Help on a new camera

[Bream]

Hi All,

I was wondering if someone can help me decide on a new business camera. please see below requirements:

- photos to take trophies with the following materials
+ Glass
+ wood
+ metal
+ highly reflective surface
- digital camera
- no real preference on branding
- pricing up to $500 but lower the better
- want a camera that does most of the work for me.
- will be used for websites and advertisement like brochures.

The types of photos to take include
- sharp image fore and back ground
- share fore ground and blurred back ground
- photo that capture shiny object well

Any other advice i have not thought about and feel free to ask any questions.

 

[photo1x1.com]

Hi and welcome to the forum!
If I try to read between the lines, you sell trophies.
Are you going to photograph these trophies in a kind of studio environment, or rather outdoors (like in a football stadium)
The reason why I ask is that it depends a lot on how you want the images to look like whether you need to care about what is actually reflecting in the surface and what is not.
The "problem" is that in general (and specifically in this case), photography is much more about the lighting than about the camera. With reflective surface, you need to make sure nothing reflects in your subject that isn´t meant to. That may not be much of a problem if you photograph the trophies out in the wild (stadium, etc.).
But it is rather tricky in a controlled environment like a studio, where creating the right reflections is key to shooting objects with reflective surface.. This may not be what you were hoping to hear and it is a little bit exaggerated, but if I were you, I´d rather spend the 500$ on lighting and shoot with your phone (though you won´t really be able to blur your background), than buy a 500$ camera (including lens).

 

[Bream]

recommendations on lighting please.

Also what type of setup for indoors, like a photo booth, type of background materials

 

[photo1x1.com]

To be honest, Bream - I´m a bit old fashioned. In this forum many of us take quite a bit of our time (that is just as precious as yours), to help people that come here with their questions. At least the lightest sign of gratitute would be appropriate. I´m happy that you at least say "please", but what about "thanks". I don´t like to answer questions if I don´t feel respected.

recommendations on lighting please.

Also what type of setup for indoors, like a photo booth, type of background materials

 

[Bream]

Photo1x1,

You are totally right, I meant no disrespect. really appreciate your reply and totally took on board everything you said, so thank you for replying back to me.

I am really sorry for not respecting your reply and your help in answering my questions. I hope this response may mend the damage I have created and wish to hear more of your wisdom.

regards
Bream aka (noob)

 

[photo1x1.com]

Awesome .
Sorry, but it just happens too often that people come here, ask questions and disappear without even reacting. I appreciate your post .

Back on topic:
it depends a lot on how you want your images to look like. If you want to isolate the items on white, there are shooting tents (see example). If you want to save money, buy one of them and put them outdoor in sunlight, that would save you lighting equipment. If outdoor is not an option, you need to light the tent from outside.
You shoot through a tiny opening in the tent, so the reflections are very limited. To create some interesting reflections, you can then add some black strips on the inner walls, otherwise the trophy might reflect all white which is not perfect either..
Shooting glass on white (actually on most backgrounds) does require some retouching though, in order to see the glass (see example).

Shooting reflective metal like chrome is one of the most difficult parts of photography, because you need to take utmost care for what is reflecting. You yourself don´t want to see your reflection in the image, nor your camera. Pros use all sorts of light modifiers to create AND avoid reflections (some are desired, others are not)
With shooting tents you usually have all the reflections white, and you can add some black parts in photoshop (or outsource that, make a google (image)search for "product retouching services" - some of them are really affordable and make free samples so you know what to expect).

Other than shooting tents, you can use studio flash kits. Two to three with preferrably softboxes rather than umbrellas. Umbrellas will light the complete room, because much of the light is spread backwards and to all other sides too, resulting in even more reflections. Softboxes help you to get the light where you actually want it. I´m afraid I don´t have recommendations for a special product, hopefully others can help there.
In regard to backgrounds: that is all up to you. You can put your trophies on a white board (or glass, or even a mirror) and use paper backgrounds of any color, pattern, etc.

Other solutions would be photographing the trophies outdoors in whatever environment that would fit your customer target group. You can get creative and photograph them in the forest, desert, on a mountaintop, in an empty stadium - wherever. You can use natural light and bounce the sunlight to fill shadows with a simple white styrofoam board.

Do you have any kind of image in mind, that might help us get you on the right track?

Photo1x1,

You are totally right, I meant no disrespect. really appreciate your reply and totally took on board everything you said, so thank you for replying back to me.

I am really sorry for not respecting your reply and your help in answering my questions. I hope this response may mend the damage I have created and wish to hear more of your wisdom.

regards
Bream aka (noob)

 

[weepete]

You'll also want a copy of The Lighting Bible.

 

[Bream]

Wow, what an awesome response. thanks again Photo1x1 for the detailed response.

Weepete, thank you for the reference, i will save the details for now and plan to buy it when i have cash flow into the business. at the moment i am in the planning stage.

The business i am thinking of doing as a small business making trophies, so i don't have anything on hand to start experimenting but i guess i can get similar objects and use them as reference.

I never thought to use a tent to take photos. the example with the glass is spot on with they type of glass shot would like. the weather is good around my area so outdoors seems like a good idea. but i guess i like to play around with it, maybe have the sun hitting it like a lens flare, but not sure if this is a good idea.

Below are some examples of what i would like to photograph:

Trophy - A Class Sports and Trophies - Trophies, medals and awards for sport and corporate achievement
This like a gold background with a gold trophy reflection.

Fifa unveil new world's best player trophy - a lot of effort has gone into it

there is a silver trophy in this artical, and it has like a bight light hitting part of the trophy. this would be something cool to do but i would like to control the intensity and direction on the light


Buy Products Online from China Wholesalers at Aliexpress.com

Another example like above, but in gold. Notes, the background is a big deal to me to help enhance the trophy where the photo does not do it justice.

http://www.timaruengravers.co.nz/shop/product.php?id_product=135

This example is an idea on a wood trophy i would like to take, has a side that seems to glow a bit from the light source.

Any comments or advice will be greatly appreciated.

regards
Bream

 

[photo1x1.com]

Those are very different shots.

1. that could have been shot in a tent. These black reflections are the ones I was talking about. They can be created by using black cloth or paper that is placed within the tent.
   
2. that is just one rather primitive light source off camera, in this case continuous light I guess because it is a screengrab from a video from what it says in the text
3. this one is done in any room - do you see the reflection of the photographer and the rest of the room in the ball - that´s usually something you want to avoid
4. that too would be possible in a light tent, BUT - you can´t control the light in a tent as much as you could when using softboxes, etc.. This piece of wood does reflect the light quite a bit, so when the light comes from every side (like in a tent), it could be possible that you won´t really see the structure of the wood anymore.

Regarding my glass example. That in fact was shot in direct sunlight, with nothing but a white paper as a background. Reason being is that it was part of a series of shots with chrystals on the glass. And no flash, etc. has such a great color spectrum as the sun, resulting in great colors in these crystals. I photographed it a bit darker than I would usually do, and then in photoshop I made the background white while keeping the shadows and the glass darker.

Wow, what an awesome response. thanks again Photo1x1 for the detailed response.

Weepete, thank you for the reference, i will save the details for now and plan to buy it when i have cash flow into the business. at the moment i am in the planning stage.

The business i am thinking of doing as a small business making trophies, so i don't have anything on hand to start experimenting but i guess i can get similar objects and use them as reference.

I never thought to use a tent to take photos. the example with the glass is spot on with they type of glass shot would like. the weather is good around my area so outdoors seems like a good idea. but i guess i like to play around with it, maybe have the sun hitting it like a lens flare, but not sure if this is a good idea.

Below are some examples of what i would like to photograph:

Trophy - A Class Sports and Trophies - Trophies, medals and awards for sport and corporate achievement
This like a gold background with a gold trophy reflection.

Fifa unveil new world's best player trophy - a lot of effort has gone into it

there is a silver trophy in this artical, and it has like a bight light hitting part of the trophy. this would be something cool to do but i would like to control the intensity and direction on the light


Buy Products Online from China Wholesalers at Aliexpress.com

Another example like above, but in gold. Notes, the background is a big deal to me to help enhance the trophy where the photo does not do it justice.

Base - Tapered Front - Timaru Engravers & Giftware

This example is an idea on a wood trophy i would like to take, has a side that seems to glow a bit from the light source.

Any comments or advice will be greatly appreciated.

regards
Bream

 

[Bream]

thank you for the response photo1x1. From your advice i am now going to do the following:
- Build a photo tent (seems simple to do)
- Save money and use my phone camera
- experiment from here and possible buy some lighting if required.

It has been awesome feedback and will remember my manors in future.

regards
Bream

 

[Derrel]

PHONE cameras can get a LOT in-focus at close-range product type distances! Consider on some trophies at least, using a large sheet of posterboard with a small hole cut in it, so the cameraphone's lens can "see through" the hole, yet from close distances, the reflection in shiny trophies will be a diffused, white, bright reflection, and not a reflection of some guy holding a cameraphone!

Shooting through a hole in a large posterboard is an old-time trick, used by many product shooters.

Using a cameraphone, I would recommend getting a camera mount, and a tripod, and using it like "a real camera"! Seriously, not kidding. And a phone camera is a real camera, just one with different capabilities and features than many other types of cameras. Buuuut--it has an advantage: with good light, it can take VERY deep depth of field shots, with a single click--no need for multi-image focus stack blends!

 

[photo1x1.com]

I would start with what you said. You don´t know a lot about lighting and photography yet.
When building a tent, I´d rather suggest not using a box but rather stitching some cloth together. The box will probably create some shadow which is not perfect when you photograph reflective objects.
Then use your phone camera and see where that gets you.
Post the images and we will check what the next steps would be.

Thanks for your understanding in regard to my second post .

thank you for the response photo1x1. From your advice i am now going to do the following:
- Build a photo tent (seems simple to do)
- Save money and use my phone camera
- experiment from here and possible buy some lighting if required.

It has been awesome feedback and will remember my manors in future.

regards
Bream