How to take product photos on dull or rainy days

During the monsoon or a grey winter week, the light through your window can look flat and dim. Photos come out grainy, yellowish or blurry, and you might think you have to wait for a sunny day. You do not. A few adjustments can get you usable photos even when the weather is poor.

Find the brightest spot, not the prettiest

On a dull day, the room is darker everywhere, so the best place for your setup is where the most light enters. Walk around at the time you plan to shoot and compare spots. A spot right beside a large window usually beats the middle of the room by a wide margin. Place your product table close to the glass, with the window to one side of the product. If you have not set this up before, read using window light for product photography.

Open everything up

Pull back curtains, open the shutters, and switch off competing yellow lights in the room that cast mixed colour on your product. A balcony door or a window on the side of the house that faces the brighter sky can help. If direct sun is absent, there is little risk of harsh shadows, so you can sit very near the window.

Use a reflector to fill shadows

Grey light tends to come from one side, leaving the other side of the product dark. A white sheet of chart paper or thermocol held opposite the window bounces light back. See using a reflector with white chart paper. Even a white wall can serve as a reflector if your table is placed near it.

Add a lamp, with care

If the window is still too weak, supplement with a lamp. The key point is colour matching. A warm yellow bulb next to a cool grey window gives a patchy colour cast. Try to use a lamp with daylight-type light, and test it before the shoot. Keep the lamp to one side and soften it by bouncing it off a wall or putting a thin white cloth in front, which also avoids sharp shadows. If you plan to buy lights, our post on cheap LED lights covers the setup. Never place cloth directly on a hot bulb; leave a safe gap.

Keep the phone steady

Low light makes the camera use slower shutter speeds, which causes blur if your hands shake. Rest the phone on a stack of books or a tripod, and use the timer so tapping the screen does not shake it. Tap on the product to set focus and exposure. More on this in best phone camera settings.

Fix colour in editing, gently

Grey days can leave a bluish tint. Adjust the warmth slightly until the photo matches the real product. Raise brightness a little, but do not push it so far that whites turn grey or noisy. Always compare the result with the actual item.

Plan around the weather

If a rainy week is coming, use it to do indoor jobs: writing descriptions, editing photos from earlier shoots, or preparing your shot lists. Shoot when the clouds thin out, often a bit later in the morning.

When to reschedule

If the light is too poor for clean results, no trick will fully rescue the shoot. It is fine to wait a day. Photos taken in good conditions last you months, so a short delay costs little.