r/productphotography

I have some questions about optimal light setup.

At my previous job I shot jewelry and had an almost unlimited budget to spend on lights and other accessories.

Now I’m starting up my own product photo business and my budget is the opposite of unlimited.

I purchased a product photo box which handles reflection decently however the light is nowhere near strong enough.

I will mostly be photographing small items in the box, including jewelry again. I will also shoot things like food outside of said box.

What’s a good, budget friendly versatile light I can get away with in the beginning? I saw the Godox strobes recommended a lot but I don’t have 300$ for that just yet.

Hi

I have been taking some photos of alcohol bottles with a backdrop and some flowers/props, with the end being a composite of a few different photos with different lighting angles to get the best from each part in affinity, to help with cohesion at the end i added a subtle gradient map set to colour and a slight Gaussian blur, the photos already have a film grain applied from the nik collection before taking them into affinity. Are there any other techniques/effects that i could use to help finish it all off?

Thank you in advance for any suggestions.