A Guide to Essential Equipment For Product Photography

When the fashion brand Ganni wanted to test its new collection, they faced a familiar challenge — producing high-quality imagery quickly without breaking the bank. The list of essential equipment for product photography can be extensive, starting with a camera, tripod, background, and lighting. This traditional setup has long been the standard for capturing professional images that drive e-commerce sales.

How Fashion’s Smartest Brands Cut Photoshoot Costs

A stunning photo is often the single most important factor that convinces a customer to click "buy." This reality has pushed brands to invest heavily in physical photography gear.

The global photography equipment market recently swelled to USD 50.25 billion, a number representing the massive spending required to stay competitive. You can explore more on these market trends.

For years, getting the perfect shot meant building a complex and expensive studio setup. Even established players like Zara constantly juggle the logistics and costs of photoshoots, slowing down new collection launches.

But the definition of "essential equipment" is shifting. While physical tools remain relevant, AI-powered platforms like Picjam are streamlining the workflow, offering a way to create incredible content and realize significant savings without a mountain of hardware.

What’s in a Traditional Photography Kit?

Before we explore how AI is changing the game, let's cover the fundamentals. Every piece of traditional gear has a job, whether it's capturing true-to-life color or showing off the texture of a fabric.

Here’s a quick rundown of the must-have items:

• Camera: The heart of your operation, capturing the raw image. Options range from a high-end smartphone to a professional DSLR or mirrorless camera.
• Lenses: Your eyes, determining the perspective and sharpness. A versatile 50mm lens is a fantastic starting point for apparel.
• Lighting: The most critical element. Good lighting creates mood, clarity, and professionalism. You can use natural light, continuous LEDs, or strobes.
• Support & Stability: A sturdy tripod is non-negotiable for guaranteeing sharp, consistent images across your product line.
• Backgrounds: A simple, non-distracting background keeps the focus on your product. Seamless paper is the industry standard.
• Styling Kit: Mannequins, clips, pins, and steamers ensure your garments look perfect on camera.

For many direct-to-consumer brands, the goal isn't just to show a product — it's to communicate quality. A brand like Everlane uses clean, even lighting and sharp focus to build trust, proving their minimalist aesthetic is backed by high-quality construction.

This hardware-first approach has been the standard for decades, but it's not without headaches. Behind every beautiful photo are hours of setup, styling, and post-production work — the exact friction modern solutions are eliminating.

Core Product Photography Gear at a Glance

This table breaks down the essential tools, their main purpose, and the typical cost you might encounter, from beginner setups to professional-grade kits.

As you can see, the costs can add up quickly. But whether you're bootstrapping with a DIY setup or investing in a full studio, understanding these core components is the first step toward creating images that sell.

Why Your Lens Choice Matters More Than Your Camera

Your camera and lens are central to your setup, but that doesn't mean you need the most expensive gear. For fashion brands, the mission is simple: capture true-to-life color, texture, and fit.

While many think of bulky DSLRs, modern mirrorless cameras often deliver better image quality in a smaller package, making them a practical choice for in-house teams managing their own equipment for product photography.

The biggest shift, however, is happening in our pockets. Don't underestimate a high-end smartphone. When you pair a simple phone photo with AI tools like Picjam, you can transform it into a stunning, on-model shot, saving thousands on camera bodies and lenses.

Smartphones vs. Dedicated Cameras

For brands on a tight budget, the latest smartphones are genuine workhorses. Their built-in processing is fantastic for social media-ready shots. Their main drawback? A smaller sensor and lack of true optical zoom.

Dedicated cameras, especially mirrorless models, offer full creative control. Swapping lenses and dialing in settings manually lets you build a consistent, professional look. For a deeper dive, our guide on the best camera for product photography breaks down the top models.

“The camera is just one piece of the puzzle. Great product photography is the result of thoughtful lighting, exposure, styling, and post-processing decisions.” — Jeff Delacruz, Co-founder of Product on White Photography

This is a crucial point. A beautifully lit smartphone photo will always beat a poorly planned shot from a top-tier camera.

Lenses That Make Apparel Shine

Your lens choice affects the final image even more than the camera body, controlling perspective, depth of field, and crisp detail.

• Prime Lenses: With a fixed focal length (like 50mm), these lenses are typically sharper and perform better in low light. A 50mm lens is an absolute workhorse, perfect for capturing full outfits without distortion.

• Zoom Lenses: These offer a range of focal lengths (like 24-70mm), giving you flexibility. They're great for shooting a variety of products quickly, from wide shots to tight details.

Key Focal Lengths For Fashion

Picking the right focal length is non-negotiable for showing apparel accurately.

1. 35mm to 50mm: This is your sweet spot for full-body and three-quarter shots, creating a natural perspective close to what the human eye sees.
2. 85mm to 105mm: These longer focal lengths are your secret weapon for close-ups, letting you capture fine details like knit texture without distortion.

Think about a brand like Allbirds. They rely on clean, sharp photos to communicate material quality. That effect is achieved with a tack-sharp prime lens that renders every fiber with perfect clarity, reinforcing their brand promise.

How the Right Lighting Setup Can Double Your Sales

If one thing separates a flat photo from one that makes a customer feel the texture of your apparel, it's lighting. Great lighting carves out shape, reveals crucial details, and sets the brand's mood.

The global market for photography lighting equipment hit USD 49.82 billion in 2023, according to comprehensive research from Verified Market Research.

With 85% of online shoppers citing product images as a huge factor in buying decisions, the pressure is on to get it right. For any serious fashion brand, this means learning to shape light with purpose.

Continuous Light vs. Strobe Flashes

Your first big decision when selecting equipment for product photography is choosing between continuous lights and strobes.

• Continuous Lighting: These lights stay on, like an LED panel. They're a fantastic starting point because what you see is what you get, making it easy to adjust shadows and highlights in real time.

• Strobe Lighting (Flashes): These emit a powerful burst of light. Strobes are much more powerful than continuous lights, enabling camera settings that create exceptionally sharp, crystal-clear images.

For most e-commerce fashion brands, strobes are the way to go. Their power freezes motion and allows for a deep depth of field, ensuring every detail is perfectly in focus.

Shaping Light With Modifiers

A bare flash creates harsh, ugly light. This is where light modifiers come in — tools for sculpting and softening light to make your products look their best.

“The quality of light from a light tent is often very even and shadowless. While this might seem ideal, shadows are important for creating product shape and providing a sense of place.” — Jeff Delacruz, Co-founder of Product on White Photography

This is a crucial insight. You're not trying to kill all shadows; you're trying to control them.

Here are the two workhorse modifiers you’ll need for apparel:

1. Softboxes: This fits over your light source with a white diffusion panel, spreading light to create a soft, even glow that minimizes harsh shadows and brings out fabric texture. For a simple setup, check our guide on using a light box for product photography.

2. Reflectors: Often just a piece of white foam board, a reflector bounces light back into shadowy areas. It’s a cheap, high-impact tool for ensuring no detail gets lost.

Two Essential Lighting Setups

You don’t need a massive studio to get pro results. Start with one of these two setups.

The Single-Light Setup

Place one large softbox at a 45-degree angle to your product. On the opposite side, use a white reflector to fill in the shadows. This creates a clean, dimensional look ideal for crisp product-on-white shots, much like the aesthetic of DTC brands like Everlane.

The Three-Point Lighting Setup

This is the classic professional setup for polished, high-end imagery.

• Key Light: Your main light (a large softbox), placed at a 45-degree angle.
• Fill Light: A second, less powerful light or reflector on the opposite side to soften shadows.
• Backlight (or Rim Light): A light placed behind the product to create a subtle glow, separating it from the background for a premium feel.

This setup is used by luxury brands like Gucci to craft more dramatic, mood-driven campaign images.

The Overlooked Gear That Creates a Professional Look

Cameras and lights get all the glory, but the unsung heroes of a great product shoot are the backgrounds and support gear. This foundational equipment for product photography creates a polished, consistent look across your catalog.

The Foundation: Your Background

A clean, non-distracting background forces the customer's eye right where you want it: on your product. For most apparel brands, the champion is seamless paper in neutral colors like pure white, grey, or beige.

Think about a brand like SKIMS. Their visual identity is built on a clean, minimalist vibe. By using seamless backgrounds, they let the unique fit and fabric of their garments do all the talking, creating a focused, premium look.

Choosing The Right Material

It really comes down to material and size.

• Seamless Paper: Affordable, available in many colors, and provides a smooth, crease-free surface. When it gets dirty, you just snip off the used part and roll down a fresh section.
• Fabric Backgrounds: Materials like muslin add texture for lifestyle shots but wrinkle easily and need steaming.
• Vinyl Backdrops: Durable and easy to clean, vinyl is great for products that might spill, though it can have a slight sheen.

For single-item shots, a 53-inch wide roll of seamless paper is perfect. For full-body looks on a model, you’ll need a 107-inch roll. Check our guide on setting up an e-commerce shoot studio for more tips.

Support Gear You Can’t Afford To Skip

Stability is everything for sharp, professional images.

A sturdy tripod is non-negotiable. It eliminates camera shake and locks your camera angle in place, which is crucial for consistency when shooting hundreds of products.

You’ll also want a couple of C-stands. These heavy-duty stands hold lights, reflectors, and background poles securely, making your setup safer and more versatile than cheap, flimsy alternatives.

Here’s a look at a simple but highly effective lighting setup. It uses a softbox as the main light and a reflector to fill in any harsh shadows.

As you can see, a simple reflector can bounce light back onto the product, giving you balanced, even lighting without having to buy a second expensive light.

How AI Eliminates Thousands in Equipment & Studio Costs

So far, we've walked through the traditional photoshoot setup. But pulling together all that equipment for product photography is a serious commitment of time and money.

A single shoot day involves booking a studio, hiring photographers and models, and tweaking lighting rigs. For a startup, that production can easily run between $5,000 to $15,000 for just one collection.

This is a huge operational bottleneck. It slows down launches and makes testing new creative concepts nearly impossible, which is why the industry is turning to smarter, digital-first solutions.

The True Cost of a Traditional Photoshoot

The final bill goes way beyond the gear. For a brand like Reformation, known for frequent new drops, these hidden costs stack up:

• Studio Rental: A professional space costs $500 to $2,000 per day.
• Model Fees: Professional models charge $150 to $500 per hour, per model.
• Photographer & Crew: A photographer, assistant, and stylist can add another $2,000 to $7,000.
• Post-Production: Retouching and editing can tack on hundreds or even thousands.

The whole process is slow, rigid, and resource-draining. If a look doesn't connect with customers, you have to start the expensive cycle all over again.

How AI Streamlines the Entire Workflow

Virtual studios completely change the game. Platforms like Picjam let brands skip the physical headaches. Instead of building a set, you can generate an entire studio-quality photoshoot from one simple flat-lay photo of your clothing.

The process is refreshingly direct. A brand uploads a basic picture of a t-shirt. The AI drapes it onto diverse virtual models, renders it with perfect studio lighting, and places it against a brand-aligned background.

For a startup, this means you could test a new collection on 10 different virtual models in various settings without a single reshoot, saving tens of thousands of dollars and weeks of production time.

This isn't just a niche idea; it’s where the industry is heading. According to McKinsey, generative AI could add up to $275 billion to the apparel, fashion, and luxury sectors' operating profits. AI studios are a key part of that efficiency gain.

Unlocking Creative and Financial Freedom

The biggest win with an AI workflow is creative agility. Imagine a brand like Ganni wants to test its latest collection with five different campaign concepts — from a clean studio look to a gritty, urban street-style vibe.

Traditionally, that would mean five separate, budget-draining photoshoots.

With a virtual studio, all five concepts can be generated and tested in hours for a fraction of the cost. This allows brands to get real data on which visuals perform best before committing their marketing budget. The savings represent a faster path to market and a smarter creative process.

For those interested in the deeper tech, understanding What Is Virtual Production: A Practical Guide for Modern Creatives can be a huge advantage. These are the core principles driving next-gen content creation.

By shifting from hardware-heavy setups to intelligent software, the fashion brands of tomorrow can focus their resources less on logistics and more on designing amazing products.

Takeaway

We’ve covered everything from basic camera setups to AI-powered virtual studios. Now, let’s turn that knowledge into an actionable plan.

• Improve Immediately: Spend time this week practicing a one-light setup. It’s the highest-impact, lowest-cost change you can make to your photography right now. A brand like Allbirds leverages simple, clean lighting to let their product quality shine through.

• Audit Your Expenses: Calculate your total content creation cost from the last 12 months. Identifying your biggest expense category — often model fees and studio time — is the first step toward optimization.

• Calculate Your ROI: Use a dedicated tool to see exactly how much your brand could save by switching from physical shoots to a virtual studio. The savings can be reallocated to drive real growth.

Ready to see how Picjam compares to your current photography costs? Use our savings calculator and discover your potential savings.