Lighting - The best light is outdoors on an overcast day with soft shadows. It’s free, plenty of it and it’s the right color for any camera, digital or film. If you must do the photos indoors, try to arrange a light source other than the flash that is built into most cameras. On-camera flash often gives a flat and dimensionless look to any item. Ideally having two lights arranged a bit above and on either side of the camera and pointing toward the product at about 45 degree angles will bring out the shape of the product. Have one of the two lights a bit closer to the product you are photographing so there is some difference in the brightness of the light falling on the product. This enhances the look of shape and texture. If there are shadows on the face of your product that need more light, now you can use some light from the on-camera flash as ‘fill’ flash. A layer or two of facial tissue over the flash will soften the light from the flash for that just right look. The color of the lights you use can play havoc with the look of your photos. This is not too much of a problem for digital camera users, since many cameras adjust themselves for the color of the light on a scene. If in doubt, set your camera to ‘automatic white balance’. For film cameras, the lights need to be a blue color or ‘daylight’ since most camera film is made for pictures in daylight. Using regular incandescent light bulbs will add a reddish tone to your photos. Most any camera store will have daylight balanced photoflood bulbs (blue). They are about $5 each, will last a few hours if not banged around. Get the lowest wattage they have, usually 100 or 150 watts.

Background - Plain is best. Try to avoid a patterned background unless it is subtle and contributes to the look of the product. For a plain, seamless, background, try a white bedsheet (or plain paper or foamcore board from an art supply or craft store) that forms a background behind the product and continues on beneath your item. It could be thumbtacked to a wall and allowed to hang down the wall and out across the table or floor. Place your product on the seamless background a foot or two away from the wall so any shadows fall down behind your product and are not cast on the wall behind. If you want to show your product in a room setting, make your product the most important thing in the picture. Careful that other patterns, textures and colors don’t steal the scene.

Digital cameras - Set the image quality or image size to ‘Standard’ or whatever setting produces a 640x480 pixel image. High resolution is not necessary. The photos will need to be sized down anyway for use on the webpage. Very seldom will the full image size be used on your webpage because of the long time required to download and view a large photo.

Film cameras - Some film processors will include a computer CD of your photos with processing. This is an excellent way of sending us your photos, as the scans are good quality and the images are easily edited for use on the web site. If your processor is not able to supply the photos on CD, then standard 4x6 prints will be fine. Please request a glossy finish on the prints. Matte finishes do not scan as sharply. We can also use a 35mm slide (or larger transparency, up to 8x10). If you have ever had a color sell sheet or catalog produced, you may already have excellent slides or transparencies ready for use.