Recommendations for a beginner

Amy152

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I'm trying to take pictures of these aluminum cases for our company website, the problem is we have absolutely no photographic equipmet except for an outdated digital camera that needs a new battery, and a tripod.
Some of the cases are highly reflective and are very difficult to get good shots of. I know a lightbox would be good for that purpose, but I'm afraid of the cases coming out really white.
Right now the only lighting that we have is a big window and flourecent overhead lights, I've also used this "painters light", but it doesn't really work well for what I need.

I basically need recommendations on lighting equipment, and/or anything else you can think of. The owner refuses to buy a DSLR right now but he might consider a new point and shoot model.

If you want to see pictures of the cases, our current website is www.yotank.com. Be warned, its ugly; but I'm trying to completly redo it right now along with all the pictures on it.
 
Welcome to the forum.

What you want is probably a soft/diffused light. So window light would probably be good. If it's really bright, you could even drape a white sheet or something in front of the window, to diffuse it even more.

Then you will want to eliminate distracting reflections on your product. A light tent would be useful, but maybe all you need to to partition it off with some white paper.

You may want to place something reflective on the side opposite the window (light) to reflect some light back and fill the shadows.

As you products seem to be quite small...you could probably get a light tent for a good price...or just try to make your own.
 
Thanks, I think we're getting some kind of light tent built for us sometime, until then I will probably use paper. I taped some paper to the window instead of the sheet and that helped too, but I'm getting a two colored image which might be related to the position of the sun now as its later in the day. What would work as a reflector?
 
What would work as a reflector?
Anything really. A white piece of paper will work. If you need more light, then put some tinfoil onto a piece of cardboard. It doesn't take much...especially if you can get the reflector very close to the subject.
 
I take pictures of knives and that is also very tricky. First i use a regular light for hardware at walmart and use 2-3 of them at different angles. Then I put a piece of wax paper over the end of the light. I also use a piece of cardboard covered tin foil to bounce light into the shadows. I am getting great pictures this way.
 

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