Product photography help

[BEphoto]

A friend of mine has asked me to come down to austin to take some product shots of their new downhill skateboard trucks (the metal things that the wheels mount to, just in case any of you didnt already know this) for their website. They offered to pay me, which is great, but they are really good friends so i wasnt expecting that. Anyway, thats besides the point.

Ive never done product shots for anyone else before. The closest thing ive done has been to take some pics of lenses that ive been selling. I just used this white plastic table cover stuff that i have a ton of for a backdrop. Im guessing that since the trucks are metal, i should probably go for a black backdrop. What kind of material should i use?

also, as far as lighting goes, ive got my 580EX II that ive got with an off shoe cord. What is typically the best angle to flash at for product shots? Ive always done the flash straight above my camera attached to the cord and pointed about 45* downward in front of the product.

I'll be using my 70-200 f/2.8L IS for all of the shots.

Any advice you can give would be great. Trying to make the best with what ive got to work with. Thanks in advance!

Brad

BEphoto added 22 Minutes and 34 Seconds later...Double Post Merged Below

okay, so i just got off the phone with the guy, and i was totally wrong. I thought it was just for their skateboard trucks, but it turns out they want me to shoot all of their products, which are skateboard decks, wheels, trucks, bearings, all kinds of stuff!! This is going to be a bigger job than i thought!

Im guessing that the lighting situation would pretty much be the same for all of the stuff, minus maybe the decks which vary from black to natural wood in color.

I've seen these lightboxes for sale that are made for product photography at, dont laugh, walmart. Anyone know anything about these?

Thanks again for any tips in advance!


Brad

[timbertoes]

I would - at least ask for enough $$ to buy two alien bees, a large softbox, one Grid, rf remote, background stand and 2 rolls of seamless paper in 2 colors.....
Plus gas.

The way I see a friend deal....is a friend can pay a decent rate to someone they know, or to a complete stranger.


as a minimum, you could get a chimera softbox for your 580, a piece of foam board for fill light reflector, and a few sheet of large construction paper for the background.

[Dawn U]

Bear in mind I don't have tons of experience, but...

If you try to use flash/strobes without a light tent type set up, you'll run into issues with any of the subjects that are metal and/or shiny. If you set up some sort of tent area, and shine the lights through the material (white), you'll get nice even lighting without the hot spot reflections on the subject.

[CaptainTom]

It's hard to advise what set up would work until I saw the products, knew what light you have, area to work in, etc.

Generally a large diffused lightsource works best. Unless they specifically want something different, make your background consistent from product to product. You can range from flat lighting to dramatic lighting depending on what they have, and what they want.
A "normal" focal length lens works best, and I'd have a polarizing filter available.
DOF is important.
Accurate color rendition is very important.
You probably can't get the perfect image directly out of camera.
Use post production to make it perfect.

As a beginner, I would recommend you try a constant light source. It is WYSIWYG and will cut down on your production and set up time.

Have fun and experiment.

[venchka]

Macro lens or extension tubes. Tilt-Shift lens. Polarizer. Large format camera. Get close. Get closer. Lights. Know how to use the lights. Practice. Buy a similar product and practice before you go. What Bryan said. Product shots cost money. You got first dibs because the client knws you. Charge a decent rate. Be prepared to re-shoot until you get it right on your nickel. That's where the friendship and inexperience part comes in. Do the job well and you have something to show other clients.

Have a computer handy so you can chimp real photos.

[BEphoto]

Originally Posted by venchka

Macro lens or extension tubes. Tilt-Shift lens. Polarizer. Large format camera. Get close. Get closer. Lights. Know how to use the lights. Practice. Buy a similar product and practice before you go. What Bryan said. Product shots cost money. You got first dibs because the client knws you. Charge a decent rate. Be prepared to re-shoot until you get it right on your nickel. That's where the friendship and inexperience part comes in. Do the job well and you have something to show other clients.

Have a computer handy so you can chimp real photos.

and i just sold my macro lens....

Maybe i can get my hands on some extension tubes though monday morning. Im going to experiment tonight at home with some of the same products that they have. I'm going to make a trip to Arlington Camera tomorrow morning and see what they recommend. Ive got a few hundred bucks to play with if i need to buy some stuff, but would rather not spend what i dont have to. I'm sure they arent looking for completely professional quality shots, but i want to make sure they are happy.

Thanks for all of the advice. I'm going to go over it all again when i get home from work and see what i can come up with. I'll probably post some shots later (as in, after midnight) in this thread with some of my own products and see what you guys think.

Thanks again. Keep it coming if you've got anything else to add!


Brad

[CaptainTom]

For website images they are probably going to be happiest with close up work rather than a shot with a lot of space around it (which works well for print media).

[BEphoto]

Originally Posted by CaptainTom

For website images they are probably going to be happiest with close up work rather than a shot with a lot of space around it (which works well for print media).

agreed. I'll probably use my 70-200 and fill as much of the frame as possible. Only other option is the nifty fifty.

Another thing, what aperture would you shoot at? i was thinking probably f/8 or so.

[picman]

Perhaps the best way to handle this is with a light tent.
There are a bunch of of versions, here are three:
http://digital-photography-school.co...ive-light-tent
http://www.simplifiedbuilding.com/bl...vc-light-tent/
http://regexp.bjoern.org/archives/000194.html

I have also found that for reflective items you have to tent off everything except for where the lens pokes in. The important thing is to gain control of what is reflected by the object. Once you have that, you can add things (strips of black paper for example) to the set to add reflections that add shape or interest.

[BEphoto]

Originally Posted by picman

Perhaps the best way to handle this is with a light tent.
There are a bunch of of versions, here are three:
http://digital-photography-school.co...ive-light-tent
http://www.simplifiedbuilding.com/bl...vc-light-tent/
http://regexp.bjoern.org/archives/000194.html

I have also found that for reflective items you have to tent off everything except for where the lens pokes in. The important thing is to gain control of what is reflected by the object. Once you have that, you can add things (strips of black paper for example) to the set to add reflections that add shape or interest.

very cool write-ups. Thanks for sharing!

[CaptainTom]

The sweet spot on the 70-200 f2.8 is f5.6.
If this gives you enough DOF that's what I'd recommend.
If it doesn't give you enough DOF, then you'll have to adjust to get what you want.
Can you tether to a laptop so the client can see what you have shot ?
That helps tremendously to get exactly what they are looking for.
If not, use the preview screen with them. It's best to get their input rather than you try to be creative on your own. They may be great, but the client may not like them.

[BEphoto]

Originally Posted by CaptainTom

The sweet spot on the 70-200 f2.8 is f5.6.
If this gives you enough DOF that's what I'd recommend.
If it doesn't give you enough DOF, then you'll have to adjust to get what you want.
Can you tether to a laptop so the client can see what you have shot ?
That helps tremendously to get exactly what they are looking for.
If not, use the preview screen with them. It's best to get their input rather than you try to be creative on your own. They may be great, but the client may not like them.

Thanks, as always Tom. Im not sure what they have as far as computer equipment, or where we will even be shooting, so im not sure if a tether will work or not. Tethering just involves shooting with a USB connected to the laptop right? Or is there a specific program that allows you to do so? Im still new to studio type photography.

After checking out those light tents, it seems like we can do it really anywhere, with the exception of maybe the skateboard decks themselves. They are between 38-44" long. This should allow us to set up near the computer if tethering only involves the USB.

[CaptainTom]

To use tethering you can install the EOS utility disk to the host computer.
You can also use Lightroom, but it's unlikely they have any programs that would work for you.

Find your EOS utility disk, install,
connect your Canon to the computer
open up the utility Camera Setting/Remote shooting.
You can even control the aperture/shutter speed and use it as a remote shutter release.

[BEphoto]

oh wow, thats really cool. Amazingly, after 3 years and roughly 4 moves i still know where my EOS utilities disk is!

Stupid question here but does having your camera plugged into the computer keep it charged like an ipod or similar electronic device? my guess is going to be no.

[CaptainTom]

Originally Posted by BEphoto

oh wow, thats really cool. Amazingly, after 3 years and roughly 4 moves i still know where my EOS utilities disk is!

Stupid question here but does having your camera plugged into the computer keep it charged like an ipod or similar electronic device? my guess is going to be no.

Not a stupid question.

answer; NO - wish it did.