Lighting product photo

[mikazza]

Hi,

I run a small website and do all the coding and photos myself, in the summer I was able to photo outside in the sunshine and the photos all come out looking great, really sharp, good colours and little to no photoshoping required, except to cut out the product.

Now its winter and there is very little light, my camera doesn't seem to work indoors, I use the camera on Manual setting without flash and use the macro setting. When I try to take the photo its always fuzzy and the picture has a lot of noise in it. I bought some cheap desk lamps which can take 40w bulbs ES GLS type, if I use these I get better results, although the picture again has some noise in it and I need to tweak colours, brightness, etc in photoshop which makes the image passable at best. I'm using clear 40w bulbs, nothing special.

Does anybody know of a good make of bulb to use that will product better light, i've found some on google called daylight bulbs but they are about £10 each, bit expensive for a bulb. Any recommendations would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Big Mike]

Just about any light will do, but what you need to do, is put the camera on a tripod and fire it via the self timer.

 

[KmH]

You don't mention the brand name of daylight bulbs you located on google.

I know Phillips carries the kind of bulbs you are looking for but don't know their cost in the UK.

If your camera has it adjust the "white balance" for tungsten to correct for the color of your lights.

 

[Pugs]

What kind of camera are you using? The noise that you're talking about might be from the camera setting itself to a higher ISO than you want due to the lower light available indoors. If your camera allows manually controlling the ISO, set it to the lowest setting, and, as mentioned earlier, get a tripod and use the self-timer.

Also, I second the white balance suggestion.

If you post a pic or two, more targeted feedback can be given. Good luck!

 

[mikazza]

The bulbs I found were Helix Daylight Energy Saver 18W ES/E27 cost £9.50.

My camera does have white balance will give it a go, i have the camera on the tripod and the image is sharp just the colours instead of being blue for example is mostly blue but has a speckled noise through it.

Hopefully the white balance setting will help. Will also adjust the iso setting and see if it helps.

 

[Pugs]

The bulbs I found were Helix Daylight Energy Saver 18W ES/E27 cost £9.50.

My camera does have white balance will give it a go, i have the camera on the tripod and the image is sharp just the colours instead of being blue for example is mostly blue but has a speckled noise through it.

Hopefully the white balance setting will help. Will also adjust the iso setting and see if it helps.

If it has speckled noise through it, then that sounds like it is definitely high-ISO noise. Knock that baby as far down as it can go and that should help.

 

[mikazza]

Cheers for all your help, your suggestions worked a treat.

Found the white balance setting on the camera was set to Auto White Balance, I changed this to Tungsten, also the camera was set at ISO 100, I changed this to ISO 80 which is the lowest setting.

This cleared up the noise in the picture and also fixed the colours and brightness meaning I only need to cut out the image in photoshop now. The quality is just as good as when I took the photos outdoors in the summer.

Thanks
:thumbup:

 

[bengtb]

LEDs are very cheap but use a gray card or a white balance filter. You can use a white opacity stuff from ikea if you find the right nyans they are as good as the one's you buy...

Better white balance in your images with the white half transparent plastic tray | Photo and Pictures

 

[Don Kondra]

Replacement Photo Light Bulbs from ALZO digital

5500k CF bulbs...

Cheers, Don