Product Photography: The Complete Guide for Beginners

As technology advances rapidly, more and more online sellers are now showcasing their products in 360 degrees, allowing the buyer to view the product from all sides before purchasing. In this article, you will learn how to create 360-degree product photography with the Capsule360 and the Turntable from MIOPS.

What you need

You need a camera with a medium lens, a tripod to hold the camera, and a light tent. A light tent is essentially a cube made of transparent, white fabric, stabilized by a wire frame. Thanks to this wire frame, you can fold the cube and take it anywhere. It creates soft, diffused light and enables almost shadowless images. These light tents often come with various colored backgrounds.

Additionally, you will need a Capsule360 and a Turntable from MIOPS. These tools allow you to take pictures with consistent rotation angles and also control your camera. First, we will cover the manual method, and then the advantages of the Capsule360.

Setup

The setup is quite simple. Open the light tent and place it on a table, then position both lights at a 45-degree angle on either side. Most product photos for online products are taken with a white background, so it's best to add a white background at the back.

Now, place your camera on the tripod. Make sure it is slightly higher than the Turntable. Place the product in the center of the turntable, focus manually, and switch your camera or lens to manual focus mode. Voila, the setup is complete.

Camera settings

The camera settings are also very simple. Switch your camera to aperture-priority mode and set a small aperture like f/11 or f/16. The aperture depends on the size of the product. If your product is small, f/11 is enough; for a larger product like shoes, you might need f/16.

Since our product isn't moving, set ISO to 100 and take a photo. Now, check the image; you can be relatively sure that it's not sufficiently exposed. Why? Because our background is white, and the camera takes an average of the entire image. So, we need to overexpose a little to get a correct exposure.

Check the shutter speed and switch the camera to manual mode. We want the exposure of all photos to be the same, so it's better to shoot in manual mode. Set the aperture to the same aperture you had in the previous photo and set the shutter speed to overexposed. If the photo's shutter speed is 1/30 seconds, set it to 1/15 seconds. By the way, if you use spot metering, you'll get a perfectly exposed image and won't need to overexpose.

If you're using LED lights, most LED lights have a daylight color temperature, so you should set WB to daylight. If you're using incandescent bulbs, set the white balance accordingly.

Make sure your lens's image stabilizer or vibration reduction function is turned off. The camera is on a tripod, so we don't need these functions.

Workflow

Now all you need to know is the rotation angle between each shot. To find this angle, you need to divide 360 by the number of photos, and you'll get it. Assuming you take 12 photos of your product, the angle would be 360/12, which is 30 degrees.

Rotate the turntable by 30 degrees and take a shot until you have all 12 photos.

This method is good if you take fewer shots than 12 or 18, but what would you do if you wanted 60 or 72 images of the product for a smooth transition? You would have to rotate the turntable by 5 degrees after each shot, which is not at all possible in manual mode, as you cannot do it with great precision.

This is where the MIOPS Capsule360 with Turntable comes into play. This combination can make product shots much easier, as it automates everything for you. Not only is the table precisely rotated, but the camera is also controlled.

All you have to do is set the number of pictures you want to take and then specify the duration between each picture. You can calculate this duration by adding your exposure time and the time it takes to rotate the turntable.

Assuming your exposure time is 1/30 of a second and it takes one second to rotate the turntable after each shot, you can set a two-second duration between each shot. You can also set the direction in which the turntable moves, either clockwise or counter-clockwise.

So, let's say you want to take 30 shots of a product in a 360-degree rotation, then all you have to do is set the parameters and you're good to go. Now, a picture is taken and the turntable is rotated by 12 degrees. Again, a photo is taken and the table rotates another 12 degrees. The turntable will repeat this until all 30 photos have been taken.

Strictly speaking, you don't have to do anything else while the pictures are being taken. Use the time to read a good book.

Of course, you can also take your pictures manually. However, it would be more time-saving and practical to invest a small amount, buy Capsule360 and Turntable, and then automate everything. This way, you can create more product images and videos in a short time.