Teach Soap

I just bid on the light tent!
einnoc

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"Soap is to the body what laughter is to the soul!"

Einnoc, you've got lots of good advice here I'll just add in my few cents:

I use a basic Canon digital, with the flash turned off & the macro setting on. I photograph on white butcher paper, on my kitchen counter in front of a bank of north-facing windows - I get the best results from about 10 am til 2 pm. I load all my photos onto flickr, then edit them in Picnik (flickr's editing site) - I always, always, always adjust temperature, saturation, exposure & contrast to get my photos looking their best, & often crop in a bit to improve the layout. You can fix a multitude of lighting & color issues in Picnik, which is an absolute godsend.

Have fun, & keep us posted

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Please visit my Etsy shop!

Hi tartchef,
Thanks for the advice.
I think my main problem is that I have always used a camera with the older kind of viewer, small opening, that I hold up to my eye.
With this new camera, there is no small opening, I have to hold the camera out in from of me, away from me, and it has a 2" viewer.
Having to hold a camera so far away from me to look through the viewer, it's not steady.

I do take my pictures facing north, morning light and I use a white plastic tablecloth as a backdrop - maybe there's some reflection from the plastic going on.

These are all excellent suggestions here. Thanks, everyone! I will have to experiment.
einnoc

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"Soap is to the body what laughter is to the soul!"

Oh yes! You need a tripod. My hands are not steady and the tripod makes a world of difference.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

Thanks, Soapbuddy.
I actually have a tripod, but I haven't used it for years!
I guess it's time to get it out & start using it again!
einnoc

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"Soap is to the body what laughter is to the soul!"

Hi, einnoc! You've gotten some really great tips here. Thought I'd throw in my two cents since I used to take lots of photos, too, back when I had an Etsy shop.

I went the low-tech route - I read up on how to build a lightbox but was too intimidated to actually try to construct one. So, I saved a sturdy medium-sized cardboard box, cut it up, and taped it together to make an easel. Then I clipped scrapbooking paper to the easel for my foreground/background.



I took my photos on the kitchen counter because that's where the light is the best for me. The kitchen is well-lit and there's a big sliding glass door nearby for natural light, too. That's what worked for me, but go wherever the light is best for you.

One thing that totally changed everything for me was when I discovered the EV compensation setting on my camera, which allows you to overexpose (brighten) or underexpose (darken) your photo. I don't know if your camera has a way to manipulate the exposure compensation, but check your user's manual to see. EV compensation is really handy if your photos are just coming out too bright or too dark - sometimes it's tough to fix that later in photo editing. Oh, and I never used a flash - the light from the flash is just too harsh and unnatural.

And I usually had to do some photo editing like tartchef does. I also adjusted the brightness and contrast and cropped my photos at the very least. I usually just used MS Office Picture Manager for that, but Picnik is a great (and free!) option, too.

I have a DSLR and I usually used that for my soap photos. A good point-and-shoot camera will take great photos, too, though. But I know what you mean about how it's easier to steady a camera when you have to look through the little opening because then you can kind of rest the camera on your face and bring your elbows into your chest to decrease shaking. Does your camera have a shake reduction setting? If not, I use the macro setting and rest my elbows or wrists on something when I take a photo with my point-and-shoot. Tripods are great, too, if you can get a good angle with them.

I hope that helps. Taking photos can be tricky and it takes practice. Good luck!

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- Jenny -
My soapy blog:
Follow me on my

jrose - That's a cool way to make a background. I ususally just take pics of my soap on a cutting board or something.

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Linda
I know the voices in my head aren't real, but they sure have some great ideas!

I use matte white poster paper for my photos. I want my soaps to stand alone and be admired.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

I just wrote a long post to answer everyone.
It's gone!!! Where are you post?
einnoc

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"Soap is to the body what laughter is to the soul!"

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Linda
I know the voices in my head aren't real, but they sure have some great ideas!

Hi ljm1180,
lol I think you are right!

Thanks everyone for all the suggestions - natural light, , macro, tripod - I'm going to try these today!
Of couse, this means unwrapping all my soaps to take new pics!

I have attched pic #2 of the Calendula Soap & the Spirulina. I tried to cut waves in the Spirulina to look like ocean waves!
Oh, well!

See they still seem kind of fuzzy to me.

Any suggestions, please.
einnoc

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"Soap is to the body what laughter is to the soul!"

I don't think they look bad. Try taking a photo with a plain white background.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

Hi Soapbuddy,
Actually, the background is a plain white plastic tablecloth. It is appearing dark - maybe a shadow?
einnoc

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"Soap is to the body what laughter is to the soul!"

Those pictures look ok, but what you can do is get a lamp and sit it next to the soap, but then hang a plain white sheet in front of it to diffuse the light so you won't get glare. Might help, not sure.

Hey everyone! I just built the lightbox that einnoc linked to earlier (http://www.digital-photography-school.c ... light-tent) and I looove it.

As most of you can probably sympathize, I don't have a lot of extra funds laying around, so I was excited to make this and even more excited that it produce good results. It cost maybe $2 in tape, paper and glue; I had the box, the old T-shirts, heavy-duty paper (I usually use it to paint), and Elmer's glue. Here are a couple of photos I took of the box itself and the pictures I took using it.

(Note, I didn't tape down the top of the curved piece because I'd like to be able to change backgrounds readily for different products. Hence, the pink scarf test... not the best for color, but it happened to sitting there).








Thank you for that tutorial, einnoc!