How To Take Better Product Photos

develonet · May 9, 2008

I am fairly new to photography and I am taking photos for a client of misc. products he sells. The parts are all different sizes but on average about 6"-8" big, with various colors and textures. I have a real nice photo tent and lighting but I think my question is going to be more towards the lens. My photos turn out good except for the extreme edges of the product looked out of focus or blurred. They always seem to be a bit out of focus where as the center of the photo is crisp and clear. I have tried standing back further and different zoom levels but still seem to have the same issue. Oh, and I am shooting these parts kind of pointing towards me. Attached is an example shot. Do I need a wide angle lens or macro lens to fix this problem? Not sure what these do or the difference is so hope someone here can give me a couple of quick pointers.

Thanks,

Rachelsne · May 9, 2008

What kind of camera are you using, is it an advanced point and shoot, if it is you probably need to hange your settings so your depth of field is larger-I dont know though im new at this

Dao · May 9, 2008

A smaller aperture may help if you camera allow you to change it.

Mav · May 9, 2008

You need to stop the lens aperture way down so that you get maximum depth of field. f/8 to f/11 minimum. Past that like f/16 or f/22 you usually get some softness due to diffraction, but if it keeps everything in focus it might look better. Since you'll be stopped down a ton, you'll usually need very very good lighting, a tripod and long shutter speeds, or both. If you can recompose slightly that might help too.

The professionals use expensive tilt-shift lenses that let you actually adjust the focus plane so that you can shoot wide open and still have everything you want in focus. Or large format systems that already have tilt-shift lenses.

develonet · May 9, 2008

Mav said:
You need to stop the lens aperture way down so that you get maximum depth of field. f/8 to f/11 minimum. Past that like f/16 or f/22 you usually get some softness due to diffraction, but if it keeps everything in focus it might look better.

Did you mean step up and not down? I tried the extreme lowest (f/5) and then the max (f/20) and the f/20 was ten times better. Still get some blur but not as much so thanks for the help on this.

Would a macro lens help me out or a wide angle lens? Do they capture more or less of the object or focus more or less on a point? I have no idea what these lenses do. By the way, I am using a low budget camera (Olympus Evolt 330 with stock lens kit).

Any other suggestions are highly welcome!