Lightning for product photo shoot?
I decided to buy a Nikon D3200 to take photos of my new cosmetic line products. I have over 200 items and it would cost alot of money to hire professional photographer so i decided to do it myself.
What is a good lightning kit that i can buy to take professional photos. Yes I know my Nikon camera can't get the quality that i would get if i used a $4000+ camera. But i was told that if i use goo lightning i can get really good photos.
Any kits you know of on ebay?
I use a light tent, two 750 watt continuous incandescent lamps and a tripod. If the exposures are longer than 1/500th second, I use a remote shutter release.
Where did you get this idea?
"Yes I know my Nikon camera can't get the quality that i would get if i used a $4000+ camera"
The D3200 sensor outperforms my Nikon D300 and I have been shooting product shots back when dSLR's had only a 6 mp sensor.
Forget eBay. Look instead on Amazon. The changes of buying junk on eBay is just too high.
Here is what I use for shooting products.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/...t_Kit.html
And here is a link to light tents
http://store.tabletopstudio-store.com/ezcube40.html
And a how to tutorial
http://www.ezcube.com/step-by-step.html
I'll probably be repeating a few things that fhotoace already mentioned, but you'll also find a bit extra info in this:
To take good product photos, you don't need a special camera, you just need to pay attention to your details.
Here is how to do it the cheap way:
- Build yourself a light tent, it can be as basic as a card board box http://www.digital-photography-school.com/how-to-make-a-inexpensive-light-tent
- Use desk lamps with bright full spectrum (a.k.a.daylight) bulbs
- Use white background paper and change it often to keep it spotless
- put your camera on a tripod
- set up custom white balance (read your manual on how to do that) for perfect colour
- if your product is tiny, be sure to use the (super) macro setting on your camera, or you may consider using extension tubes together with your macro lens on a DSLR.
- overexpose the photo slightly to keep the whites white, instead of grey (because due all the bright light, your camera will want to under expose the shot). Either go fully manual, or use exposure compensation (read the manual if you don't know how to do this).
- In Photoshop (or other editing program), put on the finishing touches - but you shouldn't need too much since you are starting out with a very good photo.