Smashing Darling Blog

Back again with more tips on making your digital photos look their best. Once you’ve gotten the resolution thing down (see last week’s blog post) it’s time to think about the thing that truly makes whatever you’re shooting look smashing … LIGHT, both how it falls on what you’re shooting, and how your camera sees it.

The first thing to consider is where your light is coming from. There’s no substitute for good, bright, lighting to show off every detail of your products. The first challenge may be getting around the little, tiny, light source that that most digital cameras have called the FLASH. The built-in flash on your camera can be absolute death to your shot … it produces an extremely harsh light that can blow out all details (we’ve all seen those “hot spots”), make harsh shadows, and create a very unflattering effect on your shots, especially close-ups and reflective or metallic items.

So get to know your camera … read the manual, and see if there is a way to turn off the built-in flash, or if your camera has a shooting mode that works without it .

So what’s the best way to get good light? Almost always, indoor lighting can produce objectionable color casts (most notably, fluorescent lights look green and tungsten lights look yellow or orange) and if the color in your shots just doesn’t look good sometimes the easiest answer is right outside your door in the form of natural light. A nice sunny day outside can be great for shooting.

Setting up the shot
Another huge consideration is how to best position your products in the light that you have to work with. The most important thing to remember here is that you want the light falling evenly on your product to show the most detail. Usually this means that your source of light should be to the front, or slightly off to one side. Side lighting can create some drama and add a bit of dimension to your shots, but be careful … the side that is receiving less light can fall into dark shadow, obscuring detail and creating a harsh contrast.

One thing you’ll generally want to avoid is backlighting, where the light is coming from behind what you’re shooting … this situation will generally result in your product being darker than the background. Never a good thing!

NOTE: As with all our tips…this is a very simplified and basic approach. We are in no way saying that this is exactly how everyone should do things. This is just a basic starting point. If you have any specific areas you would like to know more about for your photos please feel free to email us at: trishandjulie(at)smashingdarling.com