Product Photos test /w new light tent

Hi everyone, I just got a light tent and took some shots to test it out. I am new to product photography so I am looking for some C&C and some advice too.

The light tent came with white and black cloth backdrops but I had no luck getting it to to be smooth and give me the seamless look. It came folded up so the creases are pretty bad. I ended up taking out some thick printing paper and using that instead. Is there a trick to the cloth or is it just no good to use? I also had a seem line show up where my white plastic base met the paper. Is there a way to avoid this? I had to cone it out in LR, which was no big deal.

Any tips would be great. Also don't mind the captions, just me thinking that im funny

1.

Not my area of proficiency but...I might suggest more depth of field with the apple as the edges are soft.

Hiya, I'm in the same boat in trying cheap options, allready tried the light boxes and found them frustratingly useless to use, causing more pp than using a piece of paper. After trying a host of other ideas I finally came the conclusion you just have to spend the money to get a good picture and minimal pp. The light is crucial, the more the better. I was told always shoot at f22 or higher for max dof, raw, max resolution, seem the advice works for me. My kit at the moment - three softboxes at 225Watts each Kit £355 @ fastfowardtime.co.uk - Photo viynl super white, it is super white reflecive, hard wearing and cleanable @ photoviynl.co.uk £47 1.6M x 4M - Total cost £402. I find this work extremly well but can now see the reason for good light and lots of it. I do like your photo's but imho as a customer would like to see the whole object in sharp focus.

chauncey wrote in post #17010132
Not my area of proficiency but...I might suggest more depth of field with the apple as the edges are soft.

Thanks for pointing that out, I definitely overlooked that detail!

Meercat007 wrote in post #17010704
Hiya, I'm in the same boat in trying cheap options, allready tried the light boxes and found them frustratingly useless to use, causing more pp than using a piece of paper. After trying a host of other ideas I finally came the conclusion you just have to spend the money to get a good picture and minimal pp. The light is crucial, the more the better. I was told always shoot at f22 or higher for max dof, raw, max resolution, seem the advice works for me. My kit at the moment - three softboxes at 225Watts each Kit £355 @ fastfowardtime.co.uk - Photo viynl super white, it is super white reflecive, hard wearing and cleanable @ photoviynl.co.uk £47 1.6M x 4M - Total cost £402. I find this work extremly well but can now see the reason for good light and lots of it. I do like your photo's but imho as a customer would like to see the whole object in sharp focus.

I am returning this light tent and have decided to purchase a roll of 53" white seamless paper + some A clamps and I am going to build my own fold-able lightweight table about 5 ft wide, with a 4 ft high back wall and 4 ft deep base. This way I can setup on my dining room table or on saw horses etc and put away when I'm done while keeping the frustration away from having to work inside a small tent. I couldn't stand trying to adjust the objects inside the tent and the velcro was driving me NUTS!! I'm also going to invest in some Cheeta QBox 24" softboxes for my speedlites in place of the tent diffusion siding. I have umbrellas already but from what I read they're not the first choice for product photos, and I don't like working with them anyway

You are on the right track returning the light tent. Flexibility is paramount in getting a great product shot.

On top of your table top project, I would suggest:

- white vellum for diffusion (for your side
light(s))

- 4' x 3' soft box or larger (for overhead and top lighting)

- 4'x8' fill v-flats (white on one side/black on the other)

- white plexi for reflection

Depending in what type of products you shoot, flashes may work, but you will want to invest in strobes. This may also be obvious, but a solid tripod as well.

For product photography hints take a look at Alex Koloskov's website: http://www.photigy.com​/free-photography-courses/
Most of his tutorials used to be free, but that's no longer the case. However, he still has enough free tutorials to give you a good understanding of product photography.

The first thing I'd suggest is ditch the light tent; you'll get much more flexibility learning to use flags, gobos, etc. And you don't have to spend tons of money; much of the material like foam core board and colored cardboard sheets for seamless backgrounds can be found at stores like Michael's craft suppliers for less than a dollar.

Typo: Deordorant.

Pictures.
You took them, they're Good.

short_wave wrote in post #17011460
You are on the right track returning the light tent. Flexibility is paramount in getting a great product shot.

On top of your table top project, I would suggest:

- white vellum for diffusion (for your side
light(s))

- 4' x 3' soft box or larger (for overhead and top lighting)

- 4'x8' fill v-flats (white on one side/black on the other)

- white plexi for reflection

Depending in what type of products you shoot, flashes may work, but you will want to invest in strobes. This may also be obvious, but a solid tripod as well.

I've got 2x 580 speedlites and I ordered some 24" portable softboxes for them.. This will have to do for me for now. I also have a nice Manfrotto tripod and I am planning on picking up some plexi from the store after I've build my table for supporting my seamless paper. Thank you for your guidance

PixelMagic wrote in post #17011486
For product photography hints take a look at Alex Koloskov's website: http://www.photigy.com​/free-photography-courses/
Most of his tutorials used to be free, but that's no longer the case. However, he still has enough free tutorials to give you a good understanding of product photography.

The first thing I'd suggest is ditch the light tent; you'll get much more flexibility learning to use flags, gobos, etc. And you don't have to spend tons of money; much of the material like foam core board and colored cardboard sheets for seamless backgrounds can be found at stores like Michael's craft suppliers for less than a dollar.

Thanks for the link and tips!

Alveric wrote in post #17011496
Typo: Deordorant.

Doh! Thanks

mojo_plasma wrote in post #17019031
Pictures.
You took them, they're Good.

Hahaha, good one! And thank you

Just an update for anyone interested. I built a 4.5 ft by 4ft table with a showerboard surface and a light wood frame and put a square frame of the same size on hinges to extend up to a right angle to clamp my seamless paper to. This can be placed on 2x saw horses or a tabletop with 2x 2x4's underneath. This way I can fold it up and store it against a wall.

Here is some shots I did today for an ebay item with my first setup attempt.

i think your images were great,i liked the captions,i too got a light tent and cheap light set up,i haven't had much time to try it out but it seemed pretty decent for the price,