Taking photos of objects....noob

[Anotherguy]

Hello all,

I am not a photographer by any means, but I do have a couple questions for you all. I sell on eBay for a living and do quite well actually.

My question is, I take pics of items for sale, always indoors with fluorescent lights above. I want to start taking less amateur looking pics. The problem I always get is harsh reflections and shadows. I was looking at umbrella and lights but have no idea where to start with my goal in mind. Keep in mind I'm not trying to be proffesional, but it is important to me to have detailed pics that show any scratches, dents, tears etc on what I am selling. I just can get what I want with what I have now.

What I do have now is a couple different color back drops, a tripod and a Sony DSC-H1.

Any help on what to buy to help with shadows and reflections would be very helpful.

Thanks in advance!

Josh

 

[Josh66]

Sounds like you need a light tent.

Tent & Dome Kits

There are lots of sizes available, or you can make your own pretty easily.

 

[Anotherguy]

Sounds like you need a light tent.

Tent & Dome Kits

There are lots of sizes available, or you can make your own pretty easily.

I have looked at those and they seem like a good idea, but my problem is that what I sell varies drastically in size. Sizes from coins to refrigerators.

 

[Big Mike]

I think the solution is going to be more about technique than gear, although it will certainly help if have lights that you can position (on stands etc).

Lighting product shots, has everything to do with the specific product you are shooting. You'll need to understand that different materials have different reflective properties, and as such, you'll need to light them differently. For example, a mirror is almost entirely characterized by direct reflection...and as such, the only way to actually light the surface of the mirror, is to put a light source into the 'family of angles' (group of angles created from the camera position to the object).
Most things won't have as much 'direct reflection' but they may have some degree of it...so you need to be aware of that and how to best approach lighting them.
Another characteristic is 'diffuse reflection' and you can basically light objects with diffuse reflection from any angle. But with this type of reflection, you need to consider the inverse square law of light fall off.

To show texture (scratches included), there are a few techniques. One is to use any direct reflection that the object might have. Another is to use hard (small) lights, especially from the side. Extreme side lighting will highlight the texture of something, but that may not be the best overall lighting for the object, so you have to compromise.

As you can see, this is a somewhat complex subject, but I'd suggest that putting in the time & effort to learn about it, will be a better investment than just buying a lighting kit without knowing how to use it.

 

[KmH]

Keep in mind I'm not trying to be proffesional,

Obviously! You can't even spell it.

If it is important to you to have detailed images, you're going to need to learn a lot more about photographic lighting and photography. You will also want to seriously consider upgrading your camera gear (the lens on the DSC-H1 is ok, but not all that great).

Less than that and the photos you take will continue to look less than professional.

Here is an eBay lens auction I have running currenty: Mint: Nikon AF-S DX 12-24 mm f/4 IF-ED wide-angle lens - eBay (item 280686254983 end time Jun-03-11 14:01:39 PDT)

To make the photos for the auction I used 2 Vivitar 285HV speedlights on lightstands. Both speedlights were on umbrella mounts but without umbrellas, The speedlights were bare, but were set to wide-angle and had the stock wide-angle diffuser inserted.

One light was above, pointed down at 45° and camera left. The other was camera right, camera viewfinder high, and pointed level. There was also a large north facing window (just glass and screens, no curtains or anything else) 5 feet to the right

The camera and the flash units were in manual mode - f/16, 1/250, ISO 200, White Balance set to "Flash". The lights were set to: 1/2 power on the left, 1/4 power on the right.

The camera was a Nikon D300 with a Nikon AF 24-85 mm f/2.8-4 lens mounted. The lights were triggered with an RF wireless transmitter on the D300 hot shoe and an RF wireless receiver on each speedlight.

The white base, background, and left side are foam board I bought at Wal-Mart $4.79 for 3 panels IIRC.

Here is a shot of a scratch on the LCD of a Nikon D1X . I made the photo using 2 speed lights modified by 45' umbrellas.

Here is a vertical gip and a nice shiny box;