Product Photos, getting a white white

[dunganick]

Right, new to off camera flash, so be gentle with me.

Situation:

430 ex, 530 ex and wireless trigger.
Trying to take Product photos, with a white background.

Problem:

Takes me ages to ballance flashes to get a bright white background, minimal shaddow etc.. I also end up adding pieces of paper bent over the flash guns as a large difuser as the light is too harsh otherwise (is there a quick way to set all this up? or a guide?)

The white backgrounds i shoot are not quite white enough, im having to do alot of PP to get the whites pure white to use on white presentation sheets.


Any and all suggestions/help would be hugely appreciated!

 

[jim_j]

I usually aim to blow out the background which will give you a pure white, however overspill can be a problem. Good separation between subject and background is essential or you need some way of controlling the overspill. Not sure how large your subject is, but if it's fairly small then a light tent would be ideal. If no light tent then reflectors imo would be essential.

 

[MiniMonty]

Hi Nick,

to be honest I think you are always going to struggle to light a pure white background and a product with only two lights. The principle of a white background is pretty simple though. Set up a couple of light sources either side
of your backdrop and blank them off with flats (books / cardboard - anything) so that they don't spill towards the camera. Now light your subject separately. Meter the background and the subject and simply ensure that the background is a stop or a stop and a half over exposed. You have to treat it as two completely separate lighting jobs though. In the diagrams I've guessed you're using some kind of table and smallish products (just scale up if you're shooting fireplaces or dustbins ! ). So the bg paper is bent into a cove and lit from either side, the subject is lit from the front. (you'll end up using lots of reflectors etc to get a good finish on the product). The subject is lifted slightly above the level of the "flat" paper and is sitting either on more white paper or, if you want a "glossy" finish a piece of white perspex. Meter the bg at 32.5 and your subject at 22. This will give you a standard pack shot (as pictured) and you can build in your own style from there. Be aware that shooting glass has it's own set of nightmares !

Best wishes
Monty

 

[dunganick]

Thats great, thanks for your input guys