Lastolite Litetable help

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danlad

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New here, hope it's the right place for this question.

This is an idea of whats happening https://www.dropbox.com/s/bxcgr46htqf1lqd/DSC_5581.JPG

I bought a Lastolite Litetable to photograph personalised cushions we've started to make, but I just can't the images right. The cushion is always over exposed at the bottom of the cushion, I've tried reducing the light and changing the camera setting but all this seems to do is darken the white background and base. I'm shooting at f16 with a shutter speed of 125 and the ISO as low as it will go. I'm using a Nikon D300 with 3 Elinchrom D lite it 4 flash lights.

I've also tried setting a custom white balance with a grey card and also tried using a light meter.

Hope all that makes sense and thanks for any help given.
 
Welcome to TP :)

Quite a few issues going on there, needing some knowledge and careful adjustments to get right. But if you just want a white background, then the obvious answer is to turn off the under-lighting and cut out the cushion in post-processing.
 
I was hoping not to have to do much post processing, any thoughts on how to solve the issues? What do you mean by carful adjustments, what do I need to be adjusting to correct it?

Thanks
 
danlad said:
I was hoping not to have to do much post processing, any thoughts on how to solve the issues? What do you mean by carful adjustments, what do I need to be adjusting to correct it?

Thanks
Click to expand...

By trial and error, you need to adjust the brightness of the under-lighting so that it is a) even all over, front to back, and b) about 1/3rd stops brighter than the main top light. If you still get lens flare, then you'd need control that by masking off the area out of shot.

In theory, it's easy - less so in practise, especially if you're not familiar with this kind of work.

Even then, there's a good chance you'd still have to do some cleaning up in post-processing, as well as enhancing the image to best effect. So you might as well do the cut-out then too. Dead easy with software like LightRoom. While the maxim 'get it right in-camera' is often a good one, there are some jobs that are both better and more easily done in post.
 
What Richard said (ish*).

The solid objects are allowing a larger than 1/3 stop overexposure because you can't really see any of the object lit from below. So the 'mistake' is still there, but it's invisible, turn off the key light and move and adjust the lower light till you have the correct exposure on it. It might not be possible to get as clean a white BG as you've been getting, because you're currently blowing it by quite a lot.

*if this is volume shooting it probably is quicker to spend time lighting than processing
 
I've tried the suggestions above but it seems almost impossible not to over expose the product and still keep a white base, so I tried this image with the cushion laying down on the bed and shooting from above https://www.dropbox.com/s/5bwqgc7qutmn8yr/DSC_5669.jpg

I haven't used any key light on the product just one in the base and one lighting the background.

How can I improve this or would you be happy with it?

Thanks
 
Not great is it.

Sorry to be blunt, but see posts #2 and #4.
 
danlad said:
I've tried the suggestions above but it seems almost impossible not to over expose the product and still keep a white base, so I tried this image with the cushion laying down on the bed and shooting from above https://www.dropbox.com/s/5bwqgc7qutmn8yr/DSC_5669.jpg

I haven't used any key light on the product just one in the base and one lighting the background.

How can I improve this or would you be happy with it?

Thanks
Click to expand...
I only meant to turn off the key light till you'd got the background balanced. Not to not light it.

But for the cushion, if I was shooting it, unless there's a real good reason for the white BG I'd shoot it in a more natural setting.
 
Phil V said:
I only meant to turn off the key light till you'd got the background balanced. Not to not light it.

But for the cushion, if I was shooting it, unless there's a real good reason for the white BG I'd shoot it in a more natural setting.
Click to expand...
As above. And if you really must have a pure white background, my advice would be to ditch your present method, which just doesn't work for this application, and shoot it against a plain background of some description, then cut the subject out of the background.

That way, you'll get a pure white background with no flare, no degradation to the edges, no loss of contrast and no overexposure in the edge areas.
My approach would probably be a very large softbox square and close to the subject, to produce even lighting and low overall contrast, then something like a gridded beauty dish at a very acute angle, skimming across the surface to reveal texture and create high local contrast.
The effect of the inverse square law means that this light will need to be positioned a long way away.
 
Thanks for all your help on this. This is what I've got now https://www.dropbox.com/s/26di7swrenvgkgh/DSC_5681.JPG

I've done no post editing and there is no key light on at the moment. Any thoughts on it?

I'll go down the path of either cutting it from the background or a natural setting if I'm nowhere near with this one.
 
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danlad said:
Thanks for all your help on this. This is what I've got now https://www.dropbox.com/s/26di7swrenvgkgh/DSC_5681.JPG

I've done no post editing and there is no key light on at the moment. Any thoughts on it?

I'll go down the path of either cutting it from the background or a natural setting if I'm nowhere near with this one.
Click to expand...
Frankly, there's no point in asking for advice and then ignoring it.

But if you think that what you're getting is OK...
 
I'm just trying to see if I can get the results with what I've already got. I've got a lot of cushions to photograph and didn't really want have to cut each one from the background. I bought the table in the hope I could get the lighting right and get the results I wanted, but not being a pro photographer it's not been easy, hence needing advice. I've tried to follow the advice in other post relating to lighting the table correctly and posting images of what I'm getting to see if I'm nearly there.
 
OK, but what you're doing isn't working and in fact can never work.

Having an underlit/backlit lighting arrangement proves only that some people will buy products that promise a solution to a problem that doesn't even exist:)
It can't work because you need DISTANCE between the subject and the white-lit background, there is no distance so flare, degradation of edge detail and loss of contrast is the inevitable result.

So, get rid of your new toy, light it as suggested in post 11 above and cut them out in post.
You may not want to cut them out, but it's by far the best way of doing it.
I use Clipping Path Asia, you may want to use one of the many cheaper copycats for a simple job like this. It costs money, but it's a necessary part of good photography, in the same way that good photography is a necessary cost of business - you won't sell many of these cushions with poor photography
 
Just to add, that second effort is horribly out of focus. The way the light is dropping off shows you need to learn the Inverse Square Law.

If you need these product photographs in a hurry, I would suggest you pay a professional photographer to do the job for you as you are on a steep learning curve.
 
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