Indoor lighting (ad hoc studio), for product photography

[Fortigurn]

I work at a wireless technology company as a technical writer. Recently given the task of updating the company's product installation manuals and user guides, I was apalled by the extremely low quality of the images.

With a deadline to meet, I did my best with my wife's 350D and 430EX, taking new shots of all the products, as well as each stage of assembly. I wasn't very impressed with my own work, I must say, but it was a significant improvement over the existing shots.

I was limited to taking shots on a bench in the worklab, or on my desk, with a single flash and ambient light. I had no tripod, no proper lighting and couldn't take any decent overhead shots.

I would like to be more prepared for this in the future. I can carve out some space in the worklab (overhead diffused flourescent lighting, open plan area), and throw around a couple of white sheets for a background, but I need some guidance on lighting the area up, and getting some reputable product shots.

These products aren't large (size of a phonebook at largest), but when the systems are set up they need a bit of room (maybe 4 x A4 in area, or a little under).

My local professional photography equipment shop looks like it might have the right kind of equipment (here and here), but I would appreciate some help narrowing down my options. Thanks.

[Yi-P]

The first set of table + lights is just the perfect combination for any product photography at small scales. But be aware the that shooting desk it comes with is not really that big, you need to put the shooting table on top of another desktop (as its legs are just few cm tall) and you may want a bigger/taller desk with the same light combination.

You may ask if they can replace the FST-1 table with ST-0613T

And may have to check the option for the FFL-4832 backlight replacement, may not be big enough to fit on the new table.

Im no expert in this, so dont take me too seriously...

[moz]

Having just spent a couple of days doing this using improvised equipment, I think you can save money by making the stand/box yourself depending who's paying. If it's a business it's almost certainly cheaper to buy the stuff rather than pay you a wage to build it. But for a hobbist a sheet of anything smooth and white that's easy to clean and somewhat flexible will do, and a frame made out of 2x2 timber likewise.

You will want (IMO) two lamps and a reflector at least. But don't be afraid to get low power lamps and use a tripod - a 2s exposure is perfectly ok for products (well, dead ones anyway) - the Kodak 14MP thing went down to 6ISO from memory because it was designed purely to give low noise with no concern for speed. When you're shooting 1-10 usable images an hour a 2s exposure really doesn't matter that much. Compact fluro bulbs are good because they're nice and cool.

I was shooting much bigger stuff, and would have loved a backdrop 8-10m long and 3m back and up, but those cost big bucks. I did most of it using 3 500W incandescent globes and an old overhead projector as a spot/fill light. But that lot heated the place up noticeably.

With small stuff the other approach is a light tent - you put the product inside it and the lights outside. Those can be built easily (like here) and work very well for stuff that you can fit inside them - they also usually fold smaller and are less vulnerable to dirt as a result.

That said, I shot a heap of T shirts and books at one stage using a Canon s45 PoS camera and a couple of 50W halogen lamps with no fancy setup other than a tripod and some phone books with white A4 paper blu-tacked to them.

[PiroStitch]

go to your local artshop and pick up a couple of foamboards (1 side is white and other side black). Prop the boards to form a background and surface to place the object. Place your camera on a tripod and have the flash pointed up. Have a third board act as a reflector to reflect the flash onto the object from above.

You might have to play around with the positioning of the boards to get the lighting right.

[gstark]

Foam core board or a light tent (preferably) is the way to go.

Commercial tents are compact, portable, light, inexpensive, and will give you a very satisfactory and consistent result.

And on a sunny day, just take it outside and shoot!

I would be a little wary of flouro lighting - the wb can be tricky with them.

A couple of inexpensive worklamps from your local hardware store can be very useful, but they will also be very warm in use, so be wary of that.

[firsty]

here is a link to a cheap light tent I made
hope it helps

http://mcgoffs.net/?page_id=12

[Yi-P]

Keith, does the lamp you bought in bunnings, are they the base with the clippy part or just the bulb?? I've yet to see desklamp with the clippy part for quite a while now. Or I havent been hardware shopping for long is the cause...

[Fortigurn]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys, that was very useful. I reckon I'll try making my own light tent (great one there firsty), and see how it goes.

[firsty]

Keith, does the lamp you bought in bunnings, are they the base with the clippy part or just the bulb?? I've yet to see desklamp with the clippy part for quite a while now. Or I havent been hardware shopping for long is the cause...

yes I picked up both the globes and the lamps from bunnings

[Fortigurn]

Well after some experimentation (various combinations of 100W desk lamps, 160W outdoor flood, flourescent desktop lamp, fill in flash), I've decided that cold light is definitely better than warm.

I've also decided that long exposure times are the way to go. I'm going to look at getting some bright flourescent lights, maybe like this or this.