Advise on Photography Black Computers

[MikeT1964]

Hi All

This is my first post - a little about myself. I run my own small graphic design and print business. As part of this I offer clients a photography service, which is in the main is photographing their products etc.

One of my main clients manufactures UPS machines which are basically black computer style boxes full of batteries etc. My service to them involves photographing the product, designing then printing marketing literature.

I am fairly new to digital photography and I would like advise on how to improve my technique on photographing these black computer cases, I want the tops and sides to photograph as black and not highlighted as per my sample shot attached. What I do at the moment is to use my photoshop skills to compensate for my photography skills in creating masks to fill in the tops and sides to make them darker to match the fronts etc.
So I am after advise on how to improve they way I do this.

Camera used is a Nikon D90 on aperture priority at F16, products in a diffuser tent with static lighting, which I have experimented with position etc.

Thanks
Mike

 

[JaZZin]

Hi Mike, you don´t have a sample shot attached...

 

[Big Mike]

Welcome to the forum.

If you want something (or a side of something) to photograph as black, then you need to make sure that it's getting significantly less light than the part that you actually want to see. For example, if the main part of your object is metering at F8, your other sides will probably turn out black if they are metering at F4 (two stops) or less.

Also, you need to think about the reflectivity characteristics of the surfaces. If they exhibit properties of diffuse reflection, then they reflect light that hits them from any angle...so you may need to carefully adjust your lighting so that no light is hitting them directly. But if they exhibit properties for direct reflection (glossy) then they will reflect light sources that are in their family of angles. For example, if you shoot a laser from the lens to the surface, and imagine the laser bouncing off of the surface at the same angle...any light source in the area where the laser bounces...will show up on the surface as a direct reflection. So to photograph that surface without a highlight, you would need to ensure that the family of angles is free from light sources.

 

[KmH]

Understanding the fundamentals of photographic lighting and having a ready to hand reference sure can't hurt:

Light: Science and Magic: An Introduction to Photographic Lighting

It's a lot like shooting billards, and all about the angles.

 

[MikeT1964]

Hi
I have tried to upload the sample. but it doesn't seem to appear.
So check out this link to see the before and after.
Untitled

 

[Big Mike]

Looking at the photo, it looks like the white backdrop is reflected in the top surface of the box(s). So the solution to solving that, is to arrange the camera, box and background so that there is no white backdrop in the area of reflection (family of angles) for the top surface. As a simple test, take a black piece of fabric or poster board etc. and put it behind and above the box. That should show you what is possible, then you just need to make sure that you take all the light sources (including the white fabric) out of that area.

 

[Village Idiot]

Here's a recent post on Strobist that should give you exactly what you need. He's shooting VMLs which are batteries in a black housing for lights. Just scale it up a little bit and you have a very simple solution.

Strobist: Beyond Bounce Flash: Using Your Ceiling as a Light Mod