Product Photography for Cheap ($)
Pristine flawless background = $300, Professional grade monolight as keylight = $1,300, A second professional grade light opposite the main light = $600, 4 x C-stands and a boom to support the backdrop and the two lights = $500. So, for $2,700 we have a super basic and cheap product photography setup.
NO, NO, NO! You’ve spent all that money already and we haven’t even discussed the product or props, or even a camera!
Is that the best piece of product photography you have ever seen? I hope not. There are some things I probably would’ve done differently, but all in all it really isn’t bad. That entire studio setup (excluding the camera: shot on a Sony A7III) cost me $164. The image below is a little BTS of this DIY setup (with this setup you can shoot handheld or on a tripod, I did a little bit of both).
Even when getting into product photography on the cheap, you still need some sort of quality light source. The light needs to be adjustable. Can you change the intensity of the light? Can you adjust where the light is coming from? If you have a light that can do those two things then you are off to a pretty decent start. Even better than just having these two things, would be having a light with an accurate color. This will be indicated by a light’s CRI, which will be provided by the manufacturer. Finding a cheap light with a CRI above 90 will definitely do the trick. For photography you can definitely use a flash triggered light, but I decided to go with a continuous light, so that it can also be used for video if needed. The lighting setup for this shoot was the GVM 80W Daylight balanced monolight. The was a great light choice for this purpose because of its high CRI and the convenience of an included light stand and softbox. There are obviously cheaper options out there, but this is a fantastic light for the value.
Now that we have a decent light source, we need to think about the backdrop. Professional photo backdrops are expensive, and in this case we don’t need something that big. I decided to go with a fairly cheap poster in a variety of colors that cost me about $10. If you want to get the most out of your posters, I suggest buying white or black so that it can be used with a variety of products and props.
Your Keylight is set, the background is set, now all we need are some props to go with our product. This is your chance to get creative and really make the photographs. This step will really separate your photos as professional, far more than a fancy lighting setup would. In this case I was shooting Kombucha, so I decided to keep things fairly clean and basic by using some of the ingredients as props. This meant a quick trip to the grocery store that cost me all of $4, and that may have included a snack for myself during the shoot.
Are there ways to make this a better setup? Sure. But all in for $164 isn’t too bad. For me, I used this project as a challenge to see if I could produce professional images on a budget. And it is definitely possible. I think it just underlines that fact that the creative process is far more important than the gear being used.
