Product photography bombards us from every corner of our daily lives, to the point where we aren’t even cognitively aware when we are viewing it. Its subliminal message entices us to pull out our wallets to purchase everything from hamburgers to that must have running shoe – even if you don’t run. Brands spend lots of money on product photography so that you’ll be compelled to spend yours.
As a product photographer, or any photographer, really, you’ll see your money being spent on gear and goodies to help you with your craft, so anywhere that you may be able to cut corners gear wise is definitely a plus. There are a few very important things that you should have when photographing product to make the product pop (and your client happy). Besides good lenses (typically macros and primes) and a tripod, background and light play a big part in the product photography genre.
Take the Broncolor Optical Spot Attachment. It’s a fantastic optical projector  that creates a multitude of digital backgrounds opening up almost limitless possibilities. The deterrent, though, is the price tag. At $3,552.05, I would rather throw up a sheet of tinfoil for $1.99 and call it a day.
[REWIND:Â DIY: HOW TO CREATE AN AWESOME PRODUCT SHOT WITH ONE LIGHT AND FOIL]
Enter the Light Blaster. We’ve shown you some examples of what the Light Blaster can do in this article, and at $99, it is much more budget-friendly for those of us who don’t do product photography full time or have a trust fund. In the following video, Alex from Photigy shows us the Light Blaster and how he uses it with just one speedlight. No Photoshop except for some color adjustment in Camera RAW.
With a savings of 35 times that of the Broncolor attachment, personally, it would be a no brainer for me. I haven’t played much with a digital projector, but for $99, I may pick up a Light Blaster to try out some new creative studio projects just for fun.
If you’re a photographer that is new to studio photography or want to learn more about how to start check out our review of the PHOTIGY: STARTING IN STUDIO PHOTOGRAPHY WITH SPEEDLITES COURSE (BUNDLE PARTS 1-3)  course.
You can see Alex’s entire blog post including the unretouched images from the shoot, on the Photigy website here.
[Via iso1200/images via screencap]
