How to Create a Tabletop Studio

If you are going to shoot products or food, you need a tabletop studio. This sounds a lot fancier than it really is. Basically, you need a table. You put your subject on the table and take the picture. But if you want a good picture, that will take a bit more effort. This article will discuss how to create a tabletop studio without spending a lot of money.

Professional photographers, including me, will have a more expensive setup with light cubes, reflectors, diffusers, strobes, flashes, and backgrounds. But, you can get great results without buying all that stuff.

And I use the methods described below as well. Either when I am on a location without my gear, for a quick ad-hoc shot where I don’t want to set up my studio, or a simple food shot in my kitchen.

Everything I listed above falls into three categories, light, light modifier, and background. I will discuss these individually and then bring them together for various tabletop scenarios.

Light

Photography means writing with light. And as any seasoned photographer can tell you, no matter what or where you are shooting, it’s all about the light. Quantity, quality, directionality, and color; these are all factors of light that will affect your images. In terms of tabletop shooting, there are three basic types of light, strobe, flash, and available.

The third one is free.

You can get some decent strobes for not a lot of money, but they’re still too expensive to fall within the scope of this article. You probably have a flash, but depending on what kind, may or may not be useful. Everyone has a source of available light that is free, bright, and white, and you can control the directionality. It’s called the sun.

I don’t mean to go outside and put your subject on a picnic table and shoot it in full sunlight. The lighting would be too harsh and you’d have little control. That could be modified, but tabletop shooting generally refers to shooting inside, so we’ll focus on that.

What you want is indirect window light. Your table, countertop, floor, or whatever should be close to a window. Ideally, it will be a north-facing window (assuming the northern hemisphere). An east or west-facing window will be fine as long as the sun isn’t shining directly in. If you only have a south-facing window, you will need to cover it with something. Window sheers are usually good if they diffuse the light enough. Otherwise, a thin, white bed sheet is perfect.

Light Modifiers

Light modifiers fall into three main categories, reflectors, diffusers, and controllers. By control, I mean the direction and focus of the light. With strobes, this would refer to things such as umbrellas, softboxes, snoots, and barn doors. In our tabletop setup, the light and directionality is controlled by the window.

We’ve already discussed diffusers; the window sheers or bedsheets. You shouldn’t need anything further for that. The thickness of the material will be driven by how bright the sun is (if it’s overcast, you already have a diffused light), and which direction you are shooting. Shooting toward the window with backlighting, you will probably want a more diffuse light than with side-lighting.

Reflectors are just that. Anything that reflects the light. But again, we want to control the quantity and quality of the light. For that reason, the first thing you think of when I say reflector, a mirror, is probably a poor choice. I say probably because the final decision is yours. you are in control of what you are trying to achieve, so you will have to decide what is the best reflector.

The one I use most often, probably 90% of the time, is a white piece of poster board from the dollar store. I score one side of it so that it can be folded and stand up by itself. I also have smaller pieces that can be placed around a scene to control the light where needed.

There are several variations of this that I will use occasionally. I may cover the poster with a piece of tin foil to sharpen the light a bit. On rare occasions, I will use a color other than white to give the subject a subtle color shift. If you can find it, a light beige piece of poster will add a little warmth to the light.

Background

For the background, I typically only use one of two things. The window light itself, or more of my trusty posterboard. Frequently, if I am shooting food, I like to be backlit. This gives some nice contrast and texture to the food. For that, the diffused window light becomes the background.

For everything else, I use my posterboard. And here is where different colors come in. I mostly use white, sometimes black, occasionally grey, and on rare occasions another color. Whatever color you choose, tape or clamp the edge of the poster to the edge of the table. Curve the poster up and prop or tape it to something heavy behind it. You now have a professional-looking seamless background.

If I am shooting food, I will often just use the table itself as the background, with or without a placemat. I have even set the food on a wood floor and shot straight down at it.

Putting it Together

Setting up for the shot simply entails putting these elements together and placing your subject in it. But there are several things to think about and be aware of. Once you have your subject in place on or in front of your background, with the diffused window light streaming in and bouncing off your reflector(s), stop and take a look.

Take a long careful look at every facet of the subject. Are there any harsh or deep shadows? If so, you need more reflectors. Are there any bright reflections that will blow out in the image? If so, you need to increase or add diffusers. Look at any shadows cast by the subject onto the background. Are they too harsh? Do you even want a shadow? You will have to adjust your light modifiers until you have the light on the subject and any shadows cast exactly how you want them.

One final factor and that is a tripod. You really want to use one, for a couple of reasons. First, even though you are using the sun and reflected sunlight, there isn’t that much light on your subject. Not compared to strobes. This means that to achieve the depth of field you want, you will need a fairly long shutter speed. To achieve maximum sharpness front to back, you will want a small aperture. The only way to get both of these is with a tripod.

The other reason is that tabletop shooting is all about careful placement of all elements and precise composition. Hand holding a camera, you are most likely going to compose and shoot. Recompose and shoot again. With a tripod, you are more likely to take your time. Carefully compose everything exactly how you want it and take a shot. Then look at the result and make tiny adjustments in everything. Do you need to shift a half-inch to the left? That’s hard to judge and execute if you are hand-holding.

Everyone has a table and a window. Put them together with the tips from this article and start taking professional tabletop images without spending a lot of money.