Product Photograpy, Flash and DOF

[andrewm]

I have been asked to do some simple product shots by my employer for some new brochures. Product in question is basic electronic boxes so nothing complicated and the product will be cut out of the background before use.

The problem that I am having is that I am using flash, a Nikon SB800 on D600, and either the resulting aperture is too large so depth of field is limited or if I use A mode the flash is not powerful enough. I have been trying to stick with ISO100 but would something a little faster be better?

I know this is going to be a compromise but what compromises would people use?

Long exposure is unfortunately not an option as there is too much shake in the environment. I could perhaps look into focus stacking but for a large number of items that is going to take a lot of work.

Andrew

 

[Garry Edwards]

The only way around it using your existing equipment is to use a high ISO, which in effect will multiply the power of your flash, but at the expense of image quality.
But, frankly, it would take a real expert to produce even average results with a single hotshoe flashgun, used off camera. You need studio lighting equipment for this.

Your employer either needs to pay a specialist pro to do this, or to equip you with the right equipment and obtain training for you.

 

[Canon Bob]

One further option would be to rent a PC-E lens to control the DoF without recourse to the aperture you're using.

Bob

 

[Garry Edwards]

One further option would be to rent a PC-E lens to control the DoF without recourse to the aperture you're using.

Bob

That would be of very limited value, and wouldn't help with the lighting problem

 

[Canon Bob]

That would be of very limited value, and wouldn't help with the lighting problem

I was attacking the problem "and either the resulting aperture is too large so depth of field is limited". With a PC-E, a larger aperture could be used without compromising the DoF but perhaps I've not understood correctly (a common problem according to my wife!)

Bob

 

[mrjames]

The only way around it using your existing equipment is to use a high ISO, which in effect will multiply the power of your flash, but at the expense of image quality.
But, frankly, it would take a real expert to produce even average results with a single hotshoe flashgun, used off camera. You need studio lighting equipment for this.

Your employer either needs to pay a specialist pro to do this, or to equip you with the right equipment and obtain training for you.

this
no offense but, if you mess up this gig your employer will not be best pleased with you, so maybe for everyone's sake you should leave it to a pro, unless you really want to spend money on extra gear to do the shoot


go to iso 400, the differences are probably going to be negliable- hell even 800 would probably be fine

One further option would be to rent a PC-E lens to control the DoF without recourse to the aperture you're using.

Bob

not sure that this would be a good use of resources, for the cost of renting a PC-E lens for one day you could buy a cheap flash

incidentally i'm looking to buy a PC-E lens for my product shots, but wouldn't recommend it for this situation although I see where you're coming from