Create professional looking product shots using a single light source.

You don't have to spend a pile of money putting a photographic studio together.  Here I will show you how to create professional looking product shots on a budget.

By budget, I mean, using items found around the home.  A reflective surface such as a mirror, a piece of plastic perspex or even a flat cooker hob are all possible places to shoot products on.  Simple pieces of white card, black card or other diffusing methods can be used such as sheets or even pillow cases for diffusion and for directing light or preventing it from reaching your subject.

above image shows the set up I used with the light coming through the window on the right.

Using a Nikon D750 with a 15-30mm lens and settings are at shutter 1/60 second, f/7.1 and ISO 800.

For clear images it's a good idea to use a mid depth of field so f/7.1 to around f10 and depending on the amount of light coming in and from which direction it is coming from you might need to make some adjustments to the settings.  It's also important to have your camera on a tripod to avoid any movement when shooting at lower shutter speeds.

Practice by moving the subject towards or away from the background and by moving the cards closer or further from the subjects you are shooting so you can get the required lighting effect you want for your images.  The examples shown here are for the look I wanted to achieve but by altering the scene the final look can be tweaked to your liking.  Once you are happy bring the images into photoshop or your favourite editing software to enhance the work to your liking.