Light box or Studio light product

[TonyUSA]

Hello,

This will be for product(purse) for eBay. I don't have a big budget for this setup. At first I was thinking about light box but since I already have one Alien Bees B800 with medium Octabox from my old project and also a backdrop stand.
Do you think that I should stay with what I have and purchase other studio flash.
Or due to my low budget I just get a light box set up and forget about studio flash setup.
If you guys have what you recommend with the ballpark price would be great.

Thank you,

 

[PersistentNomad]

How big are the products? I've made some pretty sweet budget set ups for small products with large poster board or even a roll of the white-board paper (it gives you the shiny reflective bottom and also acts as a reflector to eliminate cast shadows).

 

[TonyUSA]

The size is around 17"x11"(high). Thank you.

 

[Braineack]

are you going to be shooting small highly reflective objects?

 

[TonyUSA]

Braineack, No, only purse and the size is about 17"x11"

 

[Braineack]

personally, I wouldn't bother with a lightbox then, just a continuous backdrop and good large diffusers/flags.

 

[TonyUSA]

Thank you Braineack. So I only use one Alienbees B800 with softbox and large deiffuser/flags or I am also need to buy other set of light and softbox too? Please recommend a good large diffusers/flags which to buy.

 

[Quovadis]

Tony
if you need information. This is what I do all day long.
1. Clean
2. Photograph bags. Mainly Coach and MK.
Items in JAPILLA store on eBay!

you are going to need a long list of things. As far as the photography is concerned :

1. White backdrop
2 one strobe for back light
3. Two side strobes.
4. Top light
5. I use a handheld strobe to illuminate interior of bag when needed.
6. Boom arms, one with fishing line.

My soft boxes are 4 times diffused. This really helps for reflections. Especially with patent leathers and reptile prints.
Two of my strobes are fitted with honeycomb grids, It gives a nice tight beam, when wanting to accentuate areas.

Photoshop. I do very little post production work. An unsharp mask, and possibly add some contrast. White levels are nearly always perfect.

Hope this helps. By the way, the larger effort is not the photography, It's cleaning the little buggers before the shoot. Cleaning these is possibly even more complex than the photography.
Most shots (99%) are taken at F11 s 125 @ 35mm

 

[TonyUSA]

Thank you very much Sir.