Please Help Me With Studio Lighting-Thanks

[phazyme]

I need an indoor studio to photograph musical equipment (guitars). What lighting and backdrop do I need? I have ample room and a large wooden table to put the specimens on. I need light. Do I need continuous, flash, one light, two lights, umbrellas,etc. I have a Nikon D90 with numerous lenses and Professional Bogen tripod. When I shoot guitars I use wide, normal and macro shots to take an overall detailed and beautiful study of each piece. I sell many of them on Ebay and my outdoor photos have been the difference between selling and not selling. For a more pro look I wanted to do a studio albeit very basic. Thanks for any input.

 

[KmH]

Start checking out information on product photography.

Continuous lighting lets you see what the light is doing.

Strobed light doesn't, unless the strobed light have a modeling light or a modeling light flash mode.

In addition to umbrellas or softboxes, you may want some flags, reflectors, diffusers, scrims, and other light modifiers to get exactly the light you want on the guitars.

 

[LearnMyShot]

I think if you're not used to using flash, continuos light may be better for you. Try using some common clamp lights and diffusion tissue. It probably will be a combination of one hard light to get the detail of the wood and a softer light as a fill. Sounds like fun stuff to shoot!

 

[Big Mike]

Welcome to the forum.

Strobes are great for shooting people, but since you have a tripod and your subject isn't moving, you should be fine with constant lighting. Just be sure to keep your lights consistent and don't try to mix types.

As for how many lights you need and the modifiers etc, that's completely up to you, how you want to work and the results you want to get.
I remembered this old post on the Strobis blog about shooting a guitar.
Strobist: Reader Spotlight: Paul Morton