Alright guy's, I keep seeing a bunch of poor gear photos and I think most of you could do better if you just new how to setup a properly lit shot. The best part about this technique I'm about to share with you is you don't need to spend a lot of money on fancy equipment and lighting.

Now sure these demo pics are using professional equipment, but you can use the same concept to create great images with your camera phone.

OK so here's a checklist of what you will need :

• Camera (any camera will work including your camera phone)

• a big window with indirect light coming through (if you can see the sun or hard shadows then it's not indirect light fyi)

-a white flexible surface (white four-ply matte board is best but construction paper or even regular white printer paper can work)

• another white board to reflect light (can be same material that you use to construct you sweep with

• a clamp or whatever you can find around the house to keep the sweep board in place

Ok so here's the basic setup:

Now I'm using a studio column to hold my camera but you don't need to get that fancy. If your using a smartphone, you can use a pop can or whatever else to lean your phone up against and keep it still.

Once you have your camera placed you need to set the picture timer so that your not touching the camera when it captures the image. This will help reduce blurriness and help keep your image sharp if focused properly.

Once you focus your camera and get it in place so its locked on your product, grab your other white surface and get it ready.

Start the image capture timer and place the board next to the product opposite the window to reflect the light back on the "darker" side of the product like this:

If done correctly this is what you should expect to achieve:

You may have to play around a bit with your color and exposure settings to get the right image brightness and color. If you can choose your white balance, select "cloudy" or in case that's not available on your camera select "daylight" or "shade".

Play around a bit and have fun!

Hope you enjoy this tutorial and PM me if you have any questions!

Oh and don't forget to visit my profile and check out the pics section. I have tons for your viewing pleasure!

ProFoTo