Top 10 accessories for studio photography

I have a great selection of gels in the studio in a variety of colours and sizes. From product to fashion photography, gels are a handy accessory that you can use for creating coloured effects and controlling the light. In addition to coloured gels, I also have ND and polarising gels, which I use for product photography. You can see how I used an ND and polarising gel in our headphones product shoot live show.

Clear acrylic rods are incredibly useful to have around the studio, particularly for product photography. I use them for suspending items in mid air or elevating them off the ground. Because they’re clear, it also makes it much easier when it comes to the post production stages. You can get these from your local sign makers, who should also be able to cut them to the width and length you need.

Whether I’m photographing watches or glasses, I’ll often use mirrors or card to control the light. Acrylic mirrors are particularly useful for reflecting light back into products. Because they’re so lightweight, it makes attaching them to stands fairly easy, which is ideal when I’m doing focus stacking. I also have a selection of reflective and coloured card. From reflective gold card to matte black card, having different colours will allow you to get some very creative results simply and easily.

Many of the accessories up until now have been fairly inexpensive and while
c-stands unfortunately don’t classify as ‘budget’ accessories, they’re well worth the money! C-stands are much stronger than normal lighting stands and are adjustable too. Grip arms and mini boom arm attachments also mean they can be used to get lights into difficult positions.

See also: Lighting stands and supports

This is one of the accessories I use most in the studio — it’s what I use to achieve that beautiful gradient light on products. The diffusion material I use comes in rolls, which I then use to also create scrims for when I’m shooting products that need gradient lighting from above. Although this is an accessory I most commonly use for product photography, it can also be very useful for diffusing natural light when shooting portraits too (as you can see in this portrait photography class).

Small but mighty, electrical tape has a number of uses in the studio. I use it for holding products in place or marking their positions and even marking where I want my subjects to stand when I’m doing portrait or fashion shoots. Other useful tape to have around is duct tape and gaffer tape.

Lightweight and versatile, foam board is ideal for creating positive and negative fill. I’ve used foamboard for everything from food photography to business portraits and always have a few sheets around the studio.