Beginner Photographer - Taking Product Photos For Web Page

PlacidCasual · 11 Jan 2019 at 17:42

Hi Peeps

I'm in the process of building a website and one of the features will be to showcase some of my wife's craft products linked to her Facebook account and maybe at some point int he future an Etsy account.

I have a Nikon D40 with the stock 18-55mm lens. I've had it maybe 10 years and I'm not especially proficient mostly using it for holiday snaps and the like. I used to own a Pentax ME Super with a 35mm Prime lens (if memory serves) which in many respects I preferred. I'm not very skilled or knowledgeable about photography.

So my desire is to take neat photos of small items no more than 100mm in any of 3 dimensions. I had looked on Amazon and very cheap light studios/boxes (for the want of better words) are available, mini pop up tents witha few leds and coloured mats to put the products on are available. But I don't know if these would be a false economy. Also I'm not familair enough with my camera to know if the aperture size is sufficient for give me the narrow depth of field (tell me if I'm using the wrong terms) to give nice photos.

I'll probably have a play this weekend using whatever I have available but mostly with the intent of seeing what the camera can produce.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

DB_SamX · 11 Jan 2019 at 18:08

Those light tents are definitely useful, although you should always get a bigger size than you think you need. My brother used to take computer parts photos for a review website a while back, using my D40 initially, then a D90 + Tamron 17-50 f/2.8. D40 with stock lens isn't great for sharpness or DOF; a prime lens would be useful. I used to have a Nikkor 50 f/1.8 which was sooo good. They can be had for under £50 and would improve the quality.

The tent was a simple foldable one with no attached lights. He just placed lamps around them as required in a bright room.

PlacidCasual · 11 Jan 2019 at 18:31

I had wondered about a 50mm lens. I might see if my local photography shops have a decent used manual one. A fair point about the larger tent. It’s just that one was so cheap it almost qualifies as a no loss purchase.

Columbo · 12 Jan 2019 at 16:56

A friend of mine uses a cheap light tent with some small LED lights. She takes photos with her smartphone on a mini tripod and they look great for web / sales use.

Total setup cost her about £50.

Raymond Lin · 12 Jan 2019 at 20:32

I use one of those light tents, and then a 85mm or 105macro for the shots. But I also use 4 flashes to light it. One from the back. 2 either side and one kicker from the front.

These are mine.

https://chaseblissaudio.com/

As for DOF, actually you don’t need 1.2 or 1.8, I shoot at like 5.6.

PlacidCasual · 13 Jan 2019 at 09:50

@DB_SamX @Columbo @Raymond Lin

Thx for the responses. I took the dip on the cheap tent £9 is so little and it gets me started. I’ll have a play around with aperture etc on my D40 when tent arrives and maybe post a few pics for feedback.

Thx again PlacidCasual

SDK^ · 15 Jan 2019 at 13:35

If the objects you are photographing are small then you will find a specific Macro lens very useful.
A Macro lens allows you to fill the frame with your subject. Other non-macro lenses are limited by minimum focus distance and less than life size representation.