When it comes to product photography, camera settings play a key role in transforming your photos. Investing in good equipment to start your photography project is always the first important step. However, being able to use the equipment properly can set the direction of how your photos will come out.
There are a lot of factors and settings you can go through to make sure that your images are shown in the best light. Adjusting the aperture, shutter speed, ISO, and white balance are some of the settings you need to look out for. After that comes product image retouching so that you can get the right composition that will optimize the quality, colors, and details of your product photos.
In this article, we’re going to be talking about the fundamental principles needed to adjust your camera settings. And by the end of this reading, you will have a basic understanding of how to maximize your product photos through the adjustments you’ve made with your camera.
First, What is Product Photography?
Product photography, as its name suggests, is a branch of commercial photography wherein a business presents its products and showcases their most presentable visual representation.
There are different ways you can photograph your items, and your product photoshoot ideas can be as fun and quirky as you want them to be. However, the output of your ideas will be dependent on how you shoot them in a studio and how you finalize them in editing.
While most people usually think that having the highest quality camera ensures that their photos come out great, there are a lot of other factors that can actually influence it. With that being said, let’s move on to talk about product photo camera settings.
The Best DSLR Settings for Product Photography
Assuming that you’re going to be using a DSLR camera for your photography project, there are several settings you can adjust to get optimized shots.
Of course, if you opt to choose other cameras like mirrorless cameras, there are settings on those devices as well that you can modify before starting the product photoshoot.
Setting the Camera to Manual Mode
Most cameras available typically have an automatic mode that adjusts the settings for you. However, by using manual mode, you can have complete control over your camera’s configuration. This aspect is especially important when you’re doing product photography and you want to ensure that the image is fully optimized.
Usually, the knob to change into manual mode is at the top of the camera and you can just turn it to “M.” And when you’re already in Manual mode, you have the freedom to adjust the aperture, shutter speed, and ISO manually, setting the ideal exposure of your product’s image.
Shooting in Raw Formats
With any photography project, it’s best to shoot the images in RAW format than JPEG. RAW formatting can capture all the data from the camera sensor and can give you the highest possible size you can get from your camera. Doing this gives you more control when you’re at the editing stage of your project.
Other than that, the RAW format also gives you the freedom to adjust the photo’s white balance and retouch the colors without it being pixelated or compressed. This can ensure that you have the maximum amount of information to work with as you’re finalizing your images.
Aperture Adjustments
One of the most important settings to modify in photography projects is the aperture. This refers to the control over the size of the lens’ opening allowing a specific amount of light to pass through. The aperture is represented by the f-stop number with the idea that the lower the number, the larger the lens’ opening and vice versa.
For example, a higher aperture creates a more shallow depth of field, making the background blurrier while the focus on the subject is sharp. This technique is typically used to highlight the product and to draw the viewer’s eyes to it.
On the contrary, keeping a lower aperture creates a deeper depth of field and showing more of the product in focus.
Modifying the Shutter Speed
Similar to the aperture, modifying the shutter speed gives you more control of the image’s light exposure. This refers to the amount of time the camera’s shutter stays open to allow light to pass through.
Slower shutter speeds mean longer exposure times while faster shutter speeds have shorter exposure times.
It’s generally recommended to use tripods in photography, and with respect to the shutter speed, which is typically sensitive to movement, it can help you stabilize your cameras to take sharper images and get more product detail and texture.
ISO Configurations
Another camera setting related to light exposure is the ISO. This refers to the sensitivity of your camera’s sensor to light. A higher ISO means that your camera is more sensitive to light, which can be useful in low-light situations.
For example, if you’re doing a product shoot outdoors in night settings, you may want to adjust the ISO higher to give light to your product’s images. However, in most cases, low ISO settings are used for product photography to avoid noise in the final image.
Adjusting the White Balance
White balance is a camera setting that controls the color temperature to light the scene of your image. Usually, there are different lighting conditions in photography and it can lead to different color casts. This can make your image look unnatural and unappealing.
By adjusting the white balance of your camera, you can ensure that you’re getting accurate colors with each shot. Most cameras typically have a preset setting for white balance that goes with daylight or fluorescent light. Nevertheless, it’s still ideal for you to adjust the settings of the white balance manually.
You can test it out and adjust it by taking photos of a gray or white card in the same lighting conditions. This helps show you if the colors you’re getting with each shot are precise.
Finding the Right Camera Settings for Your Product Photography Project
Adjusting your camera settings can make all the difference when you’re photographing your products. Be sure to take test photos so that you can optimize your shots before you start the shoot.
It’s also good to keep the other factors that go into photography in mind like lighting, composition, and editing—which all play an important role as you finalize your images. Combining all these elements with your camera settings can produce product images that are truly outstanding.
To further upgrade the quality of your images after photoshoots, you can look for image enhancement services to really make your photos stand out. With product image retouching done by professionals, you can better ensure clean and clear photos that appeal to customers.
Paper Boat Creative: Your Photography Post-Production Partner
Learning about product shoot camera settings is one of the key steps in achieving stunning images. The principles that go into setting your equipment for photography can greatly influence how your photos come out.
Here at Paper Boat Creative, we can help you with the post-processing of your images, transforming your product photos and adding effects to make it more visually impactful.
As your ideal digital photo editing company, we ensure that your photos and your products are presented in the most effective way possible.
Check out our website to see our portfolio or contact us today!
