Streamlined Elegance: Studio Product Photography with a Single Light Setup

If you’ve ever seen how industrial designers shoot cars, with light tracing over the curves from above, you start to understand how much information overhead light gives you. You see the form, the lines, the shape, the surface. That same logic applies to product photography. The placement of light matters more than the brand of light.

This setup isn’t about having a specific piece of gear. It’s about starting from a place that lets you see the product clearly. That place is always one light, overhead.

Lighting Setup

Start with One Overhead Light, Whatever It Is

This is where every good product photo starts. One light, directly above the product. It could be an LED panel, a strobe in a softbox, a tube light, even a flashlight. The specific source doesn’t matter as much as the placement.

You start from the top down because it immediately reveals shape, texture, and structure. Just like how a car gets lit in a studio. You’re tracing the object’s surfaces, creating highlights and shadows that define form. That’s what makes the image work.

I change my lighting depending on the product. Sometimes it’s a strobe. Sometimes it’s LED. But I always start from above. That gives me a base. From there, I adjust depending on reflectivity, size, or surface complexity.

Reflective, Glossy, or Awkward Products

Reflections are part of the product, not a problem to avoid. The key is managing them. Foam core, white for fill and black for subtractive contrast, lets me shape the reflection and the light.

For highly reflective objects, I sometimes build a tunnel or cage of foam core around the product to isolate it. The goal is to minimize unwanted visual noise and keep the focus on the product. This isn’t a lighting diagram problem. It’s a live, on-the-spot decision-making process. You move, test, adjust, and look at what the camera sees.

Background and Surface

I typically use white seamless paper clamped to a table. It’s consistent, neutral, and easy to replace when it gets dirty. White works because it reflects light cleanly and puts the emphasis on the product, not the background.

If I need to match a brand or shift the tone, I’ll use gray or a colored backdrop. But that’s secondary. Start with white unless you have a clear reason not to.

Bounce Cards: The Real Light Modifiers

Instead of reaching for more lights, I use bounce cards to shape the light I’ve already got. White foam core reflects fill into shadows, softens edges, and helps balance the image. Black foam core blocks spill or adds contrast by reducing light where you don’t want it.

I position them manually. Eyeball it, shoot, adjust. If it looks right, it is right. There’s no grid to follow. Just responsiveness to what the product needs.

Tripod Alternatives and Camera Stability

You need your camera locked down. That’s non-negotiable. But it doesn’t always mean using a traditional tripod. I often use a C-stand with an arm and a tripod head adapter. It gives me much finer control over vertical framing without the fuss of adjusting tripod legs every time I need to tweak angle or height.

This rig acts like a poor man’s camera stand and works especially well for top-down or flat lay shooting. If you’re doing repeatable setups or shooting batches of similar products, it saves time and headaches.

Whatever you’re using, keep your framing locked, level, and repeatable. Mark your setup if you’re shooting a series. Consistency in capture makes editing faster and cleaner.

Camera Settings That Just Work

This is my standard starting point:

• Aperture: F16 — Gives me maximum depth of field so everything stays sharp.

• ISO 100 — Cleanest image with lowest noise.

• Manual Focus — Especially important for macro or high-detail shots.

• Manual White Balance — Set it to match your light source.

• Shutter Speed — Set it to expose correctly. Doesn’t matter when you’re on a tripod or C-stand.

If I need extra sharpness or focus across depth, I’ll do focus stacking. But most of the time, I aim to get everything in one clean frame.

Post-Production: Be Consistent

I always begin with a color checker shot. That gives me a reliable reference for white balance and color grading. I batch process in Lightroom or Capture One, then do targeted cleanup in Photoshop if needed. Dust, scratches, background work, all of that happens fast if the capture is clean.

You can’t automate a good image. You get there by shooting clean and keeping your lighting and settings consistent. That’s what cuts post time down.

Starting from Scratch? Here’s What I’d Get…

If you’re trying to build a lean product photo setup:

• One good LED panel with dimming control

• A sturdy tripod or a C-stand with a tripod head adapter

• White and black foam core

• A roll of white seamless paper

• A remote trigger or tether cable

• A clean table and space to clamp everything down

That’s enough to shoot usable, professional product imagery. What makes it work is the setup, not the price tag.

Final Thought

Start with one light above the product. That’s the foundation. It’s how you learn to read light, see how it wraps and falls, and begin to shape it.

Whether it’s a $50 flashlight or a $5,000 strobe, the same principle applies. Start overhead. Look at the surface. Adjust from there.

That’s not just how I shoot. It’s how I teach it. It’s how I’d start again if I had to rebuild from scratch.