How do you take nice product photos?

[lazygout]

Hey all, I recently finished up a commission and I need assistance and advice when it comes to taking photos. This one is just a head.

Any tips on composition, lighting, backgrounds, etc? I want to build up my portfolio properly and this is my first big step to doing that.

TYIA
(head in question)

 

[Trevorbluesquirrel]

I'm no expert, but I can offer the following!

1. Natural light will show colors in truest hues, non direct daylight beats artificial light, IMO!
2. Set the subject against a plain, non distracting, color contrasting surface, like a plain painted wall, carpet, table top, or just a sheet of colored paper or felt!
3. Take photos from multiple angles! 4 this head, front, back, sides, top, bottom, close ups of eyes, mouth.................show all relevant details!
4. Hold the camera or phone steady, nobody likes blur!

Hope these help!

 

[Schrodinger'sMeerkat]

Show the item at all angels and do closeup shots of eyes and any extra details.

 

[TyraWadman]

Plain white backgrounds tends to be the way to go. But it also depends on quality of lighting and camera. Might look better if you were out in the sun and snapped a pic like that.

 

[Kellan Meig'h]

Number One tip for good merch photography; use a real DSLR camera. That way, you can put it into full manual mode and have complete control over composition. You will also have choice of lenses such as a 28mm/f2.8 fixed so you can get full blur-free images. Please don't confuse the tiny CMOS on your cellphone as a true camera. It's for fun images, not real photography. Want to compare your images to one from my digital DSLRS? Even an older Canon EOS Rebel can do better than ANY cellphone. My daughter is a professional photographer and she has an iJunk 13 Pro. She agrees, the iJunk can't take that good of pictures.

Sorry for the rant, it's just that cellphones that do this, that and something else can't do any one thing that great. A dedicated device (DSLR camera) can do that one thing best, since it doesn't have to do anything else.