Helpful Studio Kit for Product Photography

Make sure you have everything you need to succeed as a product photographer.

There’s more to product photography than just cameras, lenses and lights — photography studios are often filled with endless bits and pieces of kit that can all help make the job easier and more efficient.

In this class Karl shares some of the other pieces of equipment and simple accessories you’ll commonly find in a commercial studio.

From mirrors to silk gloves and acrylic rods, these bits of equipment can help with fixing items in position, controlling light, and making your studio space safer to work in.

Comments

  1. Hi Karl,

    Could you please share the detail of the item which is used to remove the sticker/label from the product surface?

    Thanks,
    Arun

      1. Karl,

        This is a general doubt for me about removing the label/sticker from product surface. In some supermarket they stick price in label on the product. Some labels/stickers are very hard to remove. any cleaning liquid name to take out gently will be helpful. Thanks.

        Thanks,
        Arun

    1. Hi, no it’s any grey to suit your requirements (or colour) but my preferred grey background is probably about 50% grey.

  3. David

    Hi Karl, I am about to investigate stores to find the right acrylic sheets. I remember that earlier you mentioned that a certain type should be avoided because it can create a double reflection at a lower camera angle, but now I can’t find that section anywhere. So if you could please repeat yourself here for me on that topic. And also if there is any other criteria that you think should be mentioned before choosing sheets, please let me know.

    Thank you,

    David

    Ps:. Every piece of this site speaks about the true passion it is made and taken care with. I am very glad I found it. You guys are the best example of what quality service is meant to be. There are a lot of platforms that offer services based on genuinely great ideas but the user feels disappointed by how superficial the execution remains over time. Those often make me feel like once big money came into the picture the focus shifted and the whole thing lost its soul. This is definitely not the case with Karl Taylor Education, and that -I would think- is to do with the apparent situation that the Love of what you do remains the number one catalysts of this creation. I deeply respect that and I am happy to see it’s success. I am not a wealthy person but in this case I find myself in the rare situation where I feel like this service is worth way more than what I am paying for it.

    1. Hi David, the double reflection was talking about actual mirrors, glass ones. If you need to shoot on a mirrored surface for a reflection from low down then acrylic mirrors are actually better than real glass mirrors but not as good as polished stainless steel sheets. For other sheets of acrylic white matt and white gloss and the same in black are the most useful 4 or 5mm thickness but 3mm also works its just more bendy and harder to handle in big sheets. And thank you for your kind comments they are much appreciated by the team and I, all the best Karl.

  4. BobShaw

    Nothing to do with photography but a tennis ball with a hole pushed in it is great to push over the end of a boom arm as you can easily lose an eye with them. There are probably more sophisticated and expensive alternatives. Cheers.

  5. jeahn

    Hello! Thanks for all this amazing kit info. Do you recommend a specific brand of gloves for handling glossy products? I’d like something I can use a long time and just wash as needed.

    1. Hi, I don’t know what you mean by ‘butter paper’, before using actual diffusion paper such as LEE 216 or Rosco translucum we used architect tracing paper.

      1. Karl – when you used architect tracing paper, would you use multiple sheets stacked on top of each other to reduce the light transmission and create more diffusion?. The LEE 216 only allows 36% light transmission while I would imagine a single sheet of tracing paper would allow almost all of the light to penetrate.

        1. Hi Kay, yes I would double it, one sheet on each side of the scrim frame but don’t get hung up on transmission rates, LEE also do other papers that transmit different rates. The important part is not the transmission amount but the way the light spreads across the paper and what the gradient looks like, there are also materials by Rosco and you can experiment with other types of fabric if you must. The only thing you should be interested in is what does the reflection of the gradient light look like in a glossy product because that’s pretty much all that matters.

  7. Richard137

    Good Evening,
    Please May I ask what glue you recommend for securing product onto the acrylic rods ?
    Thank you so much
    Richard A

    1. Hi Richard, we use a hot glue gun that you can get from any hardware store, the glue comes in long sticks specific to the glue gun.

  9. Hi Karl,

    For acrylic mirror , do I need a specific size for product photography or food photography ?

    Thank you
    Louna

    1. Hi Louna, no not really it’s good to have a few small ones and some big ones I have them from about the size of my hand to about 50cm x 30cm. For very small ones you can just use silver card and also makeup mirrors.

  10. Do you have the exact thickness and transparency info on the white acrylic plastic? I’m trying to buy a few 4’x4′ sheets of it, but it does come in a few thickness from 0.060″ to 0.250″

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