Can anyone help a novice get good pictures of products

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wayne

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Hello everyone

I'm an Industrial designer who just cannot take good pictures to save my life can anyone give me tips? Just look how bad I am http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=18997&cat=500
The perspective is bad (the back ground isn't my choice and that will be going!!!!!!;-) the lighting is bad and you can see me in the pic.

I would like to build a little photo studio where I can put the product in and take the picture. Can anyone please give me tips on a good camera and maybe lights I need and any other gear that I could use? Anything I do must be cost effective because my boss in tight and will not sanction any overly expensive gear.

Thanks for the help

Wayne AKA a bad photographer in need of help!!!
 
Wayne

Cheapest solution is a light tent and daylight balanced light set from eBay or similar. They diffuse light and can give a studio type effect. Tripod for camera is advised.

After that you want remote firing flash and then on to studio lighting.

HTH

Gary
 
1 quick tip - a light tent will help control those reflections.

I can recommend this tutorial for sill life it costs £5 as a PDF download but it is quite detailed and will improve your shots no end.

http://www.photolearn.co.uk/buystill.htm

The author even promises email support after you've purchased.

However, I am sure that a quick google search on "still life techniques" or "product photography techniques" will help you almost as much.
 
Hello Wayne,
Yes the sample ‘photo is quite bad but it’s not a disaster.
If this is generally the size of product you are shooting you might consider a Cocoon. Bowens do a nice kit with a 70cm Cocoon and two fluorescent lights which run at about 4000 deg Kelvin (which means they are a bit blue if shot on daylight white balance) and a stand which would make lighting easier.
These Cocoons would largely remove reflections, offer a plain background and make lighting easier, even if you didn’t get the “proper” lighting kit. The Bowens Dot Com kit is the best way forward and you would probably end up with something like it in the end anyway however the Cocoons are widely sold on flee-bay as a stand alone item for very small sums of money.
Bowens also do a very good DVD on product photography which is worth looking at either on its own or with the kit.
Alternatively for bigger products have a look at a Lastolight light tent.

Kind regards
Ilikebowens
 
Cheers guys that really helps I will let you see the results

Thanks again

Wayne
 
The light tent or cocoon idea is going to be pretty much a must for this type of product and if you get one, you'll be amazed at just how quickly the shots you take will improve.

You've probably picked just about the hardest thing to photograph you could have done there so don't fret too much that it's not worked out how you wanted it to. Curved cromed or stainless objects are almost impossible to control reflections on without surrounding them with the background you want. :)
 
Surely for still life a sturdy tripod and a remote switch means that you can take clear photos with no flash at all?

This, for example, was taken under a normal kitchen light with a card background...

319x480.aspx
 
elo there fella, Im quiet cheap when I come too stuff like this, I didnt buy anything, well, I allready had me camrea & a slave flash, I literally Just made a box & covered the inside with tin foil & the surface & back drop with paper, so the top & sides where foil to allow the flash to bounce off more, I got some allright stuff from it tbh, worth a go & is dead cheap, ill see if I got a photo from it seems as I aint used it alot.

1-14.jpg


=] ave a go.
 
don't mean to hyjack the thread but it seemed a bit pointless to start another thread and the answers may prove helpful to Wayne as well.
I have never seen one of these and as I sell quite a bit through fleabay a light tent would prove very useful in improving my images.
How do you use a light tent to photograph dark or black objects. I had always found that black object against a white backdrop confuses the light meter resulting in underexposure ? how do you use lighting to counteract that?

edit
found this on constructing your own light tent and using it. light box
 
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