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Amateur Product Photography: Tips and Results


How I Created Pseudo Close-up Product Photos with My Nikon Z5 and 24-200mm Lens

I suddenly wanted a Z 105 MC lens. However, my photography skills are not yet at the level where I can utilize all the features of a high-end lens and micro lens, so I decided to settle for playing around with the 24-200 lens to combat shortcuts.

The 24-200mm lens has a shortest shooting distance of 0.5m at 24mm and 0.7m when zoomed to 200m. Obviously, it's not a short distance, so it's difficult to take a photo by holding the lens incredibly close to the subject as the dictionary definition of close-up, but if you zoom in and hold the object large, you can take a large photo at a relatively close distance, so it's not a full-fledged close-up, but it's a pseudo(?) close-up.



Tools

In addition to a camera and lens, you'll need a backdrop and lighting. For an amateur like me, a speedlight is honestly all you need. You can practice utilizing ceiling bounce with it first, and when you get good enough, you can gradually learn about the five directions of light (forward, side, backward, oblique, and backward) or the concept of keylight fill light backlighting.


Nikon Z5

NIKKOR 24-200mm f/4-6.3 lens

Godox V860III

Black backdrop paper from a local refurbishment shop

7,000 won stand from Coupang

Products to be photographed



How to shoot

I used a shutter speed of 1/100th of a second and an f-stop of f/13. This is because the tighter the aperture, the better the depth of field and overall detail. I adjusted the brightness of the speedlight to about 1/16th. The zoom varies from photo to photo, but I used between 86mm and 200mm.


1. Set the background paper

2. Place the product to be photographed

3. Point the external flash at the ceiling and take a test shot of the brightness to find the right exposure.

4. Set the camera to M mode, the aperture to around 8, and the shutter speed to a level that produces adequate brightness.

5. Take the shot.



Results

I uploaded the photos directly as Jpegs. I thought that I should use RAW for retouching, so I set the camera's storage mode to RAW + Jpeg basic, but I didn't know how to retouch well and gradually got tired of it, so I gradually uploaded unretouched Jpegs.



This is the PalCam F38 quick release I bought from Ali Express. When using a tripod, it's really inconvenient to turn and lock and unlock, so I searched the internet and found good reviews and bought it.



This is maple syrup from the supermarket. It was on the table, so I took a picture. I usually make hotcakes on the weekends, and it comes in handy for that. I think it looks better than the real thing. I wonder if it's because of the black background that the rim of the glass bottle looks a little more three-dimensional. In any case, the top photo was taken with an 86mm zoom, so I had to zoom less and get relatively close to the background, and the light from the external flash is reflected on the background in general. On the other hand, the two photos below were taken with a 200mm zoom, and the effect is definitely reduced as the distance increases.



Poppies (artificial flowers) on the dining room table, as above. I have to admit that the lack of an Z MC 105mm lens when photographing flowers is a huge disappointment. On the one hand, I'm telling myself that I don't really know enough about flowers to use them as an excuse to use an eyepiece, but...



Colored pencils I was given one day while taking a mindfulness class. I don't remember what the lecture was about, but I still have the colored pencils.


In closing

It's been a lot of fun documenting my accessories as if I were taking product photos. As I mentioned while photographing my necklace last time, products are the easiest subjects to control. I can arrange and decorate them however I want. Every once in a while, I should try to take product shots of my favorite things as if they were proof, so that when the time comes, the remaining photographic records will be a little more valuable to me.

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