Shoot products with a smartphone

Who needs an SLR and an expensive, complex lighting system anyway?

When you need to do some quick but effective product photography, you can do it with just your smartphone and a bit of ingenuity. Tilo Gockel proves this with his image of a knife, taken simply with an iPhone and some creative lighting.

“First, put the phone on a tripod and use a cable release to ensure sharpness, or set the self timer,” Tilo explains. “For good depth-offield, you can stack some shots with different focus. Here, I stacked two shots – one for the blade and one for the handle – and combined the two later in Photoshop. Then I used an app called 645 Pro Mk III ( jag.gr/645pro) to tweak the white balance and ISO and shot the knife against a slate tile.” For the lighting, Tilo tested different angles and also used translum foil to get a nice gradation across the knife’s surfaces. “For the warm-cold contrast, I used a halogen light from the back and two cool white LED torchlights from the sides. The lamps and foil were fixed using clamps from the hardware store.”

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* For a nicer perspective on the product, Tilo suggests shooting from a longer distance and cropping in. Alternatively, use an add-on telephoto lens for your smartphone. Check out lens options from Photojojo ( www.photojojo. com) or Olloclip ( www.olloclip.com). * In Photoshop, Tilo combined his two shots then cleaned up the background. He also cloned out the metal support stand. Finally, merged the layers using masks. * Don’t forget to make colour and contrast adjustments and do some sharpening to make the shot look its best.