Advice needed for product photography

Achtung_boy · 4 Aug 2015

I'm trying to take some product shots to upload to a website, and wish for them to have a brilliant white background, and a nice reflection beneath. I've been doing this with our previous products and improved me techniques over time. The first picture is one I took previously using a white backdrop and a sheet of glass from a clip frame to achieve the reflection.

I'm still working on the technique and have recently invested in a shooting table as shown here https://www.essentialphoto.co.uk/product/pixapro-foldable-shooting-table-60x130cm/

I've had to do quite a bit of editing to achieve the results as shown above, but generally I've been happy with them. I do feel that if the whole product was in stark contrast to the backdrop then I'd have an easier job. However our laster product has turned up in a foil wrapper (see below) and this is proving much harder to shoot. The set up I have consists of two bowens 250 spots positioned at a 45 degree angle facing towards the item(s). I'm finding it difficult to get the perfect white background (FFFFFF) without compromising the packaging, and if possible keeping a bit of a reflection underneath.

I've had to drop the exposure on this, otherwise the edges of the packaging fade. I have just two lights, and wonder if I'm not creating enough backlight to achieve the desired effect. So far I'm pretty much self taught and have learnt by trial and error, but on this occasion I want to put it to any experts out there and would appreciate any suggestions.

Garry Edwards · 4 Aug 2015

There's a lot that you can do to produce a much better result, basically your lighting approach just isn't working.
You have totally destroyed all the detail on the tops of the products, caused by poor lighting positioning. What you need to do is to position one light directly overhead, fitted with a softbox at least 3 times bigger than the products, and angle it forward so that it is lighting only the tops, at an angle that creates the correct diffused specular highlights. Because of the positioning of the light, there will be virtually no light on the front of the subject, leaving you able to light it separately, and you won't get that horrible specular highlight at the top of each jar either. The principles are explained in this tutorial on the Lencarta lighting blog.

Then you add a light to light the subject, this only requires one light in this case, the light needs to be in the largest possible softbox (a large silk will do just as well but is fiddlier to use) and you position it off to one side, at a fairly acute angle. I suggest that you put it on the left, because the left side of each product will then be brighter and therefore more eye-catching.

Then, on the opposite side, you place a reflector of some kind. This 5 in 1 reflector is an obvious choice but a sheet of white card will work just as well. Because of the way that the Inverse Square Law works, the light has to travel much further to reach the reflector, and then bounce back to the dark side of the products, so you'll end up with a form of graduated lighting on the products, much better than the flat lighting you've got now. Again, using the ISL, you can vary the effect by varying the distance that the light has to travel.

The next step is to ditch your product shooting table, it is far too flimsy and sags with any kind of weight. Also, the design makes it impossible to get an even white background - not that you should even try to get an even white background in camera, it's the wrong approach for this type of shoot because, as you've already found out, light reflected from such a close distance creates image degradation.

Same goes for your semi reflection. The surface of that shooting table will get scratched very easily and the scratches will show in every shot. Also, because the material is bendy you'll get a distorted reflection. The only surface fit for purpose, other than a professional shooting table, is a sheet of glass, but a sheet of glass actually produces a double reflection unless the surface is top coated. Also, the size and strength of any reflection produced in-camera will be greatly affected by a combination of lighting and camera height, so if you do it in camera you'll end up with inconsistent results.

So, photograph these products on any suitable solid surface and forget about both the reflection and the white background.
Cut the subject out in PP, then add a reflection in PP. It's quick and easy, produces 100% consistent results and it's what the pros do.

BTW - I've had to drink a lot of green tea whilst in China - can't stand the stuff but I do want you to make it look good, even if I think it's horrible

Garry Edwards · 4 Aug 2015

I meant to add, the lighting advice above relates to your original product. You're getting the same problems on your latest product for the same reasons, but the cure is different. Ditch the overhead softbox and use a 10 degree honeycomb instead, fitted to a standard reflector (a spill kill reflector in Bowens-speak) and this will send light through the product, making it look almost drinkable

You will have total control of the effect by experimenting with the power control, and of course if you want the green colour to end up as green the power can't be (and doesn't need to be) too high. The front/side lighting will be about the same as for your first product.

You can of course intensify the colour by adding a green gel to the flash head, but the ASA won't like me if I actually suggest that, because we're required to be honest in our advertising.

You may or may not get light spill around the edges of the subject and if you do, this may or may not be a problem. If it is a problem then of course you just mask the honeycomb with a bit of Cinefoil.

Achtung_boy · 5 Aug 2015

Hi Garry,

Thank you for taking the time to respond to my questions and for the honest critique. Honestly you should have seen the very first pictures I ever did. I shall order the honeycomb and give your method a go. It's a shame about the table as I only purchased it last week in the hope it would improve things, but never mind. What you mentioned about the ASA is quite interesting and I can appreciate their viewpoint, but are they more concerned about unnecessary alterations (for dishonest purposes), rather than say trying to correct the colour (e.g. adjusting the hue to bring back the natural colour that has been lost due to the lighting used to get the right exposure)?

Thanks again for the advice.

P.S. Sorry you don't like the tea.

Garry Edwards · 5 Aug 2015

Well, I hope that you now have enough of a grasp on the fundamentals to get this problem nailed - it's really all about a bit of knowledge and a lot of practice, but without the knowledge the practice doesn't work. Once you understand the principles, you'll get there.
The aim should always be to get the lighting absolutely right in camera so that there is virtually no PP work required - conversely, cutting out products from the backgrounds and adding reflections, drop shadows etc is an easy process and always produces better results than trying to get a white background in camera, simply because doing it in PP doesn't affect our control of lighting. If there are a large number of images to process in this way, I simply farm the work out to a specialist, if it's a small number then I give the job to a staff member - either way, it doesn't cost much.

The reference to the ASA was a bit tongue in cheek - they don't seem to be very au fait with digital imaging and they don't seem to worry about practices such as using mashed potato instead of ice cream and using baby oil on meat to make it shine nicely unless they're told about it

There are some parts of China where tea drinking is a tradition that just has to be followed by visitors. You'd think, logically, that all you need to do is to drink the stuff but no, as soon as you do that someone will re-fil the cup immediately. Not drinking it at all is not an option and the only way out is to take a very occasional sip...

Steve T · 7 Aug 2015

As a matter of interest, why do you want a reflection underneath the product?

Steve

Achtung_boy · 9 Aug 2015

At this stage it's just for consistency. When the range was first launched, the virgin white background with a 50% reflection was 'in', although now we're taking pictures that place the product in the home environment, which I have to say I prefer, but we're also taking shots with white backgrounds for some of our resellers.

Achtung_boy · 9 Aug 2015

Garry Edwards said:
The aim should always be to get the lighting absolutely right in camera so that there is virtually no PP work required - conversely, cutting out products from the backgrounds and adding reflections, drop shadows etc is an easy process and always produces better results than trying to get a white background in camera, simply because doing it in PP doesn't affect our control of lighting.

Actually this is what I tried at the very beginning before changing to a white background and glass sheet. I could never get the reflection to look right. Maybe I'll have another try and see if anything changes.