Anyone who has given any thought to setting up your own studio for product photography or video work has probably thought that it’s going to take a serious chunk of change out of your wallet. In reality though, you can do it for less than £60 and still achieve the same results.
“How is that possible?” I hear you ask. Well, I’m glad you did, as here’s how I did it:
Bear in mind that this is for product photography and video, not for models (that is for a different time and a different blog post to come in the future).
Having enough light for the shoot was where I started, as it determines the location of where the studio would go. The the table I chose (which is my old desk from IKEA) was positioned next to the window so that it would act as my key light.
Next I had to deal with a background. Cream walls do not make for a good background, so we took a trip down to B&Q (you can get the same materials in Home Depot) to create the backdrop.
We got some white hardboard to act as the backdrop as it stretched the length of the table. You can use stands and clamps to set these up and position exactly where you want them. Just to go the extra DIY mile though (and because we have a vast quantity of them), we use a footstool combined with hardback cookery books to act as the support.
We also bought some white polystyrene insulation boards.
These were mainly bought as cheap bounce boards for light, but a reflector will do exactly the same job. They can be positioned wherever you want, as they stand up on the table without any need for support. Plus you get 4 in the pack, just in case you destroy one.
Alongside these, we got two rolls of wallpaper. The idea was to mix up the backgrounds from the traditional white – but you can use anything you like. I just like clouds.
There you have it, your very own DIY product photography studio for under £60. Although we are using studio lighting, we will show you in a later blog post how you can get the same effect from more traditional lighting sources. We’ll also show you exactly how we use different backgrounds for shoots.
As always, keep an eye on my Flickr page and stay upto date on the blog and Twitter.