Subject centric lighting

When I put your product in front of a camera I need to light it but where do you put the lights?

There is a way of looking at your subject called Subject Centric Lighting. This turns the usual way of looking at lighting, instead of thinking about putting light onto the product you light what the product reflects.

Everything reflects light, Our eyes collect this light and the brain interprets the patterns it sees, if things didn’t reflect then didn’t we would not be able to see them.

The way things reflect light is down to the surface texture of the object. Things are shiny because their surface is smooth and reflects the light like a glass bottle. Other things are matt, their surface is rough and scatters the light like an Orange.

What we need to do is work out where to put a light or a reflector so that it reflects off the product into the camera.

Simply put if you imagine your product is a mirror where would you put the light so you could see it reflected when you look through the lens.