I’ve been doing a little product photography for some clients recently because there was no-one else to do it. It requires a lot of attention to detail and in small doses it’s fun. I wouldn’t want to do it for a living, though.

I created catalog-style images with a pure white background. This isn’t easy to achieve and requires a light table that allows you to light from below and above the object. Then, you have to meter separately for the object and the background so the object is lit 1-2 stops below the background. Then, you have to boost the background highlights in post-processing.

The last photo shows my setup. My camera is tethered to a computer, and I’m using two softboxes for the front lighting of the object and three flashes with umbrella diffusers below the light table. I decided not to buy a $20,000 light cabinet used by pros for taking photos for clothing catalogs.