need suggestion on equipment to purchase for white background product photography

<p>i purchased some work lamps and daylight fluorescent bulbs. i was able to free up more space in my little box. the lights are 100 watt, 1750 lumens bulbs. i have currently 4 set up facing the backdrop. it's not pointed directly at 1 spot on the backdrop. i have it pointed at the backdrop on 4 corners. 2 on each side.</p>

<p>from my camera at 1/60, it gave me a reading of f/10. i then turned them off and put a grayish product down, and have 2 lights pointed at the product for either side, i made a diffuser out of the bed sheet and some foam core. i noticed that it did help to soften the light, but with only 2 on the product, i couldn't get a reading at 1/60. camera told me it was too dark.</p>

<p>jae,</p>

<p>Make a bigger one of these.............<a href="http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/07/how-to-diy-10-macro-photo-studio.html">http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/07/how-to-diy-10-macro-photo-studio.html</a></p>

<p>To my point about an effectively bigger light source. The suggestion to bounce the light off the sides may not work. But I wanted to emphasize that it's not the diffuser in and of itself that makes the soft light, it's the effective bigger light source. To put a bed sheet laying on your bulbs just eats light, it doesn't actually soften nearly as much as if you were to bring the bed sheet away from the light a little. You can see the hotspot on the sheet enlarge as you bring it away from the bulb. That hotspot is your effective light source.</p>

<p>You say you can't get 1/6oth from 2 lights. I would work the other way this time. What can you get? If 1/60th is too fast for your aperture and ISO either raise your ISO or add another light, maybe even bring a light from the background to the subject.</p>

<p>Dude, seriously. ISO up. Camera on tripod so you can turn shutter down if necessary (1/30). Cross your background lights so that the hot spot is in the middle, not to the sides. Background lights on the right hit just to the left of center. BG lights on the left hit just to the right of center.</p>

<p>You're probably over-thinking the "diffuse light" thing. With 2-3 lights on the subject, you kill the shadows and the harsh light thing goes away. Plus, you're photographing stuff, not people, so it's not like you need to flatter them. Get rid of the bed sheets over the lights while you figure out the other technical details. Later, if you want, you can decide to introduce light-modifiers (diffuser panels), but you can't let them impede your progress in the meantime.</p>

<p>Finally, aim your subject lights so that they are hitting the shadows, too, because you shouldn't have to live with gray shadows in front of the subject. Think of the little area around the subject as part of the subject, too. If you notice, you actually have shadows now that are coming from the background lights. The background is so bright that it creates shadows in front of the subject. You need enough light from the front on those shadows to get rid of them.</p>

<p>To get technical, one of the lights is your "key light", meaning it is the main source lighting your subject. The other light is the "fill light", meaning it fills in the shadows. If you think of them this way, it can help to position them correctly and get rid of shadows.</p>

<p>ok, i think i understand. i gotta remake my soft boxes so the sheet isn't so close to the light for one thing.</p>

<p>@hal b - i thought i was trying to stay away from pointing all the background light to one spot and instead try to even the light in the back. i'm with you on the getting rid of shadows, but it's a back and forth thing. i started to see that i could get rid of unwanted shadows in the front of the subject when i moved some of the background lights away from the center of the background. i guess there's just so much light bouncing off and hitting the subject. so you're saying i should compensate by adding more lights coming from the front to get rid of those shadows. </p>

<p>OK jae, you're heading in the right direction. Now you should try things out and make mistakes. Basically you're doing a crash course in lighting with a couple of instructors online (us). There's always more ways than one to skin a cat so to speak and we've told you a few ways.</p>

<p>Don't let too many people telling you different ways to do things confuse you, myself included. By aiming the lights differently you're making progress. You'll have to try different things and see what works for you and what doesn't. You may start a new thread with where you're at now and see what others have to say on improvements, starting fresh as it were.</p>

<p>A note on the Strobist links that have been provided. They are a great learning resource. Keep in mind that most all of the things in Strobist applies to constant lights as well as flash, don't let that one thing stop you if you don't have any strobes/speedlights. You have the added benefit of not having to worry about sync speeds with constant light (you won't need a sync cord, you won't need to sync the light with the camera, etc...)</p>

<p>Best of luck to you.<br>

Dan</p>

<p>Can't wait to see your progress when you get this worked out :)</p>