Product Photography

[Stephen Kane]

I am not sure if this is appropriate place for this topic - but here goes. Basically waiting for a day with sunshine and no rain here to take a product photo is no fun.
So the question is does anyone have a relatively home studio setup that works, and if so please advise details.

Thanks

Stephen

[Tom Bull]

What products are you photographing? I have to be aware of flash and reflection issues with polished stone, but otherwise just keep blazing away with lots of bright, indirect light.

[Chuck Stone]

You could set something up fairly easily with some bright lights, some
clips or clamps and some white shower curtain to diffuse the lights.
You can use most any material to diffuse if it is translucent or thin.
That way you wouldn't have any harsh shadows or hot spots. You can
use some Gator board as a backdrop and perhaps clip some material of
your choice to the board to change background/color.

The key is to get lots of light there .. and then soften it.

[Stephen Kane]

Mainly stone products - slate, granite and marble.
Slate is matte - primarily natural riven finish, sometimes honed, while granite and marble is usually polished. Best conditions are bright overcast days.
At the moment my options appear to be to either get a 'tent' setup or a reflective parabolic umbrella. Light to be supplied by 2 lights if tent and possibly one with the umbrella.

[James Leonard]

Have a look at TableTopStudio.com - I have some of their Trumpet Top CFL lights mounted in home made booms (mike stands and home depot reflectors). I also have one of their light tents. I shoot mother of pearl which is very hard to do. I also use a HDR tool called Photomatix to do exposure blending. That way I can take a series of shots and keep the highlights from the underexposed shots and the detail from the correctly exposed and overexposed shots. You can see one of my better photos on the home page of my website.

-James

[James Jaragosky]

Have a look at TableTopStudio.com - I have some of their Trumpet Top CFL lights mounted in home made booms (mike stands and home depot reflectors). I also have one of their light tents. I shoot mother of pearl which is very hard to do. I also use a HDR tool called Photomatix to do exposure blending. That way I can take a series of shots and keep the highlights from the underexposed shots and the detail from the correctly exposed and overexposed shots. You can see one of my better photos on the home page of my website.

-James

This topic has been covered extensively in the past. I believe that there is even a tutorial somewhere if you do a search.

[Stephen Kane]

Thanks - now I just have to get bits and set up system.

Stephen

[Lee DeRaud]

This topic has been covered extensively in the past. I believe that there is even a tutorial somewhere if you do a search.

Search the turning subforum, they cover it about once a month.

[Martin Boekers]

You can make one out of PVC tubing, some sheeting and clip-on lights from Harbor Freight, but for what it cost from Table Top Studios I'd go with something like that. I use the coiled fluoresence light as it keeps the heat down.

You need to let them warm up a bit for the color temperature to stabilize.
Use the white light balancing on you camera to color correct the image and you'll be set!

Marty

[Mitch Firlotte]

I use a flatbed scanner instead of a light tent. It does a really good job without any flash spots or reflections. Just can't do anything larger than 8 1/2 by 11 inches.

[Dan Hintz]

I use a flatbed scanner instead of a light tent. It does a really good job without any flash spots or reflections. Just can't do anything larger than 8 1/2 by 11 inches.

...or non-flat objects.

[Mitch Firlotte]

Very true...but I only work in granite and marble tiles so no issues so far. Just started a few months back and really enjoying my laser. I guess I'll have to look into a light tent eventually when I expand into the non-flat world