Product Photography

Why a Golf Ball Might Be the Best Lighting Teacher You've Never Used
Video Tutorials

Why a Golf Ball Might Be the Best Lighting Teacher You've Never Used

I’ve been photographing products on and off for years, mostly to supplement travel work during slow seasons. And the thing that tripped me up the longest wasn’t gear or editing. It was learning to read light before I set anything up. I’d arrange my softbox, place the subject, take a test shot, and then spend twenty minutes moving things two inches at a time wondering why it still looked flat. What I was missing was a simple, unforgiving subject that would show me exactly what the light was doing.

How Pro Beverage Photographers Light a Beer Shot (Breaking Down Rob Grimm's Studio Setup)
Video Tutorials

How Pro Beverage Photographers Light a Beer Shot (Breaking Down Rob Grimm's Studio Setup)

Product photography has humbled me more than once. I shoot lifestyle and travel almost exclusively, so when someone asks me about tabletop product work, I used to quietly change the subject. The lighting logic is different, the margins for error are smaller, and glass and liquid together are basically a nightmare for reflections. So when I came across this Aaron Nace (PHLEARN) tutorial featuring St. Louis beverage photographer Rob Grimm, I watched it three times in a row.

How to Use Ultraviolet Light to Make White Clothing Pop Against a White Background
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How to Use Ultraviolet Light to Make White Clothing Pop Against a White Background

There is a specific kind of frustration that comes from trying to photograph white clothing against a white background. On paper, it sounds elegant and minimal. In practice, you end up with a muddy gray garment that looks like it came out of the wrong laundry cycle. I have run into this problem more times than I care to admit, and for a long time my workaround was to just add more light and hope for the best.

How to Light a Product Shot Like a Pro (Using Scrims, Softboxes, and a Piece of Foil Card)
Video Tutorials

How to Light a Product Shot Like a Pro (Using Scrims, Softboxes, and a Piece of Foil Card)

Product photography has a reputation for being intimidating, and honestly, for a long time I avoided it. I’m a lifestyle and travel shooter at heart. Give me golden hour on a mountain trail and I’m happy. But clients don’t always want mountains. Sometimes they want a bottle of whiskey looking like it belongs in a magazine spread, and that used to send me scrambling. What changed things for me was watching how working commercial photographers actually think through a product setup, not just the gear list, but the logic behind every decision.

Run-and-Gun Documentary Shooting: Gear Choices and On-Location Product Photography Tips from Peter McKinnon
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Run-and-Gun Documentary Shooting: Gear Choices and On-Location Product Photography Tips from Peter McKinnon

There’s a specific kind of shooting panic I know well. You’re on location, you have limited time, and you need footage or photos that feel cinematic without a full crew or a trunk full of gear. I’ve been there on travel assignments where I had one bag, one camera, and a client expecting polished results. The question is never really “what’s the best gear?” It’s “what’s the right gear for this job?

How to Recolor Large Product Photos in Photoshop (Without Losing Fabric Detail)
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How to Recolor Large Product Photos in Photoshop (Without Losing Fabric Detail)

If you photograph products for small businesses or e-commerce clients, you have almost certainly run into this exact problem: a furniture company has one beautiful sofa, it comes in fourteen fabric colors, and they want fourteen polished, consistent product images for their website. Reshooting every single colorway is expensive and time-consuming. There has to be a smarter way. That smarter way is digital recoloring, and in this Sean Tucker tutorial, he walks through exactly how to pull it off in Photoshop using physical fabric swatches as your color reference.

Shoot Epic Product Photos at Home Using Everyday Objects (Peter McKinnon's Method, Broken Down)
Video Tutorials

Shoot Epic Product Photos at Home Using Everyday Objects (Peter McKinnon's Method, Broken Down)

Every few months I get a message from someone asking how brands get those rich, moody product shots that look like they required a full studio crew. Nine times out of ten, the answer is simpler than you’d expect. I started thinking about this more seriously when I realized I was turning down small product photography requests because I assumed I didn’t have the “right” setup. Spoiler: I was wrong, and a Peter McKinnon tutorial on shooting playing cards changed how I approach the whole thing.