First try at product photography

[bigpuddin43]

Did some test shots of my buddy's duck call to see how I can do getting some for his website. Have decided I'm gonna have to have a light tent or something to reduce the glare but thought for a rough try they turned out ok. Please feel free to critique them.

 

[JoeyCadigan]

in the vertical shots you cant really see the logo

 

[kundalini]

For product photography, you need consistency between the exposures of the photos. You need to control any undesired specular highlights. You should also have any logo on the item to be prominent and absolutely legible. Any craftsmanship of the item should be as highly valued as the logo. I see none of the above accomplished.

You don't necessarily need a light tent, but a decent diffuser and some additional lighting would have been your friend. I highly doubt the any blue color is mixed in the wood grain, nor with the brass. This is quite noticeable and indicates that little considered was employed to render a true view of the object.

Don't worry, these issues can and will be overcome with more understanding of how to see the light and lots of practice.

Thanks for sharing. The craftsmanship looks outstanding.

 

[bigpuddin43]

Thank you. These were just quick shots taken outside for me to mess with to see what I can do. I am new to this and appreciate the critique. Tried one shot in the shade and the rest were in full sun and took a lot of messing with to get the glare down so you could see the grain underneath.

 

[bigpuddin43]

I don't have any lighting equipment yet but probably gonna order a light tent to start with.

 

[Scatterbrained]

Questions: Do you have a tripod? Do you have a controllable light source? How serious are you about being able to get quality shots of these items? It's not hard to do. Take a look at this lighting set up:


Ruger: MK II by tltichy, on Flickr

While the picture might make it look complex it's actually quite simple. One light source from behind "set", one sheet of diffusion material stretched over the "set" at an angle, a reflector in front under the camera, and the camera on a tripod; up high with a long focal length lens to give a tight angle of view and consequently a narrow family of reflecting angles. You can use a $12 clamp light from the hardware store as a light source (just use a powerful bulb), the diffusion material can be anything from a roll of vellum (tracing paper) for $12 to a sheet of white nylon, which is about $5 a yard at the craft store. The reflector board is just white poster board from the craft store: $5 for a 20x30 sheet.What small bit of reflection you may still get can be eliminated by simply turning the room lights off so the difference between the set lighting level and ambient lighting level renders the rooms reflection as black.
It's a cheap, simple way to light small products. You can put different backgrounds under the product as well, add smaller flags (black) or reflectors (white) to add or subtract highlights or reflections. You can move the camera around to different angles to get the optimal composition. You can adjust the distance, angle, and height of the light to change the way both the background and the subject are illuminating, allowing you to blow out the background if you wish. Like this:


Bulova Marine Star by tltichy, on Flickr

Hopefully this will give you something to think about as I recall you were looking to shoot these regularly for you friend.

 

[bigpuddin43]

Thank you very much. The pics of the setup will be really helpful. It won't be a lot of photographs just of some of the specialty pieces he does that he wants on his website.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B001MYASTG?pc_redir=1398038497&robot_redir=1

Something like this is what I was looking to get. From my shots I am thinking lighting is my biggest issue then it's just getting better at editing.

What do you think of this kit. Or would making my own be better.