Product Photography - Studio Lighting Set

[Ipanema]

Hi all
I was hoping to get some gear advice in regards to a basic studio set up. In particular LIGHTING


I'm a graphic designer and relatively amateurish photographer but my job is about to branch out into product photography for musical instruments. I'm unsure of what to get in terms of lighting for the best results.


Some details:
Studio is about 3m sq in space


Budget: approx $ AUD 2,500 (will be getting as much second-hand as possible)


Gear: Olympus OM-D E-M5, Canon 7d, various lenses between them


Style of photography: Similar to the photos on white in this sliderhttp://www.aristidesinstruments.com/homepage.html though we also have guitar cases and such with leather textures and velvet interiors that need to be featured


Post production: only thing i'm not worried about but would love to spend as little time as possible editing


Any help/suggestions would be amazing. Thanks

 

[KmH]

Product lighting can be difficult, particularly when photographing items that have reflective surfaces.
Lighting is definitely a key.

A good grounding in the fundamentals of photographic lighting will save you a lot of time, headache, help you minimize the amount of post production:
Light Science and Magic: An Introduction to Photographic Lighting

In addition to lights, you'll need light stands, light modifiers in a variety of sizes and shapes, a very stable tripod or camera stand, reflectors to both add and subtract light, a variety of clamps and other lighting set up/rigging gear collectively known as grip gear. (white reflectors add light, black reflectors subtract light. Reflectors can be low tech.)

I think your 'studio' @ 3 meters square is a bit to small, and the unstated ceiling height is a factor.
You might be able to make it work, but you will have to be very careful when moving around the room that you don't topple and damage any of your lighting/camera gear or products.

Since you be making photos of inanimate subjects you can use constant lighting. Constant lighting generates a lot of heat, heats up itself, seriously shortens the life of light modifiers because of the heat, can set light modifiers on fire if care is not used, but is generally less expensive than strobe lighting (flash).
Constant lighting lets you see where shadows are falling and how diffuse the shadow edges are, which makes setting up the lighting for a product easier.

Most studio flash units have a 'modeling' lamp, which is a low power constant light that serves the same set up purpose of showing where shadows will fall and how diffuse the shadow edges will be.
You will likely be best off using a combination of strobe light and constant light.
Because your subjects are inanimate you will be able to use longer shutter times, which means you can use lower power constant or strobe lights.

Where strobe light power is usually rated in watt seconds, constant lights are rated in watts.
The flash of light from a strobe has a very short duration, say 1/500 to 1/1000 or shorter if dull power is not used. So a 150 ws strobe delivers all it's light in that kind of short time span 1/500 to 1/1000 of a second.
With constant light power in watts, 1 watt is delivered over 1 second, or 150 watts is delivered over 1 second if a 150 W light is used, which would require a longer shutter time.
Consequently, the 2 power units, watt seconds and watts are not really directly comparable.

A further consideration is that by using strobe light, you can control the ambient light exposure separately from the strobe light exposure with a single shutter release.
Shutter speed controls the ambient light exposure, while lens aperture controls the strobe light exposure.
That is useful for having a 'lighting ratio' between the ambient and strobe light values.

What combination will work best will vary depending on the product you want to photograph.

A TPF member that is a professional product photographer in New York City has said:

Product photography can be so much more than simply taking a picture of a product. I do between 10 images a day and one in three days, working with a set designer, an art director and at least two assistants.

The uninitiated generally do not appreciate the level of skill, knowledge, time, and effort that go into making professional quality product photographs.

A basic entry-level strobe lighting kit - Flashpoint 320M Portable Pack, Portrait Wedding Monolight Kit, with Two 320 Monolights, Portable Battery Packs, 9.5'Stands, Umbrellas, Snoot and Carrying Case

A step up in quality and versatility - Elinchrom EL 20852KIT D-LITE RX 4/4 Kit with Stands (Multi Color)

 

[gsgary]

Thats a very small studio

 

[Ipanema]

Thank you for your response KmH... that was very helpful! Especially the article for intro to lighting. I'm definitely not going into it expecting a super professional result right away. Its going to take some learning and practice.

 

[Ihatemymoney]

Thank you for your response KmH... that was very helpful! Especially the article for intro to lighting. I'm definitely not going into it expecting a super professional result right away. Its going to take some learning and practice.

You can spend a couple of years trying this or that, I photograph custom made pool cues .
I would not buy lighting until you have read the book recommended above light science and magic.

On page 62 it nails the problems you will have. Or at least the reflection and unwanted glare.
you may end up using polarized gel sheets.