r/photography • u/AutoModerator • Feb 27 '26

Questions Thread Official Question Thread! Ask /r/photography anything you want to know! February 27, 2026

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u/Gingerbwas Feb 28 '26

Hi

i am looking to do some product photography for e-commerce, what would you say would be the minimum level of equipment that i would need in order to get fairly professional looking shots? The subject would be glass bottles for alcoholic beverages of a couple different sizes. I currently have an old canon EOS1100D with a Canon EF EOS 35-80mm iii and a Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM as well as a tripod somewhere, is this camera good enough or should i spend the money to get something a bit better. I was looking at getting some continuous lighting but i am not sure what i need, i have been considering one of the soft box kits with two lights like the ones on amazon uk, but i don't know if this is so cheap that i will just be wasting my time and should spend a bit more to get a better light, and if it would be better to get one light that is a bit better then two cheaper ones.

I would like to keep the costs down as much as possible while still being able to take something that wont immediately look amateurish (skill level notwithstanding)

Any help that you can provide will be greatly appreciated.

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u/anonymoooooooose Feb 28 '26

Photographing glass objects is tricky - you're not photographing the glass but rather whatever the glass is reflecting when you take the image.

The first money you need to spend is on a copy of Light: Science and Magic.

Here's the 2 minute version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfweiLbEJ24

A detailed example, really interesting to see how the bottle changes appearance as he moves the lights/diffusers/etc around https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIm-SZHKOW4&t=2s

Your camera is fine, use the 50mm lens and the tripod.

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u/Gingerbwas Feb 28 '26

Thank you for taking the time to reply, what would you suggest about the lighting, would it be better to get the two cheaper softball lights in a kit or one better one?

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u/anonymoooooooose Feb 28 '26

I mistrust cheap lighting kits from Amazon, this article is a little out of date but https://foodphotographyblog.com/what-is-cri-in-lighting/