Need help! What do I need for a photography studio?

[Doggert]

Hello everyone,

I am a part of my family's business of buying and selling on ebay. We are looking to set up a photo studio for taking the photos of the items we sell. I'm wondering what exactly we need for this? Maybe backdrop, lighting, camera, etc? Anything else?

Also, what specific items that would be good for this type of use? Any idea of what these would cost?

Thanks...

 

[tirediron]

What sort of products; the equipment you need will be different for china figurines, clothing, or cars. Budget-wise, you can spend from a few hundred to many tens of thousands, so it will be a lot better if you tell us how much you want to spend. In general, you'll need a camera, lighting, lighting modifiers, a background and a few miscellaneous bits and pieces.

 

[cgipson1]

List the items you will be shooting, budget you can allocate for the equipment you will need to buy, and plan on spending at least a year or two getting up to speed on how to shoot everything.

 

[Doggert]

Hi,
We buy and sell clothing, small misc items, antiques, collectables, electronics. Nothing too big....

Our budget would be under $1,000.

 

[cgipson1]

Hi,
We buy and sell clothing, small misc items, antiques, collectables, electronics. Nothing too big....

Our budget would be under $1,000.

Low end DLSR (canon t2, t3, or the T2i, T3i series / nikon, D3XXX / D5XXX series, a 18-55 kit lens or similar, a tripod, a couple of continuous lights with stands and umbrellas and daylight bulbs for the objects (flash would be better... but harder to learn to use). A background of some sort, even a painted wall would work...with lights on it or not depending on what you want the background to do. A pc for editing... with at least cropping, sharpening, and color correction capability in whatever software you use... and you will have to learn to use that software. Ebay images don't need high res.. so you could crop heavily for smaller object, but you might eventually want a macro lens for small objects.

A copy of Light, Science and Magic... the gear, and LOTS of practice... you might do a halfway decent job. It is not going to be a pick the camera up and shoot type of thing, though... not if you want good images. You WILL have to learn photography if you want good images!

 

[Tee]

With a budget of $1,000 you could get a decent set-up for product photography. However, like cgipson said, it takes a bit to get it right. Have you considered using your $1,000 budget to hire someone to do the photography for you? You could probably get an advanced amateur, semi-pro to work by the item for a long time.

 

[Tee]

Or...use $500 to buy the equipment and pay someone $500 to teach you. Getting someone to teach you basic light configurations on static displays will be quicker. By the way, I'm available for teaching just that for $500. :mrgreen:

 

[Doggert]

Thank you for your replies... We would like to spend as little as possible, but would like to get a decent setup. So, of the cameras you listed, what would you prefer to be the best for the price and easiest to use for my purpose?

What brands of lights with stands and umbrellas do you know of? I looked online and I don't know what to get as there are so many...

Also, is it a big problem if I can't edit the photos? It's not that I don't want to, but I would not have the time to make each photo perfect. I was just hoping to get away from the crappy digital camera picturing on a white sheet on the couch :x. If I don't edit it, will my pics at least look half way decent? Better than the couch?!? I will probably get the book if it would help, though.

 

[cgipson1]

Thank you for your replies... We would like to spend as little as possible, but would like to get a decent setup. So, of the cameras you listed, what would you prefer to be the best for the price and easiest to use for my purpose?

What brands of lights with stands and umbrellas do you know of? I looked online and I don't know what to get as there are so many...

Also, is it a big problem if I can't edit the photos? It's not that I don't want to, but I would not have the time to make each photo perfect. I was just hoping to get away from the crappy digital camera picturing on a white sheet on the couch :x. If I don't edit it, will my pics at least look half way decent? Better than the couch?!? I will probably get the book if it would help, though.

Ahh.. you want professional consulting and advice.... rather than doing the research for yourself! I can give you one hour for 20% of your proposed budget.. my standard rates!

 

[KmH]

No. it's not a big problem if you can't edit the photos, but the quality of the final images will suffer.
You can make images in the camera as JPEG files (.jpg). The camera will do the editing.
The editing that gets done is based on a program a team of camera software engineers wrote that is mainly geared to the happy snaps most people make rather than product photos.
Also the edits are global edits, or applied equally to the entire image. Many product photography edits are local edits, applied to only part of the image.
The background is usually edited for different reasons and using different techniques than the product that was photographed.

One of the things you're going to discover is that a camera does not work like our eyes do and the camera has to be told what color temperature the light in the scene is.
Our brains make that adjustment for us humans. You'll have to make that adjustment on the camera. Digital Photography Tutorials

The key to good product images is mostly about the lighting.
Because of the wide variety of products you want to photograph, I too highly recommend the book mentioned above - Light: Science and Magic. The front 2/3 of the book cover essential product photography lighting fundamentals.

In addition to the lights, camera, lens, tripod, etc, for smaller items you may want a light box - CowboyStudio 30-Inch Photo Soft Box Light - 4 Chroma Key Backdrops
For reflectors simple, inexpensive, office supply store foam board will often work. White foam board is used to add light, black foam board is used to subtract light.
Foam board can also be used to block light from areas where you don't want it to go.

A product photography studio set up to photography a variety of items will also have many different kinds of clamps and other gear used for lighting.
The variety of gear used for lighting is called 'grip gear'
At the end of a movie you may have seen Key Grip and Grip listed as one of the job titles used to help make the movie.

 

[terri]

Thank you for your replies... We would like to spend as little as possible, but would like to get a decent setup. So, of the cameras you listed, what would you prefer to be the best for the price and easiest to use for my purpose?

What brands of lights with stands and umbrellas do you know of? I looked online and I don't know what to get as there are so many...

Also, is it a big problem if I can't edit the photos? It's not that I don't want to, but I would not have the time to make each photo perfect. I was just hoping to get away from the crappy digital camera picturing on a white sheet on the couch :x. If I don't edit it, will my pics at least look half way decent? Better than the couch?!? I will probably get the book if it would help, though.

Ahh.. you want professional consulting and advice.... rather than doing the research for yourself! I can give you one hour for 20% of your proposed budget.. my standard rates!

Has it occurred to you that asking questions on a photography forum IS a type of research? Clearly, photography is not the OP's profession or particular interest; he is helping with the family's online business and is trying to gather information. Ebay is not known for its users producing award-winning photos; so he doesn't need "professional consulting and advice"....nor does he need attitude.

If you're done trying to help, that's fine - but stay out of the thread.

 

[astroNikon]

I've been trying to build a "cheap but nice (for a hobbyist)" type studio.
I won't be using technical words, as I don't know them yet lol

there are various ways of a cheapo studio, but what I've done:

1 - I read this: It has a couple examples of what light stands, umbrellas to get to get started
Strobist: Lighting 101
the link to the "kits" though contain stuff that you may not need, so check the details.

On # 2 below. This is a particular setup. You may also want to look into light boxes such as
like this but probably bigger. This would change your "setup" quite a bit depending upon the size of items.
http://mpex.com/cameron-16-quot-digital-photo-box.html

2 - then bought
With 2 umbrellas, stands, swivel cold shoes,
I also got on of these diffusers which is kinda small but okay for my stuff.
23 23cm Flash Softbox Diffuser for Speedlight Canon 580EXII 580EX 430EXII 550EX | eBay
also, research these things as you want it to have an internal diffuser thing in addition to the external softener white sheet thing.

3 - i'm actually using 2 other tripods instead of stands which cut down on hte price, but the stands are much better.
light stands can vary greatly .. and I have no idea what air cushioned is
http://mpex.com/salesperson/result/...N0YW5kfkk9UHJpY2V_Sz00fkw9MX5NPTM3fg&size=all


4 - then you would need lights. such as 2 speed lights. This is probably the most costly on the cheap end (also get rechargeable batteries, it will save you in the long run), such as 2
http://mpex.com/nikon-sb-700-af-speedlight.html

BUT if you are taking alot of pictures continuously, then you may want to look into "continuous" lighting. WHich is basically light bulbs instead of flashes.

You will have to learn about OCF - Off Camera Flash / Continuous Lighting
I only know about Nikon and my specific camera, so more research for you.

Then with a table against a wall, you need a coverings called Backgrounds , background supports, and some covering such as vinyl paper .. or on the cheap end cloth (like big custom cut sheets at walmart).
Example (I do not have yet) of background kit and vinyl/paper
http://mpex.com/dbl-background-stand-kit.html
http://mpex.com/lighting-studio/backdrops-and-paper/10-vinyl.html

5 - I nearly forgot ... if you don't have a camera, then a camera and lens. Getting camera is the easy part. The lens it depends but just start with a general kit lens of like 18-55mm. For instance Nikon has a D3100, 3200, 5200 that is good for beginners.

6 - Get a tripod

That is all going to push you over the $1,000 limit due to the flashes but depending how cheap you get you can get close.
That is the basics of it, sans technique of course.

I think that's about it in the "minimalist" part. Hope that helps a bit.

A few places I've gotten some stuff from

Cold shoes
Midwest Photo Exchange LumoPro Compact Umbrella Swivel w/ Variable Cold Shoe

umbrellas
Midwest Photo Exchange Westcott 43" Collapsible Umbrella with Removable Cover 15" FOLDED

cheap diffuser but you will probably need bigger - umbrella is probably better to use, generally.
23 23cm Flash Softbox Diffuser for Speedlight Canon 580EXII 580EX 430EXII 550EX | eBay

adorama.com cametacamera.com allenscamera.com all have stuff as I'm sure tons of other places.

It all can get very, very confusing ...

As mentioned this still requires technique and learning to get better and better photos from
and is very "hack"ish at this level and cost

I do have to say .. my post is "lacking" alot but it's a start. And read as much as you can.

 

[MatthewSimes]

Instead of strobes or speed lights, you can pick up a "2000 watt" set of lights from amazon for around $100. Theses bargain cheapo sets include basic stands, softboxes and even the 10 fluorescent bulbs. Make sure the light heads are the ones that hold 4-5 bulbs each... The sets with single bulbs in the heads are not bright enough for anything bigger than a watch.

 

[Doggert]

Thank you for all of your replies...

I made a list of what I'm looking at getting from the items you guys suggested.

Could you guys give me an opinion of this studio setup? Anything else I would need?

Lighting:
Amazon.com: ePhoto VL9026s 2000 Watt Lighting Studio Portrait Kit with Carrying Case with 2 Soft boxes, 2 Light Heads and 10 Fluorescent Bulbs: Electronics

Camera:
Nikon D3100 or Canon t2 (not sure) with tripod...

Background:
White vinyl backdrop, background supports, and photo soft box.

 

[Overread]

Can't comment on the lights themselves, but with the camera bodies either the Nikon or the Canon will do well for what you need it to with this kind of work. There really isn't anything to tell them apart for this area of photography and for your intended output needs.

A few things you might consider adding to the setup:

1) Lightroom - an older version (cheaper) would suit for your needs as what you're after is both its batch editing features and also its ability to organise and catalogue your work. The latter you might find very important as with your product photography you'll likely build up a large number of photos. Sometimes you might find that you're selling the same product as you did previously so a good organised library means you can call up the shot and put it up quickly and without having to re-shoot the product. You might also find it helpful when users request additional photos (That you might already have taken but not shown) as you can find and add them much quicker.

2) A set of extension tubes (Kenko make good quality affordable tubes - avoid the $5 ones as they don't have the electronic contacts and thus won't control the lens when attached) can be used and put between the lens and the camera; this lets the lens focus closer and might be of help for any smaller items you might find going through your shop or for closer up detail shots (for showing marks or detail features to the customers). They will remove the ability for the lens to focus on further off subjects as well (Sometimes it can only focus a few inches from the camera) so you can't just leave them on all the time; but its a cheap and good way to get macro capabilities.