Product Photography Lighting

[Isabella]

I am coming for help. I've just start product photography recently cus these days I started to run a online store. I got a lot of question and I think most of you here are more experienced than me, so I come here to get some advice.
Here it is, I need to photograph some bright colored items like kid's toys and clothes, don't know how many watt of the lighting I need? Does daylight bulbs fit? I use Nikon D4. Plus, I've came across a lighting kit with two 20"L x 28"W soft boxes, is this size big enough?

 

[Suedrolet]

I have to photograph silver and gold jewelry on pure white background. I tried everything, including a macro lens, soft light box, diffusers etc, but the background is gray, and when the background is white, the silver and gold are washed out. Help! I use Elements to fix exposure, and the best way I've found is to use the "replace colour" from gray to white. But it also washes out highlights.

 

[y75stingray]

here is what i do for "high key" or white background product shots.

Even though your product maybe small you need a good amount of space.

I place a white background about three feet behind the table my product is on then i place a strobe about one foot in front of it aiming upward (not straight up but diagonally)
The "table" i set my products on is actually a set of sawhorses with a piece of Plexiglas laid across them

I use a two foot by three foot soft box to backilght my product. Its on a boom so the stand is not in the way of the white background.

I then use a white foam core board with a hole cut in it and fix it onto my lens as a bounce/camouflage to bounce my backlight onto the front of the product. the lens i typically use is a 50mm macro lens. If you have any other reflections coming in try hanging a white sheet around the area your shooting.

with jewelry or precious stones i will often use a kicker with a snoot attached set off to one side and adjusted properly to get a little extra shine off of the product.

This is a technique you can use if you have a simple set of strobes and the space to do it in.

as for ratios with this setup if your backlight is at f8 set your background light at f16 i never ratio the kicker i just move it around and see what looks good.

I hope this makes sense and helps

 

[y75stingray]

here's a photo of what I'm talking about. It's an older photo so i don't have my sawhorses yet but hopefully you will get the idea.