Help Setting up a Small Studio for Photography of Antiques

wormishere

wormishere

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Mark
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Hi there,

I am looking at setting up a small studio in the spare room to photograph antiques that will be uploaded to eBay etc. My previous employer had a Lastolite Cubelite which worked great but was very expensive.

As a newcomer to photography and especially studio set ups I wondered if anyone could help me. I should note that the majority of items I wish to photograph are going to be 'tabletop' size - less than 50cm high etc.

I prefer the idea of continuous lights rather than flashes and as such would these be suitable? http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...coliid=I7ITZJZXFF9X4&ref_=wl_it_dp_o_pC_S_ttl

What else would I need other than background paper and supports?

At the moment I only have a Sony DSC WX350 Cyber Shot and cannot afford a DSLR until I get things going. Can anyone forsee a problem with this?

Can anyone offer their thoughts or opinions?
 
Those continuous lights are junk, you need studio flash to do the job properly. And, once you've got the hang of it, flash is easier as well as better.

If all that you want to do is to show what the products actually look like, then a light cube is a solution of sorts, but it won't bring out the qualities of the products. 3 separate customers, who need to do their own in-house photography, have bought kits from us today, and each spent around £1000 - this is clearly more than you are prepared to spend, but measured against the increased sales that result from photos that sell products instead of just illustrating them, it's small change.

If you decide to ignore this and go for a light cube, you can get an unbranded one from Ebay, which will be no worse than a branded one, much more cheaply.
 
Hi,

Thanks for your advice - those videos are great - and strange.

I have always been a bit intimidated by using strobes - I have since been having a look on here and it seems a little less so now. Harder to master but better results by the sounds of it.

By all accounts I will need a fully manual camera so will have to find a good second hand one for now - maybe a G10?
 
Well yes, that video is a bit strange - some useful tips, but the days of using dully spray to hide reflections instead of lighting the subject properly and controlling those reflections in a positive way are long gone.

In terms of a camera, you need one on which you can set the shutter speed and the aperture manually, and which has a hotshoe.
 
You're right you'll definitely want a manual camera. If you're shooting under controlled lighting you don't need a fancy new dslr, most of the improvements are in light sensitivity and to an extent megapixels neither of which you would need if shooting in studio for the web. I'd pick up a used nikon d70, or similar, and a prime macro lens in the 50-90mm range and you'd be far better set than any compact for not a lot more money. you should get both for under £200 and if you weren't shooting anything too small you could even just go with a kit lens and possibly be around £100 as you'll be shooting at fairly small appertures most of the time anyway so don't need fast glass.

If you're shooting table top stuff you'll need a fairly solid tripod whether you get a dslr or not.

Couple those with a sheet of white and black perspex and a trip to the range for some different coloured paper rolls, reflective card and mount boards and you'll be sorted bar your lights.

Studio Flash is best as in this scenario the modeling lights can really help, speed lights are good, continuous lights are worst but all will do the job if you're careful. You need to think about what modifiers you will use with the lights as this will make most impact on the final image. If you go with a kit like you linked, which tbh is most likely junk, you will not be able to change the modifiers and it doesn't look they have any type of adjustable power so you will need to be very creative with how you use and control them.

You're in a better position as most because you know exactly what you want to shoot so plan carefully what you need and try to avoid buying everything twice as that always ends up more expensive in the long run.
 
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