Help Photographing Metallic Objects?

Hi guys,

I'm photographing some products for a catalogue next week and would appreciate any tips on how to do it!!!

My problem is that the subjects are all metalic, and we're shooting them in a poorly lit location. How would be best to light them?

Here's an example of the sort of thing I'm gonna be shooting from their old catalogue...

I was hoping to take them against a white background but will that throw up more problems?

Thanks!

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Welcome to POTN

There are FAQs in this forum and the lighting forum that might help. If you want to add light you'll need a huge light source or diffuser to avoid highlights. Since they're not moving it might work ok to use a tripod and a long exposure using ambient light.

Oh, this book is great for technical stuff like this.

FAQ - Studio Lighting

A huge light source far away, or a smaller one close by.

Thanks guys!

I'll take a look...

I am a jewelry photographer and I capture images of reflective items almost daily. There are many approaches to the craft, but here are a few tips that can help. Using light tents, various reflectors and cards, mirrors, full spectrum lighting and or strobes, pro tripod with 3 way head, macro lenses, shutter release cable, lint free cloths, canned air to blow of dust, a large protractor to calculate camera angles to object, and a great deal of patience. Photoshop can only help enhance an image that is 90-95% there, so you really can't rely on the software to save a bad image. On my monitor, the image looks like a bluish color cast. Experiment with different lighting positions and backgrounds. Some photographers have a knack for this type of work, others don't. I may take 1-20 images of a pair of earrings to get the exact look I want for the client. Then there is the post work in PS. My main motivation for the craft is passion for the subject and the satisfaction of capturing an exceptional image, sometimes I get lucky and get one in 1-2 shots. katt

hi there,

just thought I'd show you how I got on using the tips I got!

Heres an example of one of the new pics we took, not too bad I dont think considering we were using a 4year old Fuji Film 2mp Point and Shoot with no real manual override!!!

We used a lightbox with 3 halogen lamps lighting it and white balance set to tungsten.

they arent exactly perfect but then if you look up to the original (in my first post) its one hell of an improvement!!

thanks a lot

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Wow, that's a huge improvement. The way that ...thing... catches the light is lovely. It looks like you've found these forums to be worthwhile!

If I could offer one minor suggestion: you might want to clean up those spots and dirty marks using PhotoShop or something, before you put them in your catalogue.

ha ha yeah, we've done quite a bit of rubber-stamp-tooling on them before they've gone into publisher- these things weigh about 30-50kg, and dragging them in and out of the tent made a right mess of the white board they were stood on!

there were pics with better, whiter and cleaner backgrounds, but like you say the light on this block in particular looks fantastic!

thanks for all the help guys!