Product Photography Help

I'm in the South East.

There are a wide assortment of products, i have a project coming in the next 2 weeks which requires around 150 items to be photographed, 2 pictures per item so with my photographer thats quite a decent sum right there.

I agree with you on the saving money point and now having thought it through am leaning towards just getting my photographer to keep doing it.

I am going to see the system and a similiar one next week to see if it really is all its cracked up to be.
 
These systems (when setup) will do exactly what you wish, within very limited boundaries unless you know what you're doing... and thus, if you knew what you were doing, you would just use a couple of lights, background and camera anyway.

A setup for a pair of cufflinks is very different to a setup for a bowl of fruit, for example.

If your business relies on people buying from images of your product, then it's an area I wouldn't skimp on... Or perhaps that's just me trying to keep a fellow 'tog in business :).
 
I agree with what you say.

I have a Canon 400d with some sort of macro lens, i might buy some cheaper lightning equipment and give it a whirl to see if i have any interest in learning to do it myself.
 
£5,500? Bah - as others have said - that's nonsense. I got bored one weekend a couple of years ago and built this in virtually no time with minimal effort

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18152464

I've since been bought a cheap light tent and that works even better - there's more space. Lighting is key though - bright and a lot of it. I love the dark shots listed above - I haven't really tried that. I did have a go controlling light with nothing more than a couple of lamps and a t-shirt.


Ready for Sunday evening by Greg Kingston, on Flickr

Shows the value of really being able to control the lighting environment, as it is far from perfect.
 
Rojin said:
Not in anything I have seen, a full detail reflection doubles your image size and isn't required in the majority of output media. A more subdued reflection is what I am accustomed to seeing in advertising.

Just look at Apples site, it's all normal shadow or low key reflection, they've mixed it up. They used to show more reflection, but it was faded out. Granted they may have started with a more detailed image, but it wasn't what they output. If a company commissions you for a product shot they will specify what they require for a reflection. All I did was state my preference.
Click to expand...

What you've seen and what I sell are different things then buddy. A large amount of private clients I have for product shots all want either whole or partial reflections. The older apple product shots (small items only mind) had the reflection cut in half.

Anyway, back on topic. If you want to go as cheap as possible with decent results, get a light tent and a few lamps, which will set you back around £50-70 in total, max. If you want truly great results, you need to really know what you are doing and invest in a good studio head + light shaper such as a soft box, then buy a few different types of base to rest them on.
 
Could anyone please identify exactly what studio equipment and lighting I would buy if I had a budget of £500?

Also recommendations for a suitable camera plus lens would be great.

I am based in London and if anyone would like to earn some cash for setting all the equipment up and showing a colleague and I a few starting pointers then please let me know.
 
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