I have a problem...

JonB · 29 May 2007 at 21:53

... A lighting problem. My light box isn't really providing the results I had hoped for:

I think this may be due to the poor lighting I am using. (2 x Asda Cheapo 60w desk lamps and 60w Daylight bulbs). It's also only lit from the sides too. What I'm after is a 100w desk lamp which is adjustable. Something like this, but 100w obviously:

...This should allow me to light the box from above and hopefully produce results like this:

Helium_Junkie · 30 May 2007 at 09:16

Or take a longer shutter speed?

jchiver · 30 May 2007 at 10:14

where did you get your light box from? how much was it?

Mohain · 30 May 2007 at 10:57

It seems to me that you just need to up the exposure somewhat and play with the levels a bit and you should be there!

Johnny|lucidcomposure · 30 May 2007 at 11:02

For product shots like that you wont just be relying on a few desk lamps.
You will be using a few lights from at least 2 angles to give some illumination mellowing out the shadows and then really you need to be using flash (bouced backwards via an umbrella would work best.

I have managed to acomplish a good exposure at ISO100/ 125th using a single (but powerful) light and then using my onboard flash unit of the 30D (wont always give results you are after but at some distances has been very nice)

You just need to set up your scene and play with settings. A flash really is the all and all of studio photography

JonB · 31 May 2007 at 11:31

jchiver said:
where did you get your light box from? how much was it?

I made one following this

Helium_Junkie said:
Or take a longer shutter speed?

Will give this a go. I'm not so hot on the manual settings and confess this was taken on the auto-macro mode.

Fstop11 said:
For product shots like that you wont just be relying on a few desk lamps.
You will be using a few lights from at least 2 angles to give some illumination mellowing out the shadows and then really you need to be using flash (bouced backwards via an umbrella would work best.

I disagree, desk lamps are fine (I have three, pointing from different directions) with the correct bulb. I'll take a photo of my setup later. Read this

jchiver · 31 May 2007 at 12:57

JonB said:
I made one following this

Will give this a go. I'm not so hot on the manual settings and confess this was taken on the auto-macro mode.

I disagree, desk lamps are fine (I have three, pointing from different directions) with the correct bulb. I'll take a photo of my setup later. Read this

nice link thanks

Johnny|lucidcomposure · 31 May 2007 at 13:33

You are using 3 60watt bulbs. 60Watt is a very low power output and you will be using shutter speeds too low for studio work (100 watt would be loads better)

For that setup I would use flash. The sigle bulb I use is 500 Watt and I use that along with flash and get very satisfying results.

If you posted your image (with exifs) and your setup then people should be able to push you into the right direction.

a lot of problems people will encounter are that they are relying on automatic settings. My advise would be full manual.

JonB · 31 May 2007 at 18:54

Hence why I am after a 100 watt lamp. I can't find one anywhere, for a decent price! (Sounds silly I know)

For that setup I would use flash. The sigle bulb I use is 500 Watt and I use that along with flash and get very satisfying results.

I did try using the flash on my camera, and results were much more desirable, but the problem with the results were the shadows and the reflections from the metal. I would try an second flash, but it's a bit out of my budget for what I want to achieve at the moment.

If you posted your image (with exifs) and your setup then people should be able to push you into the right direction.

a lot of problems people will encounter are that they are relying on automatic settings. My advise would be full manual.

That would be great. Here is the exif data:

http://www.imgholder.co.uk/files/1/Testexif.jpg

Thanks

Shoei · 31 May 2007 at 19:22

JonB said:
Hence why I am after a 100 watt lamp. I can't find one anywhere, for a decent price! (Sounds silly I know)

I use 65W daylight long life bulbs. They give equivelent to 365W from a normal bulb. One each side gives me enough light.

Pic looks cack due to it being resized twice over with me playing.

Johnny|lucidcomposure · 31 May 2007 at 19:46

JonB can you also take a picture of your set up so we can see where the light is entering and falling from?

aztechnology · 1 Jun 2007 at 00:16

Surely quantity of light is not the problem here, all that more or less light will do for a given aperture is change the length of time the shutter needs opening for to give an exposure value.

Your photo of the lock looks reasonably exposed, so your problem must lie with the colour balance of the background and/or light.

I suspect the sample you post of the chockie, has been manipulated a bit, it certainly has multiple light sources (or a lot of fill from reflectors), and is placed on a brilliant white background.

If you want a to use your desklamps to give much flatter lighting, don't use them as a direct source, point them at a diffuser and the light will be much more even (you will loose more light though, so shutter speeds will get longer).

Carrot · 1 Jun 2007 at 10:22

Fstop11 said:
You are using 3 60watt bulbs. 60Watt is a very low power output and you will be using shutter speeds too low for studio work (100 watt would be loads better)

How is a longer shutter speed a problem? The product's hardly going to move!