 Brian A. Anderson |
Lighting Recommendations - Product Photography I am considering a change from continuous tungsten lighting to flourescent lighting for shooting images of promotional products. My concerns are: -shooting in a cooler environment -getting good lighting range including speculars and shadows on various products -building professional skill with standard methods. -longevity(and support) of equiptment and parts I am thinking that strobes may be the way to go. Because of some metallic and shiny products I may not be able to fully cast off the tungstens, but I could use some recommendations/pointers to find some good setups configurations for the other products. I wil probably need to altertnate between both setups. I guess one question is whether I should go continuous flourescent, or strobe. The answer seems to me to be strobe, since there is more equiptment available and it is more often done. Am I right? I am just nervous about learning about metering strobe; I am so used to metering the light that Is continuously visible. My product shots are on our website(apsistl.com), and our print catalog. They are nothing great right now, but I want to give them some serious kick. Right now my histograms are a bit narrow, so I want to get some better range; this would mean to me brighter ambient light, sharp speculars, and quality shadows. Currently, I am just using two spots(bouncing one, and running the other through a diffuser screen), because my softbox head went obsolete, and isn't manufactured anymore. Again, longevity and reliability of the manufacturer is important. I am envisioning my setup with a 1000w spot, softbox(at least 36"x 48"), two reflector panels. Not knowing strobes, I don't know what particular triggering mechanisms, meters, or other essentials I would need? Since my setup will be digital, I won't be needing to be doing any proofing with polaroids etc.
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robert G. Fately |
Brian, I assume when you mention "flourescent" you mean the flash units (they're not neon flourescent - they're xenon and have a useful color as opposed to flourescent lights which are all over the map, color-wise). I took a quick look at the site and it seems the products are pretty small - nothing the size of major appliances or automobiles. I would suggest you investigate one of the many "studio-in-a-box" type products that have come out lately, I remember Photflex makes one but there are others. These are basically pre-formed geometric frames with translucent material stretched over them and access ports for the camera and the product. The flash (or continuous tone) lighting is placed outside the "tent". In essence, you place the product in or next to the tent-like unit, poke your lens through one of the portals, and you're done. It just strikes me that this is far simpler than multiple lights, and for small products (like eyeglasses as well) they do fine. If you wre shooting high-end jewelry for high-cost slick catalog use, then perhaps you'd want to go the 7 lights/gobos/barndoor/snoot/gels approach, but that seems like a lot of effort that wouldn't get noticed in the final output.
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Brian A. Anderson |
Thank you for the response. Yes many of the products are small, but we are adding some products that are larger. I suppose that I could use a larger "tent" in that case. I am concerned that I can do less with reflections on metallic items and calculators, etc. that we might be adding to our products in the future. The problem is that the people who are critiquing our printed materials are comparing them to the competing catalogs and noting that our product shots tend to be flat and lack any "sexiness" to the highlights, and shadows. They can be a bit lifeless. Granted they are simple products, but half the selling is in how good it comes across, or fails to look attractive. I wouldn't say we have a high-cost slick catalog, but since we are doing it in-house we can pay a bit of extra attention, and finesse. I guess my further goal is to not just be happy with the so/so imagery, and learn how to slick it up a bit. If others can do it, we can too.
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robert G. Fately |
Fair enough, Brian - I would suggest you check out Photoflex's website as they have a portion dedicated to product photgraphy - perhaps you will find something useful there.
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