Need advice on equiptment for taking hi-qulaity photos of products for e-commerce

[krisgel]

Hi,

I am putting together a fairly large e-commerce site with a lot of products (nutritional supplements). I took photography classes in high school, and I am fairly confident that with the right equiptment and some experimentation, I should be able to take high quality and good sized product photos for the website.

The trouble is that I do not know what camera, lens, lighting set-up and tripod to get to accomplish my goals. I was hoping to keep the total investment around $2500 if this can be done.

Also, I would like to be able to use the camera/lens/tripod for some amateur photography that could turn into abig hobby for me.

It seems to me that the Canon EOS 20D would be a good camera to get. How about the other equiptment?

[DocFrankenstein]

For producuct photography, you might want a point and shoot. Today they give you more than enough quality for website.

(IE G series, cause they have the hot shoe to trigger additional flashes) But of course if you want that 20D... no money is gonna be enough. :p

Tripod depends on your choice of camera. G series are not as demanding as a telephoto+grip+body. Aim for 100 bucks min though.

Lights I have no clue about. Someone will chime in.

[krisgel]

For producuct photography, you might want a point and shoot. Today they give you more than enough quality for website.

(IE G series, cause they have the hot shoe to trigger additional flashes) But of course if you want that 20D... no money is gonna be enough. :p

Tripod depends on your choice of camera. G series are not as demanding as a telephoto+grip+body. Aim for 100 bucks min though.

Lights I have no clue about. Someone will chime in.

Thanks for the info. I do not want a point and shoot because I want to be able to take high quality photos for artistic purposes as well. Eventually I would like to be able to display some of my photos in my home as artwork, so the setup needs to be good.

[mjordan]

I've seen some pretty good artistic enlargements (20x30" range) from the Canon G series of cameras. But I know what it's like when I make up my mind that only a certain type of equipment will do.

You say you want the 20D... at least that's the model you hear a lot about because it's new, so you think that is the one you want. For what you want to do (based on the little you have said here) and going with a DSLR type camera (the 20D is a DSLR), the DRebel would more than provide you with the camera to do your product shots and also let you work towards creating the high quality images you want to hang in your house. Then when you really get bit by the photography bug, you will have learned enough to have a better idea of what you want and why you want it. And by buying a cheaper camera (price wise) than the 20D, that leaves you money for the important part of what you want to do... buying lenses. Lenses you will keep for a long time, the camera body will get upgraded fairly often... if you really get serious about photography like those of us on this forum.

For product shoots, and considering the product you are shooting, you are going to need a wide angle lens and perferibly a macro wide angle. Your bottles and stuff are probably on the small side so you will want to get close to fill the view finder. You won't necessarily need fast lenses since you will be (if you want it sharp) shooting from a tripod. The 17-40mm 4.0L would be a good choice as would the 50mm. If you don't get a macro lens the Kenko close up tubes work really good for close up and can be used with any lens you get.

The other thing you are going to need for product shooting is lights and a light tent. You wills ave yourself a lot of grief, effort and time if you get a light tent. You put the product inside, put some lights around it and you get a pretty good, well lit, image that will look great on your web site. With a light tent, shooting on a tripod and not worring about shutter speed, you can use photo floods rather than get several monolights... although monolights (studio flash lights) would not produce the heat that the photo floods would.

This should give you some ideas anyway.

Mike

[DocFrankenstein]

I do not want a point and shoot because I want to be able to take high quality photos for artistic purposes as well. Eventually I would like to be able to display some of my photos in my home as artwork, so the setup needs to be good.
Welcome to the club then.

You'll exceed the budget by 2-3 times till the end of the year probably :)

[krisgel]

I've seen some pretty good artistic enlargements (20x30" range) from the Canon G series of cameras. But I know what it's like when I make up my mind that only a certain type of equipment will do.

You say you want the 20D... at least that's the model you hear a lot about because it's new, so you think that is the one you want. For what you want to do (based on the little you have said here) and going with a DSLR type camera (the 20D is a DSLR), the DRebel would more than provide you with the camera to do your product shots and also let you work towards creating the high quality images you want to hang in your house. Then when you really get bit by the photography bug, you will have learned enough to have a better idea of what you want and why you want it. And by buying a cheaper camera (price wise) than the 20D, that leaves you money for the important part of what you want to do... buying lenses. Lenses you will keep for a long time, the camera body will get upgraded fairly often... if you really get serious about photography like those of us on this forum.

For product shoots, and considering the product you are shooting, you are going to need a wide angle lens and perferibly a macro wide angle. Your bottles and stuff are probably on the small side so you will want to get close to fill the view finder. You won't necessarily need fast lenses since you will be (if you want it sharp) shooting from a tripod. The 17-40mm 4.0L would be a good choice as would the 50mm. If you don't get a macro lens the Kenko close up tubes work really good for close up and can be used with any lens you get.

The other thing you are going to need for product shooting is lights and a light tent. You wills ave yourself a lot of grief, effort and time if you get a light tent. You put the product inside, put some lights around it and you get a pretty good, well lit, image that will look great on your web site. With a light tent, shooting on a tripod and not worring about shutter speed, you can use photo floods rather than get several monolights... although monolights (studio flash lights) would not produce the heat that the photo floods would.

This should give you some ideas anyway.



Mike

Hi Mike,

Thanks for the help. It was very informative. Could you, by chance steer me towards some specific choices in lense for my product shoots? The products will range in size from a chapstick tube to the size of a large can of soup.

Also, if this lens could be used for average photography situations, that would be great. If not, abother recommendation for a seperate lens would be great.

Also, how many photo floods do you think I would need with a light tent?

Thanks so much.

-Adam

[mbze430]

Get yourself a Pentax/Mamiya/Contax/Hassleblad 645 medium format. When you say artistic...that's the only way to go. Get yourself rolls of Provia, or E100VS

[iwatkins]

Well, for website work i would suggest the images you need are not going to be any bigger than 800 x 600 pixels. Just about any digital camera on the market will do that. But you certainly do not need medium format, nor a Canon 1Ds.

A 20D would do the job, or even a 300D/10D.

I use a 10D for product work as the final target is web rather than print so do not need huge quantity of pixels. I also use a shooting table and som studio strobes, but the strobes are only used because I have them for portrait work.

As for lenses, I have found I use my Canon 28-135 IS a lot for product work, but occasionly switch to the 50mm f1.4 if I want shallow depth of feel for arty shots. I also have a 105mm macro lens for the really small stuff.

In addition to a shooting table I also have a mini cove for those clients who want plain flat backgrounds. This works really well as it requires hardly any setup. Other items i shoot suspended using fishing line with a distant white background for really clean looks.

Some shots of setups and results below.

Cheers

Ian

Mini Cove lit with single strobe/softbox.
http://www.asrv84.dsl.pipex.com/Studio/20050223_1917_0088.jpg

Result of above
http://www.asrv84.dsl.pipex.com/Studio/20050223_1916_0074.jpg

Table top setup
http://www.asrv84.dsl.pipex.com/Studio/20050312_1302_7254.jpg

Result of above
http://www.asrv84.dsl.pipex.com/Studio/20050312_1301_7249.jpg

Suspended Setup
http://www.asrv84.dsl.pipex.com/Studio/20050325_1435_7605.jpg

Result of above
http://www.asrv84.dsl.pipex.com/Studio/20050325_1310_7563.jpg

[mjordan]

Adam,

I use my 24-70 2.8L a lot for when I'm shooting close up. It focuses pretty close on it's own, although I also use it with one of the Kenko close up tubes to get closer. I also use my 70-200 2.8L lens with the Kenko tubes. I like the working distance the 70-200 gives me (it's about a foot or more away from the subject vrs. a lot closer with most macro lenses or a shorter focal length lens). My 70-200 4.0L is also an excellent lens for this since I don't need the speed of my 2.8 version when I'm shooting on a tripod. I think any one of these lenses would work for you in most cases, although, other than the 70-200 4.0L the other two are on the expensive side, but worth the cost if you need them.

There are also some of the primes, the 50mm 1.4 or 1.8, 85mm 1.8, and the 17-24mm 4.0L (this one is next on my list to get).

I would get at least 3 lights. That way you can have one on each side and the other either on top, the back for backlighting or next to the camera in front. 4 would give you more flexibility but not all that necessary. I use 3 monolights right now, one on each side and a smaller one with a snoot on it next to the camera to give me fill light. I'm going to get another one because I also like to light from behind and from underneath at times. But that's with the stuff I shoot (flowers, fruit, things in soda water, etc.).

I priced light tents at B&H and other places and most were more expensive than I wanted to pay. But I found one place that was reasonable for a 30" light tent that folds down to almost nothing. Here is where I bought my light tent: http://www.eaglecool.com/light_tent_3.html

Hope this helps.

Mike

[krisgel]

Thanks all. My plan is to have only the outline if the products against the white background of the website, with a little bit of drop shadow added with photoshop. I don't know if this changes what equiptment (tenting, lighting, etc.) I should get or not.

Here is a website that sells kids products. www.landofnod.com (http://www.landofnod.com)
The photos of the products AND the enlarged photos are exactly the size and image quality that I am looking for.

[pradeep1]

Ian, you have a very cool setup there. I especially like the idea of dangling the object by fishing wire and taking it against a white background. That avoids having to PS the background out later. Neat trick.