Product Photography Lighting: Techniques, Tips & Best Practices | Omi.so

Professional product photography demands precise lighting control. Book the studio, position the lights, adjust the modifiers, test the angles — and repeat this process for every single product variation. 

For global brands managing multiple product lines, this traditional approach to product photography lighting has become a major bottleneck in their visual content production.

This guide explores essential lighting techniques that drive commercial success, plus a virtual alternative that's transforming how brands capture studio-quality product visuals — without the traditional time and resource investment.

Understanding the importance of lighting in product photography

Great product lighting transforms online shopping from guesswork into confidence. The right lighting reveals textures, highlights key features, and creates an atmosphere that resonates with buyers. For beauty brands, it shows the subtle sheen of a moisturizer. For wine and spirits, it captures the rich amber tones of whiskey or the icy clarity of vodka. For electronics, light emphasizes innovative design elements.

But here's the challenge many brands face: maintaining consistent lighting across hundreds of product images. When your face cream looks different on Amazon than it does on Instagram, you risk eroding customer trust. When your limited edition packaging doesn't sparkle the same way in every market's campaign, you dilute its impact. 

This is where the ability to control lighting at scale becomes crucial — ensuring your products look consistently appealing across every platform and touchpoint. And this is where tools like Omi’s Virtual Photo Studio really shines. More on that later.

When and where to optimize lighting for product shots

Different marketing goals demand different lighting approaches. And understanding how to adapt your lighting for each channel helps you make the right impact.

eCommerce product listings

For eCommerce, lighting serves a crucial practical purpose: showing customers exactly what they're buying. Most major marketplaces have strict image requirements — Amazon demands a classic white background photo (at least for the thumbnail) with proper exposure, while Shopify recommends consistent lighting across product variations.

This means using even, shadowless lighting that reveals every product detail clearly. Your lighting setup should eliminate shadows and show true colors, helping you meet marketplace standards and reduce rejection rates. For beauty products, this lighting approach clearly shows the difference between matte and glossy finishes. For fashion, it reveals fabric textures and ensures accurate color representation.

Marketing assets

Marketing visuals play by different rules. Here, lighting becomes a creative tool that helps tell your product's story. Directional lighting can emphasize premium materials and craftsmanship — think side lighting that highlights the texture of leather goods or top-down lighting that shows product dimension. For lifestyle shots, soft diffused lighting creates an aspirational feel, while dramatic contrast through precise light control creates that high-end editorial look.

Social media posts

Social media thrives on stopping thumbs mid-scroll, and lighting plays a vital role in creating that impact. This is where dramatic lighting techniques shine: backlighting to make glass bottles glow, strong side lighting to emphasize texture and form, or moody shadows that build mystique around a new product launch. Your lighting choices can determine whether viewers pause, engage, or scroll past.

Video content

Video demands even more precise lighting control. Traditional product videos require complex lighting rigs that maintain consistency as the camera moves. In Omi's Virtual Studio, creating studio-quality video content is just as simple as generating static visuals. All you need is the video add-on.

Want to showcase your perfume bottle rotating under dramatic lighting? Or show your tech product's features with precise angle changes? Just set your lighting once and animate the camera — no physical constraints or complicated setups needed. Plus, with engagement rates typically higher for video content, this easy path to video creation opens up new opportunities for your marketing mix.

3 steps for achieving the perfect lighting for your product visuals 

The best lights for product photography include strobes, continuous lights, LED lights, speedlights, tungsten light bulbs, ring lights, softboxes, umbrellas, diffusers, reflectors, and bounce cards. But equipment is just the start — let's explore how to use these tools effectively.

1. Invest in speciality lighting equipment (or switch to a virtual studio)

Professional product photography in a physical studio typically requires:

• Main lights: Strobes ($75-150/day) or continuous LED lights ($50-100/day) provide your primary illumination

• Modifiers: 

  • Softboxes ($20-40/day): Large, diffused light sources that create soft, even illumination — essential for minimizing harsh shadows

  • Umbrellas ($10-25/day): Reflect and scatter light for broad, soft coverage

• Diffusers ($15-30/day): These reduce harsh shadows and manage reflections on shiny surfaces

• Fill lights ($50-100/day): Secondary lights used to brighten shadows and balance exposure

• Reflectors ($15-25/day) Essential for filling shadows and creating balanced lighting

Professional photographers know that mastering product lighting means understanding how different materials interact with light. Metallic surfaces need diffused lighting to prevent hot spots while maintaining shine. Dark products often require fill lights at 2:1 ratio to reveal details without washing out. Transparent products benefit from rim lighting to define edges, while textured materials like leather or fabric need directional lighting at 30-45 degrees to emphasize surface details.

Keep in mind that quality equipment often comes with significant costs — professional lighting kits can range from several hundred to thousands of dollars. A basic professional lighting setup could easily cost $200-400 per day to rent — and that's before factoring in studio space, crew time, or specialized modifiers for specific product types.

Switching to a Virtual Studio like Omi dramatically reduces your product photography costs. Instead of investing $50+ per photo in equipment and studio time, you can create unlimited product visuals that average out at less than $1 each — with no physical equipment required.

2. Play around with angles

Light placement dramatically affects your final image. The standard 45-45 rule (light at 45 degrees both horizontally and vertically from the product) works well for basic product shots, but don't be afraid to experiment:

• Front lighting minimizes texture and can make products appear flat

• Side lighting emphasizes texture and form

• Back lighting creates silhouettes and can make translucent products glow

• Multiple light sources help eliminate shadows and provide even coverage

In Omi's Virtual Studio, adjusting angles takes seconds, not hours. Preset lighting setups remove the guesswork — just select one that matches your goals, whether you're showcasing textures or creating dramatic shadows. Fine-tune with simple controls until you get exactly the look you want.

3. Edit your photos to achieve your ideal look (or switch to a virtual studio) 

Even with professional lighting equipment, images often need post-production adjustments. Common edits include:

• Fine-tuning exposure to balance bright and dark areas

• Correcting white balance to ensure color accuracy

• Adjusting contrast to make products pop

• Removing unwanted reflections or shadows

• Color correction to match brand standards

These edits require significant time investment and specialized skills. Each product might need 30-45 minutes of retouching, and maintaining consistency across large product catalogs becomes increasingly complex with each adjustment.

Omi's Virtual Studio eliminates post-production entirely. With zero technical expertise, anyone on your team can create studio-quality product visuals in minutes. Built-in lighting presets handle the technical work, while intuitive camera controls let you find the perfect angle. Need specific formats? Just export using presets designed for eCommerce packshots, social media, video content, or product bundles.