Lighting Tips for 360 Turntable Product Photography

LIGHTING FOR 360 TURNTABLE PHOTOGRAPHY

Professional photographers understand that lighting is the most critical element for in-studio work such as turntable photography. The reality of product photography is that people will notice higher quality images even if only on a subconscious level.

Therefore, a stronger and more richly lit image has a higher chance of success with regards to your brand’s own KPIs (conversion, clicks, sales, etc).

Contrary to popular sales pitch, there is no one lighting convention to rule them all. All successful studio lighting for 360 product photography is a balance of the 360 degree photography turntable automation and the human element of correct light placement.

Furthermore, other universal or “all in one” machines actually have no ability to change lighting position or convention (other than light power) resulting in less rich lighting for 360 turntable photography.

This lack of ability to introduce subtlety in lighting is one of the many differences between brands, and even the smallest lighting details matter when it comes to 360 image capture!

TURNTABLE PHOTOGRAPHY LIGHTING STANDARDS

All successful lighting for 360 turntable photography requires a balance between hard and soft light. Hard light’s quality produces strong, well defined shadows. Most hard light setups will have no diffusion over the light source.

This light can help vibrantly illuminate the product and accentuate its details, but it is often too much light for a given product. Soft light’s quality is much more balanced, producing less or no shadows. Most soft light is achieved using diffusers over the light source. Both lights have their place in product photography.

Diffused light is perfect for illuminating the backdrop. It has a more even distribution. We strongly suggest using at least three lights for your 360 turntable photography setup: two for the background and at least one for the subject or product.

Another key thing to remember is to place the light for the subject as close as physically possible to your for the best results!  

STROBES vs LEDs for 360 PRODUCT PHOTOS

Here at Revo we use both strobes and LEDs for turntable photography depending on the shoots needs. “Strobe” is another name for flash, while “LEDs” are continuous lights (on until you turn them off).

Both have advantages and disadvantages but can be used to great effect in your studio. Strobes, generally, are more powerful lights. LEDs have greatly improved the speed of 360 turntable photography, as there is no recycle time.

Strobe Light for 360° Product Turntable Photography

PROS: A strobe provides more light coverage for larger objects. Higher power lights (brighter) also give the professional photographer the ability to use higher apertures, providing more depth of field and therefore more detailed images. Even though the light output is high, the power usage is low compared to LED lights.

CONS: One thing to consider, however, is flash recycle times and how they correlate to your 360 spin. If your turntable speed is set at too high a rate, you may begin to experience flash misfires from the flash power not fully recycling.  The numerical settings of the lights are often confusing and require more experience to use.

LED Light for Turntable Product Photography

PROS: In our experience, LEDs have greatly improved the speed of 360 turntable photography. Down to 22 seconds for a 36 frame 360 spin. Modern LEDs are small, powerful, and extremely reliable. LED’s are also easy to use and perhaps more intuitive for a beginner.

CONS: Larger objects require more light.  This takes bigger lights Bigger lights consume more power.  Larger lights are physically more difficult to maneuver.  This may lead to needing more lights to light more sizeable objects.

REVO’s 360 TURNTABLE PHOTOGRAPHY SETUP 

Here at Revo we use an overhead beauty dish as our key or main light source. The beauty dish works extremely well because this modifier diffuses the center of the light source while having soft, even light spill towards the sides. This illuminates both the product for and the background around it very well for our 360 photography needs.

We deploy two diffused soft lights for the backdrop and another one or two for the subject depending on the product size. The beauty of the Revo Vida system is that all these lights are easy to move, adjust height, or completely swap. See more about the Vida studio system on our website.

LIGHTING THE BACKGROUND FOR 360 PRODUCT PHOTOGRAPHY

As we just covered, we use two diffused lights for the lighting of the backdrop. It’s important to consider two things for backdrop lighting and 360 product photography. Make certain your lights are powerful enough otherwise you might encounter errors when performing backdrop removal in post production.

Also, make sure to set up your lighting at the correct angle: too steep an angle will have the light bounce back into the camera or on the product, while too shallow of an angle can lead to light fall-off and darkening of the backdrop.

Keeping the background as far away from the subject as possible is very important.  Set the background at least several feet away from the object you are shooting. This will prevent background light from illuminating the subject. 

Separation is key to a good photo in general, but becomes even more important in a 360 product shoot because your subject is spinning.  Many of the 360 product spin machines available do not allow adequate subject to background separation due to the rigid nature of the machines.

Make certain to use a nice combination of both hard and soft light, ensure your product is far enough away from the backdrop, and get your lighting dialed in before the shoot. If you have any questions about 360° turntable photography equipment, give us a call on 415.335.9114 or email us, we’d love to hear from you.

Revo Photo: 

415.335.9114

info@revophoto.com

360 Spin Product Photography With The Revo Vida

Product Photography Benefits of the Revo Vida

Outside of the 360 Product Spins production platform, the Revo VIDA also doubles as an industry leading still product photography platform. Transform your studio using the benefits of the VIDA! 

Form follows function…and also impresses

From working professional photographers to visiting clients, the design elegance of the VIDA is clear. Black powder coated framework declares professionalism. Set cleanliness is a byproduct of the design: the Vida Studio eliminates the need for light stands.  No more floor clutter. No bumping into stands foiling hours of work.  Cables are easily routed, hanging annoyances become a thing of the past.   Nothing impresses clients more than a clean, tidy, clutter free studio. The Revo Vida performs better than any other studio shooting station hands down.

Professional Versatility 

Form follows function, but with The Vida Studio, it goes both ways.  The versatility of the VIDA system is what the product photography world has been waiting for. With three standard sizes of the VIDA, you’ll be able to capture striking 360 photos or beautiful 360 product images regardless of your studio size or the size of the product! 

Nearly everything on the VIDA is adjustable, giving you full control:

1. Lights can mount anywhere with standard speed rail clamps, Cardellini’s or a host of other products.

2. Paper seamless backdrops for your spin photography can be repositioned in just a minute, or, you can pre mount several rolls and switch even faster. 

3. Flags, show card and diffusion can fly in and fly out effortlessly.  The Vida’s table can go to any height you need or come out all together to shoot something like a bicycle or refrigerator…or a model!

The VIDA also allows turntable mounting overhead, so you’re fully able to suspend products for photographing them when the need arises. Our software allows the use of two turntables simultaneously as well, adding greater control to your spins. 

Two precisely controlled 360 photography turntables help with product stability tremendously. Imagine a floppy object or something that won’t stand on its own.  Our tandem turntable system .  

Studio Titan Camera Stand

Developed with Studio Titan,  the wonderful and industry-leading Studio Titan camera stand is a main pillar of the Vida Studio system. Extremely robust and Masterfully designed for professional photographers, this truly is the best camera stand in existence and especially for 360 product photo.

Every asset of the stand is fully adjustable:

• Roller bearings make moving the camera arms a smooth delight.

• Foot locking pegs ensure the stand stays put

• Safety stops keep things under control

The strength and stability of the stand, along with industry leading indexing, makes ease of repeatability across different products second to none. 

Our exclusive Studio Titan stand makes marking out the locations of your previous setups a simple task, so returning to an earlier shoot’s parameters is a matter of minutes, not hours. 

Product Photography Time Saver

Often overlooked, time saving in the studio is incredibly important.  The Vida saves tons of time.  In our own studio, we’ve reduced time spent on set up by well over 50%.  On one job, this is a huge savings. 

Over multiple jobs this translates to more time for you to bring in more customers.  One of our clients has seen a 500% increase in time savings.  They are now able to have the same photographers shoot twice as much and stay happier doing it!  Form, function and time savings!

Have any questions about the VIDA or any aspect of or shooting 360 products for online display? Contact us, creating 360 degree product photography is our passion and we’ll be glad to help!

Revo Photo 360 Spin Photography: 

info@revophoto.com

415.335.9114

How To Choose the Correct Lens for 360 Degree Product Photos

Create 360 Degree Product Photos with the Correct Lens

Professional photographers know that, to a given extent, equipment matters in making 360 degree product photos look amazing. Aside from Revo’s industry leading 360 photography turntables and Vida Studio platform, the cameras and lensing play an integral role for bringing the highest level of quality and resolution to your potential customers or clients. In this blog we will discuss those different kinds of lenses and their advantages in detail replication for your 360 product spins.

Types of Lenses and Their Advantages in 360 degree product photography

In our discussion of 360 product photography equipment we will cover 4 main lens types: wide-angle, standard, zoom, and macro. Hopefully this will help you gain full control over the output on your 360 photos.

1. Wide Angle Lens

The focal length of a wide angle lens runs anywhere from 11mm-35mm with a field of view somewhere from 94 degrees - 64 degrees. The human eye sees roughly 120 degrees, so 94 of that is pretty wide! Generally, the uses of a wide angle lens are meant to capture as much of the scenery as possible. Think landscapes, architecture, interiors or anything where the photographer cannot move back to capture more information in the frame. Another use of this lens type is for visual exaggeration, where the photographer makes objects in the foreground and background seem farther apart due to the forced perspective of the wide lens.

You’d want to use a wide angle lens for 360 spins when you have a larger object in a smaller space, for example, a bicycle. Of course, this isn’t the most ideal application but sometimes you need to get creative! Also, lens perspective correction in PS/LR goes quite the long way these days.

Finally, most wide angle lenses actually have impressive close-up capabilities, so in a pinch they could work for smaller objects as well with a crop applied in post.

2. Standard / Normal Lens

For a lens of this type the focal length ranges from 35mm-60mm, or what the human eye sees “normally”. Oftentimes the lower end of this range still tends to be wide for 360 degree product spins, but here at Revo we use 60mm regularly. Our general rule is you should be at most 18” from your subject when possible and 60mm provides excellent image coverage for many items we photograph.

One advantage of a standard / normal lens is their low aperture capabilities, meaning these lenses are able to open wide and allow lots of light to pass through. The caveat here, however, is that the wider the aperture the more blurry the background will be. So, if you shoot objects close up and below f/4 for example, you may lose detail on your product. But, if you can be within 18” from 35-60mm, shooting f/8 and above…you’re golden for high quality 360 product images.

If you shoot a standard size of products and do not need to move your camera stand often, a standard lens with nice glass will be wonderful for your application.

3. Zoom Lens

Here at Revo we strongly suggest the use of a zoom lens for its variability and ease of use. Our lenses are 24mm-105mm and have exceptional image rendering capabilities. The main advantages of the zoom lens are that you don’t need to move your camera stand to focus or frame an image. This gives you the ability to target your subject distance to within 18” and then recompose as necessary without moving your camera stand, which is most convenient in a high-volume 360 spin studio.

4. Macro Lens

Macro lenses have extreme small detail rendering capabilities. Think of any very close up images you have seen of bugs or plants for example, these are taken with macro lenses. These lenses have the ability to replicate items at a 1:1 level with extreme detail and clarity. If you have small objects that need photographing for 360 spin images, a macro lens is a great consideration. However, it is important to note that the closer you move to an object the more light you need to put upon it.

Professional Photographers Choose the Right Equipment for Each 360 Spin

All lenses have advantages and disadvantages, so consider your studio and 360 product image needs before you purchase an expensive lens! For any kind of photoshoot, knowledge means quality. Choosing the wrong lens or subject distance will render a below-quality image that no amount of post-processing work will fix. Get it right in-camera, first!

Full Control Over 360 Product Spins

In most instances, 360 product spins contain 24-72 images. Here at Revo we use our automated turntables and Vida Studio System to make spins speedier and more precise. In combination with our correct lens choice and Studio Titan camera stand, we capture precise and clear images every time.

It may be surprising, but most of the time spent for our 360 product photography comes in the setup period before we even press the shutter. We spend time making sure the object is centered and well-lit ahead of the 360 spin capture. Centering the object is of utmost importance, and an out-of-center object will appear wonky in a 360 product view. Larger items like bicycles are a bit more forgiving: something an inch out of center may not be noticeable. But for smaller objects even a mm out of center will be extremely noticeable upon rotation. Sweat the small stuff!

If you have questions about lensing, centering, Revo or the Vida System…please get in touch with us today!

Uploading And Viewing 360 Degree Spin Product Photos

You have completed your 360 spin and have all the images… so, what’s next? 

The most important next step is to find a viewer or host site to display your spin or embed it on your website. Hosting pages are extremely powerful: they allow for file optimization, changing of size parameters, changing output resolutions, exporting for interfaces such as Grainger, Amazon, Walmart, and much more. 

An added benefit for using a hosting site is that they allow for use of a single link for completed spins, keeping all the 360 product images in one place and making sharing or downloading incredibly easy. The only real consideration is cost of the service, however, for the power or the platform and relative ease of use…the cost is negligible. This is especially the case when you consider the price of IT work.  We strongly recommend Sirv.com based on our years of overwhelming success with it.  Having a service host your spins is straightforward and simple.

A 360 spin is essentially a linear animation of images in a grid. Think of a digital flipbook flipbook: each image traveling along the timeline to the next is what creates the movement. These viewers / hosts allow your potential customers to use a mouse wheel, cursor or their touchscreens to interact with the timeline of photos and experience the spin and 360 view.

REVO’s tips for best spin practices are:

1. Make certain to use only jpegs for your 360 product spin. Since you can change file sizes on hosted sites there’s no real reason to use tiffs or other massive file types. You don’t want to slow down your loading times using massive files for each image of a 36 frame spin. 

2. Have your spin set to AutoSpin. This way as soon as the page loads the product will start to move, capturing the eyes of your potential customer in a natural way. 

3. Limit the number of spins per page. This relates to our first tip, especially since it regards file sizes and page loading times. Don't slow down your page! 

You can host your own spins on a server as well.  If you are a large company with extremely robust internet connections, and a dedicated IT department, hosting yourself can be a good option for full control.  We’ll get a blog post on that up in the coming weeks.

Here at Revo photo we have tried many different hosts and once again strongly recommend SIRV for hosting your 360 spin photography. 

 If you’d like to find out more about uploading 360 degree spin photos or 360 product photography equipment, we’d love to talk. Contact us through our website or call on 415.335.9114

The Advantages Of 360 Degree Product Photography

360 Product Photography Advantages

The 360 Degree Product Photography REVOlution 

In the quest to elevate the customer experience, high quality visuals with 360 product photography are extremely important for online retailers. Web-based retail firms that have used 360 spins to showcase their products online see the fruits of their labor immediately via increased sales and decreased returns. Unbelievably, few organizations have actually implemented these services for their eCommerce sales pages. REVO’s patented Vida Studio system is an industry proven and dependable method to capture, edit and upload 360 product photography to your platform of choice. 

Sell More Of Your Product

91% of customers want to see 360 spins.  Having high quality 360 product views on your site is a known way to drive sales up.  People pay more attention to the interactive experience and what you are selling.  Your product will stand out among others and shine in the crowd. 

Start Ending Returns 

Returns are costly, plain and simple. Nearly a third of all products sold online end up returned. 360 Product Photography establishes a higher level of understanding and trust with the user, bringing a higher level of confidence in their purchase. 360 product photography lessens product returns without the need to change any company policy. REVO’s clientele benefit from up to a 45% decrease in returns on a product that uses 360 photography. 

Increased Page View / Dwell Time 

Customers often forget page dwell time and its correlation to SEO rankings. The more time spent per page the more visibility it will have in search results. When using 360 degree product photography, customers are able to more deeply interact with an image, spending more time on your page. The 360 degree product photography experience keeps customers on your sales page longer, bumping your page organically in search engines. REVO’s customers experience a 15% and up increase in page view duration using 360 product spins. This is a substantial uptick.  An engaging and enlightening experience provides them the confidence to make informed decisions leading to higher customer satisfaction.

Improve Your Bounce Rate 

Higher bounce rates on pages equals lower organic search engine results. Keeping potential customers engaged longer is extremely important. Bounce rates remain high for pages that do not immediately and clearly depict the product to the consumer. 360 degree product spins instill a high level of customer confidence, lowering bounce rates in the process. 360 Spins can have a great effect on lowering bounces:  https://www.woorank.com/en/blog/6-causes-of-high-bounce-rates-and-6-technologies-to-identify-them

Capitalize on Conversions with 360 Product Photography

Crafting a page that mimics an “in-store” experience increases purchase confidence. Using 360 product spins provides dramatic sales conversion increases. 

Craft a Stronger Customer Experience Pipeline

Ultimately, the end goal of all ecomm retailers is to drive up sales.  Adobe published a study suggesting that 91% of all online customers desire the ability to view all products using 360 spins. Offering 360 degree photography using Revo Photo’s product photography services, or with Revo’s Vida Studio, is a simple way to gain a competitive advantage in the online marketplace. 

360 Product Photography Revolution Is Here

The 360 degree product photography revolution is in full swing and that is Revo Photo’s specialty.  Send us your product and we’ll quickly capture, post-process and deliver to your inbox beautiful 360 product spins. Want to use your own photographic department to spin? Revo has a comprehensive line of 360 product photography machines that we will install and train you to use. Revo has implemented 360 degree product photography workflows for hundreds of clients, including Fortune 500 organizations. We utilize a specific combination of top-quality 360 photography machines, patented technology and years of studio experience.  Revo helps customers increase web traffic and sales conversions while providing a superior, in-depth customer experience.