is for e-commerce to sell online stick in here because I’m gonna show you a very quick how to set up a very small and a very affordable setup so you can shoot these product photography even in your home.

I’m in my studio but when I shoot first for this client this was over a year ago I didn’t have yet the studio, just before I get the studio so I had to shoot from home and I had to set up everything in my small conservatory office if you can call it like that. So it was very limited space but pretty much I used exactly the same equipment. The only downside was that I couldn’t move around easily but because it’s ecommerce and it’s a static product, they’re gonna stay on one place once you set up, you don’t have to worry about too much because you’re gonna use the remote trigger, your camera won’t move your setting wont mover apart from just a few adjustments and you’re basically just going to go through the whole bunch of products you have to shoot for your client. Now depends of the product they may require a different views of the product. In this case, I am working on shoes which are just here behind and I will show you with the shoes it’s pretty much same story let’s say as every other product probably.

The client wants a view of the product from few different angles. So basically I’m having the shoes next to each other and then I have to shoot from the back then I have to do just one of the shoe from each one of the sides and a top view.

So, I set my shot in two segments, if I can call it like that. Two segments but I presume that’s the right term to call it.

The first segment is when I’m shooting the bunch of the photos which its all positions from front view so you have the front, the back, the sides views and then when I finish a whole bunch of shoes, depends how many products I have in this case.

I had to shoot 10 products the other day. We sent them back to the client and I’ve just received two more and more coming so once I set up my shot, I memorize the settings or I just write them down, position of lighting, setting on the camera and everything else. So whatever they send me anything new, I always deliver the exact same shot, so that’s the rule number one.

When you work with a client on product photography and you know you’re gonna have possibly more products in the future, I suggest for you to write somewhere down, even if you want to sketch like how its your lighting, what is the position, what kind of a backdrop you’re using, what’s your camera settings, so you everything put on the side. So whatever this client contact you again and say hey, listen I have few more products, same things like before, can you do it for me. You just ready to go because you have everything black and white, you just set it up, receive the products, do the shot, get paid. Happy days for everybody, for the client and for you. So ecommerce, its not like product photography, okay!

Product photography may require involvement of the art director, maybe a manager of the company and production manager. You may have a long brief and it could require so much extras like a props different like mood lighting and everything. With the ecommerce, it’s different because all you need to do is get a good quality pictures on a white or a black backdrop or any other color. It is usually one color depends of the shop, online shop and then, that’s it, pretty much. So once you set up, it’s just ready to go.

Now what we have here, as you can see this is the shoes which I shoot at the moment. I have just two pairs and it’s a very good actual example because one of them have straps which is supposed to stay up and I’m gonna show you how to do this.

But this is basically my setup.

I have two lights panels. This is the newer nl480 which I did a quick review on them. They are fantastic because what they give me is the fuel light of the whole set and also because they have in the front, they have diffuser, so the diffuser throw a really nice kind of reflections on the shoes, you can see.

A very nice smooth reflection. Its not that harsh and its good especially if you have like I’m shooting a shoes at the moment. They have an obviously leather texture. Its nice to pop out the texture so its good to see it on the picture.

Okay, on the top I have one godox sk 300 series 2, so this is on the top and with a big soft box, it could be square, it could be octobox, it could be anything as far its big enough to cover your shooting area. So, mine I think its 620 centimeters. It is big enough and it’s a just above the shoes like half a meter, 70 centimeters something like this just enough to cover the whole area to eliminate any shadows.

So, I’m gonna just press my trigger just to show you. that’s all it is! So, if I get on my camera, just to show you what is happening here. I always keep my iso hundreds and I never go over this. I’d like to compensate with the shutter speed so I’m 115 at the moment.

 

The reason why is because I’m using a remote trigger that is connected to the camera and I basically don’t touch the camera. So nothing’s gonna move and if I just press and focus, I’ll take the picture. When I go to preview, you can see, the product is nice and bright with no shadows but you still have the reflection from the actual newer panels which is fantastic.

But this is the setup so you have one system which is gonna keep your speed light on the top because they’re quite heavy and you will need something steady if you don’t have anything other anything else to attach it. I will suggest to invest in the system.

Its very versatile, not just for lights but as you can see, I have it here and this is where the trick is. There are tiny fish roads. They are holding the shoes strap straight. So if I remove this and put this shoe here and I want to do a side view, I can get the fish rods on the front and I can adjust the height. This is how the shoes stay and when you take the picture, all you need do after this is remove these fish rolls in post production which is extremely easy. 

My camera is usually set up on a day light because it’s kind of closest to natural light. It is 5,200 k in the Kelvin, the panels are setup exactly the same 5,200 and my speed light at the moment is set up half power. This is something that you can adjust and play with your camera with the shooter speed. Also, it depends upon the color of the product that I’m shooting. For example, it is black on white now, so I keep it on 100 iso and I compensate with the shooter’s bit. My focal length is f8 at the moment. I shoot on 85 mil, 1.8 but I don’t open like a down to 1.8 because I don’t want to have any depth of field. We are talking about the product and we don’t want a blurry background. I generally shoot around f8 and sometime I go on for f11. This is going to give you enough crispiness and sharpness for the product. But its 85 mil, it’s a portrait lens. It have this lovely smooth feel and it wont make them over sharp. You can shoot probably with a 50mm, 1.8; however, when you shoot products bear in mind about this depth of field. Don’t go down to 1.8 or 2 because you may introduce some blur touching the product.

 

I am shooting on white which is quite good but you may have a white product on black and if you don’t have this good sharpness, you may introduce a halo or very blurry edges which is not going to be good. Your client will not be happy.

The backdrop is vinyl which is double sided. On one side it is white and on the other side it is black. You can invest in it and usually they come in different sizes. Once you buy this backdrop, it is forever because it is vinyl, its washable and easy to clean, it doesn’t leave marks. You can even shoot wet products if anything needs condensation on it and then just a quick wipe and you are absolutely fine.

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