Help with Lense & Flash for Indoor Product Shoot

[GhillieSkins]

Hello All,

Please provide me w/your opinions to get me off on a stong start to buy the best lense for my application.

I will be taking indoor still-shot photographs of our products to be published in our catalog. Photos will be of various bags and garments.
- Distance of shots will be within a few-to-5 feet or so.

My research is pointing to a wide-angle lense such as the following:
Canon EF 24mm F2.8 SLR Lens
Canon EF 28mm F1.8 USM SLR Lens
or would the Canon EF 50mm F1.8 II SLR be a better fit?

Currently I have a cheapie but decent lense Canon 28-90U F4-5.6 but I don't think this is best for my application....it does not seem to encapsulate the full width of my products with the upclose details I want.

Additionally I will be almost soley dependent on the camera flash for lighting, is the 10D std camera flash sufficent? or should I but a 550EX (which will also serve the purpose for my long range shots in other apps?) Oh...the sales person suggested a hood for the flash to soften the light.

Lastly, is 17th Street Photo in NY a good place to buy these items?

Am I on the right track? Please help.

[Longwatcher]

First for what you are doing I would recommend studio or at least work lights instead of flash. But if you have to go with flash the 550EX would be better then the onboard flash. A second 550EX or 420EX would be even better to allow for better lighting. The diffuser on the 550EX will work somewhat well, but it will still be pretty bright, but I think you can lower the flash exposure far enough to help with specular returns though.

As to lenses, if you are stuck with a 5ft area and your 28-90 is not wide enough, get the 17-40 or 16-35 instead of the 24mm. If it is just detail, then at that range only those lenses will probably satisfy. They are more expensive, but I suspect you will need the field-of-view of those lenses if you only have that small of an area to work in.

Just to make sure, you are using sharpening on your photos? This may improve the quality significantly better then getting another lens. I just ask because a lot of people fresh to the 10D are not aware they need to sharpen the images on the computer to get best quality.

As to NY stores, no experience other then B&H (which has been great so far)

Just my opinion and experience,

[Dans_D60]

Commercial shots with limited lighting equipment can be frustrating particularly if you need to eliminate background shadows. A few months ago I was shooting a hand held asthma monitor that my company wanted for a brochure. No background shadows but still wanted to achieve a 3-D look. After experimenting with all kinds of backgrounds, I finally ended up sticking the device on a small rod with two-sided tape and completely filled the space with light. To achieve the 3-D look, I added a small softbox about 45 degrees from top left. I suggest experimenting with the lighting equipment you have until the desired results are realized. Because you are shooting with digital, you can view your setup and make modifications in real-time. Digital has really changed my workflow and for what you’re attempting to carry out, it’s amazing.

Here is the setup mentioned above for this product shoot:

http://www.pettusphoto.com/setup.jpg

And the results:

http://www.pettusphoto.com/images/image002.jpg

Just keep experimenting and never stop learning. I still have so much more to learn and discovering new techniques everyday. And, have fun!

Dan
http://www.pettusphoto.com