I'm taking some product photos and could do with tips.

[Hampstead]

Hi,

I'm attempting to take some product shots for my website.

I have set up a white sheet as the background and I have 2kW of task lighting.

Some of the products will be white which will be a challenge I'm sure.

Anyway - I normally use only the auto setting and occasionally the portrait setting.

What should I use in today's situation? I'm trying to save cost and time on professional shots.

I have PS CS3 if it helps.

Best Regards,
Kevin.

[Hampstead]

Sorry - forgot to say EOS 350D with EFS 18-55.

[TMCCaptured]

subscribe. interested in the outcome,

[elysium]

To be honest, there will be no ideal setting since the camera will vary its metering depending on the object. Other factors will be the light intensity, subject size etc. I would just go full manual, pick a good depth so something about f4-f8 depending on product size and adjust shutter speed.

Tripod would be ideal as your product is not going to be going anywhere and just make things easier. Your main aim is to get a good depth on your product as thats what the subject is so shallow depth might not be the greatest thing.

[Stickman]

learn to set your whitebalance, and start getting away from your auto settings. You need to be shooting everything in manual,and dropping your iso down as low as possible while still keeping a decent depth of field.

You haven't said the size of the images you are shooting, so you aren't giving us much to work with.

[Gatorboy]

Make yourself a light tent out of a cardboard box. Cut out rectangles a bit smaller than a sheet of printer paper, and then tape some paper over the holes. Instant light box. You can light from the sides and/or top as your need requires.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/175/432742754_5dcd9fdd4a_o.jpg

Now, you may not have the equipment for off-camera lighting with flash, but if you have a tripod, I'm sure you can use hot lights and just use a longer exposure. The product won't be moving, so you don't have to worry about motion blur.

A homemade box will allow you to create some nice images:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3257/3168452466_de4e220b47_o.jpg

Put a piece of glass down, and you can get a nice reflection:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/182/432764265_a5b22191a2_o.jpg

[RogerAylstock]

Or you can use some black felt and make it look like this.

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l90/ramjetvette/IMG_0989_framed_s.jpg

Here is the DIY Light Box thread.
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=281524&page=185
The thread also has instructions on how to set the custom white balance.

My Setup:
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l90/ramjetvette/IMG_2420_s.jpg

[Perry Ge]

Wrong forum, mate. Get a mod to move this to the flash forum or the still life talk forum and you'll get much better answers.

[TMCCaptured]

You got that shot from that white box setup? You legend! WOW WOW WOW. Awsome.
I have searched and found builds ffor the light box and mate I will give these a go. As a complete noob you have blown me away.

The Products I have been given the chance to shoot are:
Mini Motocross Bikes
Full Motocross Bikes
All MX Bike Parts and accessories
Helmets
BMX Frames and Bikes
and various small components

I will practise on my MX'r to get the lighting correct, getting the material to build should be easy enough as I will use the create we ship the bike around the world in. Just a note of question ... are the lamps used the 500w Halogen lights from hardware shops?

[Hampstead]

Great advice here thanks.

The shot I needed to take is quite a large collection of items.

I have gone around it in a cak handed way but am quite happy with the first result.

I used full auto mode and lit the subject with 2kW of task lighting from 2 angles. The images were quite yellow so I hit the auto colour balance in CS3 and hey presto. It looked good.

I then drew a clipping path and used a white background.

Amazon have approved the images for use on their website and they are very strict - so happy in the first instance.

I'll find somewhere to add the shots so that you can rip me to bits on focus, depth of field etc. I won't mind. I'll look back in a couple of years myself and wonder why I was happy with them I'm sure.

[Stickman]

Great advice here thanks.

The shot I needed to take is quite a large collection of items.

I have gone around it in a cak handed way but am quite happy with the first result.

I used full auto mode and lit the subject with 2kW of task lighting from 2 angles. The images were quite yellow so I hit the auto colour balance in CS3 and hey presto. It looked good.

I then drew a clipping path and used a white background.

Amazon have approved the images for use on their website and they are very strict - so happy in the first instance.

I'll find somewhere to add the shots so that you can rip me to bits on focus, depth of field etc. I won't mind. I'll look back in a couple of years myself and wonder why I was happy with them I'm sure.




I'm glad its worked out for you, but without giving more information, you aren't getting the details that would be of larger assistance for your images.


At a minimum, learn to set your whitebalance to match your lighting. If you are shooting larger images, a light tent may or may not be a great way to set things up, but a homemade diffuser can be a pretty simple and highly functional setup.

[Hampstead]

I would love to learn every aspect of digital SLR photography, but every course I have been able to find in the area is for simple point and shoot cameras. None of them seem to cover the capabilities of the Digital SLR.

[brecklundin]

I know this is an older thread but I wanted to add that I have come to understand, finally, just how much I took different lighting techniques for granted. I am slowly working my way through "Light Science & Magic" by Hunter, Bover & Fuqua. Thanks to that book I now am getting it that while my lighting was OK in that it would show the product, I was missing out on techniques which would put the items in a special, and please for give this awful pun, but a special "light" that sets it apart from all the other product shots out there.

One of the techniques what is going to be invaluable to me is dark field lighting. I honestly never even considered lighting a dark/black backdrop from behind to make use of the light which leaks around the corners/edges of the backdrop.

That is just one technique in the book. And yes, all of the info is to be had online here and there. BUT, I am a book guy and love having a reference around to return to over and over as a refresher to the thing I am trying to accomplish. So, you could say I feel every person who is doing product photography should have this book. And now, it is not perfect and could use a few more shots of real setups and such, but a fast Google will give you a visual of the illustrations the book uses as well as variations on the technique you are using.

[ozziepuppy]

I know this is an older thread but I wanted to add that I have come to understand, finally, just how much I took different lighting techniques for granted. I am slowly working my way through "Light Science & Magic" by Hunter, Bover & Fuqua. Thanks to that book I now am getting it that while my lighting was OK in that it would show the product, I was missing out on techniques which would put the items in a special, and please for give this awful pun, but a special "light" that sets it apart from all the other product shots out there.

One of the techniques what is going to be invaluable to me is dark field lighting. I honestly never even considered lighting a dark/black backdrop from behind to make use of the light which leaks around the corners/edges of the backdrop.

That is just one technique in the book. And yes, all of the info is to be had online here and there. BUT, I am a book guy and love having a reference around to return to over and over as a refresher to the thing I am trying to accomplish. So, you could say I feel every person who is doing product photography should have this book. And now, it is not perfect and could use a few more shots of real setups and such, but a fast Google will give you a visual of the illustrations the book uses as well as variations on the technique you are using.

I just got this book and I have to say it is quite a slow read, but I know I really need the information in it. Lighting seems to be a major weak point for me. I am hoping to improve as time goes by (and I get more "stuff" LOL).

[Digital_zen]

I shot this with a homemade light tent (cardboard box w/ tracing paper panels) and a regular table lamp.

[mauro stucchi]

Hi Kevin
i do products and jewelry pictures
personally i have a tent and a shooting table for still life
you can find the white tent for cheap online
as shooting table i bought one with a white translucent plexiglass on the bottom and a trasparent one on the top
i also have 2 softboxes mounted on 1000w lights a Canon 5D mark II and a macro lens 50mm f 2.8
you can see the results here on my website
www.maurostucchi.com