DSLRUsers.com

Today I had to take a few photos of an antique that a family member wanted to sell on eBay...

I used a tripod and the SB-800, but still found it tricky to get the right lighting...

The glare reflected from the metallic box was difficult to judge / control and I was also wishing that I had a better Macro lens to get the detail of the piece...

Anyway... Please have a look at the photos that resulted and let me know what you like and more importantly what I could have done better...
This is the first time that I've shot anything like this and I'm sure that there's lots to learn...




p.s. I also found out that some small things are more expensive than a Nikon 70-200VR lens...

Full sized photos available at http://jpeake.smugmug.com/gallery/515516

John, a light tent or diffusser held above. I am in Neutral Bay if you want to borrow a 105 Sigma macro.

John - I have photographed thousands of products over the years and to be honest I think your photos are superb

John, after reading Chris comments after mine it sounds like I don't think yours are good. I do, just know how annoying those hot spots get in our mind. My wife has sold some jewellry on ebay and I would agonise over the hotspots, make beautiful photos - then ebay would compress and screw with them to about 50k.

Love the detail in the photos but agreed that some of the reflection is a bit much. What was your set up? Did you use a direct flash or bounce the flash off the ceiling?

Chris - thanks - you are too kind...
Glen - don't worry - I read your first message in the manner it was intended
Piro - Now that you mention it... I didn't bounce the flash off the ceiling... I forgot one of the flexible features of the SB-800...

Any other suggestions???

John
The previous post was correct. A light tent can be constructed from heavy tracing paper or chromaflex. It is shaped like an icecream container without a top or botom and the sides are taped. You place your light, SB800, to the side, fired remotely and you shoot down through the top. It creates lighting very similar to a bright cloudy day and minimises hot spots. Another good tip is to take a sheet of black cardboard and cut a hole into the centre slightly larger than your lens. You place the black side towards your subject and stick the camera lens through the hole. This prevents reflections from your shiny camera and overhead lights. Gary has a very useful portable light tent and if you need to do a lot of this kind of photography then speak to him and he might lend it to you.

Also, not sure how much this will help, but try placing white cards (in the background) around the object so that the light will bounce off them onto the object as well. Your "ground" material looks like the grey velvet or blanket and that's pretty much your background, so the white cards won't be in the photo. As I said, I'm not sure how much this helps as I've only done a few product shoots and not as much as Chris