Shooting in a lit photo booth

[RitchieE24]

Hello, this is my first post, been browsing through the forums and I believe this is the best photo forum I could find.

I have been taking some product photos for my work. They are okay, but I am not happy with the results.

My equipment is as follows:

• Nikon D5300
• Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D AF
• Nikon 18-55mm Kit lens
• Nikkor 70-300mm g lens

I bought one of those inexpensive photo tents on Amazon that comes with the lighting (pictures attached)

I was using the 50mm lens (not sure if correct) and I found the edges to be soft. The front of the product would be in focus, but around the edges it loses focus. Could this be the lens choice? I will be bringing in the camera and lenses tomorrow and can try anything suggested.

I read that ISO settings should be at a minimum; so I set it to 100.

Any way to reduce the amount of glare on the product (besides spraying them with a satin clear coat). I couldn't reduce it even if I did not use the lighting that came with the tent.

I'm new to product photos, I generally take landscape and automotive as a fun hobby.

Thank you so much for any help. It would mean a lot. I will be spending a lot more time online learning the art, and this forum will be my classroom.
Cheers

 

[Braineack]

dont see example pics...

 

[RitchieE24]

dont see example pics...

They're showing at my end? I embedded them into the message using a direct Imgur link.

I'll try attaching them to this post.

 

[Braineack]

I don't see anything wrong with those.

 

[Forkie]

I don't see any soft edges in these. These are actually nicely focussed and lit.

 

[RitchieE24]

Thanks, maybe I'm too critical (because I don't fully know what I'm doing).

Any ideas on how to reduce glare? Some photos have it pretty bad, I'll see if I can find one.

 

[tirediron]

Agree with the others, those are very decent product imags. After trying the only niggles I can find are that the plastic spout portion has lost detail, and some of the tubes are a bit shop-worn. As far as the glare goes, my first step would be to add a polarizing filter to the equation, but be careful; you don't want to eliminate all hightlights since that is what gives the round product it's appearance of shape in a photograph. If you are getting soft edges, it's likely due to a too-shallow depth of field (DoF). Don't be afraid to increase your ISO a bit to allow you to use a smaller aperture (larger 'f' #). I'm not familiar with the characteristics of the D5300 but you can definitely go to 400 ISO with no issue, and I would suspect, even to 800.

 

[Designer]

I was using the 50mm lens (not sure if correct) and I found the edges to be soft. The front of the product would be in focus, but around the edges it loses focus. Could this be the lens choice?

The EXIF has been stripped, so you should include the settings used.

If you are using a 50mm lens set to a wide aperture, your depth of field is going to be shallow. It is not necessary to always shoot at ISO 100. If you are hand-holding the camera, then get a tripod, boost the ISO, close down the aperture, and use a longer shutter speed.

You can figure or estimate the DOF before you make an exposure, so you will want to do some measurements to find out how deep your DOF needs to be.

 

[Braineack]

Any ideas on how to reduce glare? Some photos have it pretty bad, I'll see if I can find one.

I was about to say "not these"

 

[RitchieE24]

Agree with the others, those are very decent product imags. After trying the only niggles I can find are that the plastic spout portion has lost detail, and some of the tubes are a bit shop-worn. As far as the glare goes, my first step would be to add a polarizing filter to the equation, but be careful; you don't want to eliminate all hightlights since that is what gives the round product it's appearance of shape in a photograph. If you are getting soft edges, it's likely due to a too-shallow depth of field (DoF). Don't be afraid to increase your ISO a bit to allow you to use a smaller aperture (larger 'f' #). I'm not familiar with the characteristics of the D5300 but you can definitely go to 400 ISO with no issue, and I would suspect, even to 800.

I will definitely go check out some polarizing filters tonight! I think I could put some of those to use. I never would have thought of that. I'll try to get one tonight so that I can try some new photos tomorrow.

A shallow dof probably is my problem. I will give this all a go and see how the results are. Thanks so much!

 

[RitchieE24]

I was using the 50mm lens (not sure if correct) and I found the edges to be soft. The front of the product would be in focus, but around the edges it loses focus. Could this be the lens choice?

The EXIF has been stripped, so you should include the settings used.

If you are using a 50mm lens set to a wide aperture, your depth of field is going to be shallow. It is not necessary to always shoot at ISO 100. If you are hand-holding the camera, then get a tripod, boost the ISO, close down the aperture, and use a longer shutter speed.

You can figure or estimate the DOF before you make an exposure, so you will want to do some measurements to find out how deep your DOF needs to be.

Here's what my settings were:
F/stop: f/3.5
ISO-100
Exposure time 1/50 sec.
50mm focal length.

I'm using a tripod too. Should I be using a different lens do you think? I have 3 at my disposal.

Thanks! The knowledge here is great!

 

[tirediron]

Agree with the others, those are very decent product imags. After trying the only niggles I can find are that the plastic spout portion has lost detail, and some of the tubes are a bit shop-worn. As far as the glare goes, my first step would be to add a polarizing filter to the equation, but be careful; you don't want to eliminate all hightlights since that is what gives the round product it's appearance of shape in a photograph. If you are getting soft edges, it's likely due to a too-shallow depth of field (DoF). Don't be afraid to increase your ISO a bit to allow you to use a smaller aperture (larger 'f' #). I'm not familiar with the characteristics of the D5300 but you can definitely go to 400 ISO with no issue, and I would suspect, even to 800.

I will definitely go check out some polarizing filters tonight! I think I could put some of those to use. I never would have thought of that. I'll try to get one tonight so that I can try some new photos tomorrow.

A shallow dof probably is my problem. I will give this all a go and see how the results are. Thanks so much!

If the problem is really bad on certain products, you can try cross-polarization where you put a polarizing filter on your lights ('though I've never tried it on CFLs) as well as your lens.

 

[tirediron]

...A shallow dof probably is my problem. I will give this all a go and see how the results are. Thanks so much!

Use this calculator to determine an appropriate aperture based on your parameters.

 

[goooner]

These look good to me. Do you have image stabilization switched on on your lens? Not sure what the term is for Nikon (VR?). You should switch it off when using a tripod. Are you using a shutter release? Sometimes the actual pressing of the shutter button could cause camera shake at these low shutter speeds. An alternative would be to use the 2s self timer function...

 

[RitchieE24]

Agree with the others, those are very decent product imags. After trying the only niggles I can find are that the plastic spout portion has lost detail, and some of the tubes are a bit shop-worn. As far as the glare goes, my first step would be to add a polarizing filter to the equation, but be careful; you don't want to eliminate all hightlights since that is what gives the round product it's appearance of shape in a photograph. If you are getting soft edges, it's likely due to a too-shallow depth of field (DoF). Don't be afraid to increase your ISO a bit to allow you to use a smaller aperture (larger 'f' #). I'm not familiar with the characteristics of the D5300 but you can definitely go to 400 ISO with no issue, and I would suspect, even to 800.

Thank you! I bought a polarizing filter and it does wonders! I got the multi layer "Platinum" brand one from Best Buy. Was the best looking one I could buy with the $50 bill I found in my car.

I used a smaller aperture and raised the ISO a bit which helped a lot!

These look good to me. Do you have image stabilization switched on on your lens? Not sure what the term is for Nikon (VR?). You should switch it off when using a tripod. Are you using a shutter release? Sometimes the actual pressing of the shutter button could cause camera shake at these low shutter speeds. An alternative would be to use the 2s self timer function...

I have image stabilization turned off for all these photos. And I have tethered the camera to my PC using digiCamControl.

Thanks again guys for the advice. Photos are looking better each time.