The Basics

The first thing to decide is how you want your photos to look--do you want them standing up, or laying down on a table? Do you want them to have a basic colored background or do you want to remove the background entirely? Let's start with standing up on some sort of display, since this is the easiest with minimal editing required.

5 steps to professional looking photos on a budget:

1. Pick your background - make it something contrasting that your products won't blend in with. You can use a bed sheet, a table cloth, a table turned on it's side, a blank wall, or craft paper to name a few options. I recommend staying with solid colors or something simple like wood grain unless you're more advanced and/or good with Photoshop. Unless you have a natural creative streak you'll want to keep this background for all of your pictures, so be sure to make a note of it for later when you add more products to your website, otherwise you'll end up settling for a messy looking product page or end up having to retake all your photos. Tip: the reason you want a contrasting color is because it will be easier to make sure your exposure is correct and allow the consumer to differentiate between the background and the product. This will also make things easier on you later if you're trying to remove the background completely.
2. Find somewhere stable to put your phone or camera - Though I recommend using a tripod (you can find some decent ones for pretty cheap), you can also use a stack of books or something for this step, but you'll want to make sure your phone stays propped up firmly so that you only need to hit a button for each new product. But whatever you do--don't touch your phone in between takes! In order to have a uniform look without excessive editing, it will be important that your photos are all from the same angle, centered in the frame, and taken from the same distance. The easiest way to ensure this? Don't touch your phone! (Or cave and get a tripod if you just can't ignore that text). Tip: You'll also want to make sure you place your products in the same place every time, I recommend marking the spot with a small piece of tape.
3. Take a picture - Make sure the product is centered in the frame and doesn't show any of your handiwork. Try not to zoom though as this often decreases the quality of your photo unless you're using a high quality camera (this is another point where phones will fail you). If you're not close enough, do it the old fashioned way and move your phone closer. This is going to serve as your baseline. If possible, find a way to send it to yourself on your computer so you can get a look at "the big picture" (sorry, not sorry) without moving your phone. But if you absolutely have to, I'll forgive you this time. Either way, make sure to send it to your computer so you can get a nice good look at it. Now you're going to want to check for shadows--you'll probably have some--and to see how grainy your photo is. If it seems pretty grainy, it's probably because your camera (like most phone cameras & low end cameras) can't handle low lighting. What does this mean for you?
4. Lights, lights, and more lights - Most of the time you can get away with stealing lamps from elsewhere around your house, depending on how bright they are and how dark the room is. Start with one or two, send yourself a photo again, check for shadows, and if you still see shadows, go find more lamps. Keep repeating this process until it's just right. Just tell your housemates not to worry about it when they ask you why you're being so weird, It'll be fine. If you find you've run out of lamps and your lighting still isn't perfect, you may have to invest in some higher quality lighting. Never fear, though, I'll give you some suggestions later that won't break the bank. Tip: You're probably going to want at least one lamp directly over the product if there isn't already a ceiling light directly over it. You'll just have to get creative in your placement to make sure it doesn't end up in the picture.
5. The good stuff - Once you've gotten your lighting perfect, get your products ready and go! If you're using your phone, you'll want to make sure you get everything done in one session so that all of them are framed the same, have the same lighting, and are taken from the same distance. Then, after you add them to you'll be ready to put them on your computer & send them to your web designer. If you're a big Do-It-Yourselfer, don't worry, I'll be posting a blog on simple, quick edits for your photos to make them look *that* much more professional and eye catching on your website soon!

Types of Product Photos

Okay, but what if I want to take pictures of a product laying on a table?

Remember step 2 where I said you can probably make a stack of books work for you? Well, if you're taking photos of something laying on a table, I lied. You're going to need a tripod because it will be impossible to properly center the product close-up and get a good, flat angle otherwise. But don't worry, in the next section I'll help you find one in your budget. And remember where I said in step 4 that you might need a lamp directly overhead? Well, now you definitely need one. and getting the lighting perfect may be a bit more tricky. You might even need 2 overhead lights, but you shouldn't need too much else. So find one (or two) with an adjustable arm, or check out my suggestions in the next section. The only other differences are that you don't need to worry about the background at all, and instead need to make sure that the table you're using fits the same criteria as the background mentioned in step 1 does.

Leveling Up Your Photography Game - One Step at a Time.

So you've decided make an investment and step up your photography game or maybe you've realized you don't quite have everything you need to take the photos of your dreams. Well, here I'll go over things you can purchase that will make the biggest impact to your photos with the smallest investment in order and all the way up to the perfect starter camera! Full disclosure, I'll be including Amazon affiliate links, so if you purchase something after using my link I may get a small commission from it, however, it won't hurt my feelings if you don't use them!

Tripod

It should come as no surprise that this is my top pick. Not only is it a great quality of life improvement, but it will allow you to get more up close and allow for better angles. You can also set-it-and-forget it and use your phone in between photo shoots. It can also prove to be very handy in future situations as well.

Studio Lights

Studio lights are a big help when it comes to your home studio. You wouldn't believe how big of a difference it makes. There are so many options, however, that can make things all the more confusing. Here are a couple of my favorites (also see my 2-in-1 pick from the Tripod section).

Cameras & Misc.

These will help elevate your photos to the highest level you can get without a professional photographer, or without fully devoting time to studying photography yourself. These are especially good buys if you find that you enjoy photography and want to do it as a hobby or if your business is really taking off and you have a good amount of extra money to improve your product photos and any other photos you may need for your business but aren't ready to commit to hiring a photographer.