I've had a few people ask about how I take my product and swatch photos, and what kind of lighting setup I have. I don't use a light box as I really like being able to have an open space for photos in case I want to get above shots, ect.

Anyway this is kind of just some quick info on how I take my product photos, and what I do to get the best swatch photos I can. I started out originally just taking photos of my things on my desk with no special background, just whatever was on the vanity and such as you probably noticed from old posts I did. I used a simple Cannon Powershot S750 that the husband had gotten me for a Christmas present.

Not too long ago though my amazing husband surprised me with an amazing Nikon D5100 camera and I figured I should probably upgrade my setup as well.

So I ended up looking around for some better lighting as I had just been using my vanity mirror, which didn't really give true to color images. I ended up purchasing a set of 2 Umbrella Lights that used Daylight bulbs. I also purchased a really sturdy camera stand and eventually a remote for it so I could take very steady shots without having to try and manually press the button which would cause shaking.

I place the umbrella lights on either side of the table I use and most of the time I use the tripod but sometimes I like to just hold the camera to get different angles. I used to use the Macro setting on my camera or the Automatic, shortly after I go the camera though I started using Manual so I could get the best possible shots and have control over everything.

Here's the lights I own I bought them here on Amazon.com

I also adjust my shutter speed and aperture as needed depending on how bright it is in the room already. Eventually I will upgrade this to have two soft box lights on either side instead of the umbrella lights as I've read up more since purchasing these lights and find the soft box lights would be best for product photos. I also always use a white background, I find this keeps the pictures from being distracting and can even change the color of the products your trying to photograph by casting that color on the product.

Anyway here is how I currently have my camera and the lights setup.


For my swatch photos I usually try to use true daylight as I find this gives the most true colors and depth of shadows, lip products, and any other makeup I'm swatching. I always use the underside of my forearm to swatch on as I feel this is the most like the eyelid skin, the hand is much rougher, and has more texture to it than the forearm does.

To get the straight and (usually) neat lines I also use scotch tape, probably more of a waste but for now it works fine. I will probably eventually make a stencil to use so I can wipe it and move onto the next swatch without wasting my tape.
 Anyway this is how I do my product photos and swatches, I'm not a professional and I'm still learning quite a bit about my camera. There is a ton of information out there on places like youtube to learn about cameras and lighting setups as well. I do hope this is somewhat helpful though and can help you figure out what might work best for you.

p.s. it's really late here and I'm sure there are things I forgot, so feel free to ask any further questions as well about this. :)