Can anyone help with some product photogrpahy tips?

Honestly, why would you accept a job if you didn't feel you had the knowledge base to do it properly . I hope you told your client that you are going in cold on this or at least that is the impression you are giving us.

There have been some threads in the past that speak to product photography. I would give the site Table Top Studio a read. It has some good information in it. I did a google search on product photography and it provides a pretty decent selection of resources.

You do have adequate gear the question is do you have the right gear for doing small product photography. I would certainly light things with more than a single flash, I would use strobes or even good continuous lighting gives you a clear indication of where your shadows will be. Any small product work that I have done has been with good macro capable lenses. I haven't used the 35mm lens that you have so hopefully that will stand the test for this kind of work. Have you done any of this work before?

The small lighting tent is a good idea provided you have subjects small enough to work. Ideally you want two flashes so as to keep the light even on both sides. The purpose of those tents is to spread the light around more evenly, but a single source is still going to have considerable falloff to one side or another.

gonzogolf wrote in post #15154441
The small lighting tent is a good idea provided you have subjects small enough to work. Ideally you want two flashes so as to keep the light even on both sides. The purpose of those tents is to spread the light around more evenly, but a single source is still going to have considerable falloff to one side or another.

I'm not one to argue with something that works and has worked since forever. I do my own 'product shots' for ebay, and have always used a lightbox with 3 lights (2 sides, 1 above), and it always worked great. We just moved, and in the move, I tossed my makeshift lightstands, leaving me with nothing to hold an overhead light, or even the sidelights.

I have a 36" light tent, and decided to play around a little. I took my YN flash, on a trigger, and put it inside the tent to the left of the product, and pointed it to the roof of the tent. I was surprisingly pleased with the results. Here's a thread in the FS section with the setup: https://photography-on-the.net …t=1239524&highl​ight=nikon

Now, I know the WB is off (not 100% sure why, could be the bounce caught some of the awful wall color (mint green on every wall in the house)), but I was looking more at the reflections and hot-spots to determine if the pics were 'passable'.

One huge piece of advice would be to read "Light, Science, and Magic", as they talk specifically about reflections and how to deal with them. Lots of product shooting in the book as well. I'm guessing that cosmetics come in a lot of shiny containers, which can/will cause nightmares for you. The book helps you deal with them, and prevent them.

All things considered though, I''d prefer constant daylight balanced lighting on the sides and top of the tent. It'll give you a wysiwig before the shot, so you can eliminate reflections and the like before taking the shot.

I always shoot with the flash inside the box; single flash with a Sto-Fen inside the box aimed at the inside-top of the box. Depending on the product and the size, the only real problem you run into is how to light a larger box. I've shot smaller items with a shoebox, larger items with a lightbox, and even larger items by simply bouncing a flash off the ceiling of the room. All you really have to do is practice a few shots and refine your technique as you go.


Shoebox shot...

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/katodog/6203664​557/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/katodog/6203664​719/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/katodog/8105694​594/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/katodog/8110965​976/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/katodog/7389859​094/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/katodog/6786818​734/

I went to Office Depot and bought that foam board that kids use for poster projects at school (the thick kind. I made a five-sided cube and cut large square holes in the sides and top (but not the back or bottom). There was no sixth side on the part facing me. Then I took an old, thin sheet and cut out squares to cover the squares I cut in the sides and top. Next I bought some strong fluorescent lights and the cheap, metal dishes that clip onto to anything (construction lamps). I used one for the top and two for the sides.

I also bought a selection of colored and white posterboard. the whole setup was probably fifty bucks, maybe less. Only took a couple hours to make. I then used a flash and aimed it at the ceiling. It filled in where the lights were weak (because the flash light bounced off the ceiling and through the hole in the top.

I got these shots that way (using various posterboard (the flexible kind) as backgrounds.

What I took pictures of, however, was a complete waste of time. Just boredom in the summer (I'm a teacher). Except the puppies, of course. It's never a waste of time to photograph puppies (using a cloth as a "product" platform).

HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'text/html' | Byte size: ZERO