Studio lighting newbie - advice for clothing shoot

[robert_meador]

I'm brand new to the world of studio lighting (though I've been

photographing for 30+ years), and I'm taking on a product shoot for an

ecommerce website. I'll be shooting around 100 clothing and accessory

items, both on-model and off. I plan to rent a studio space, lights

and accessories and use my D70 (shooting in Raw/NEF). I'm thinking of

shooting tethered so I can get a really good look at what I'm getting.

 

The model shots I expect I'll shoot in front of a white seamless, but

I could use some advice on light placement, softboxes/baffles,

relative power among them, etc - anything you can tell me will be helpful.

 

For the off-model shots, I've read about setting up an angled board

with the camera over it, sensor plane parallel to the board. Again,

advice on number & placement of lights, light treatment, power

settings, etc, would be of immense use.

 

If anyone has links to diagrams of different setups, or ideal setups

for particular situations - or a good book on studio lighting

technique - any of that would be very helpful.

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Bob

[brooks short]

Bob,

 

Take a look at the Lighting Themes which are archived in the Administration section of this Lighting forum. There are several themes which deal with product photography.

 

Shooting tethered to a computer is the best way to go for image preview and to check your lighting and exposure.

[michaelmowery]

Robert i will give you this tip. What out for morie. I would rent a higher megapixel camera to

help prevent this. When you shoot tethered open up the shot nice a big and look closely.

Ways to fix this is changing camera angle or distance placement or even changing lenses.

 

Michael

[james_osborne]

Bob,

 

My main concern is also your D70, don't get me wrong it is a great workhorse, however I was constantly frustrated using mine in the studio, since it only went down to ISO200, and that meant that my studio strobes were TWICE as powerful as they were 'intended' to be. Think about it.

 

I have recently moved up to a D200, with my D70 as a apare, and found it a joy in the studio.

 

I am certainly not saying that you can't get great shots with your D70, however I have a nasty feeling that if you go for close wraparound softbox lighting that most strobes will blow out your suject even at their lowest power setting.

 

Anyway good luck!

 

Jim

[robert_meador]

Would a neutral density filter be worth a shot to deal with the high ISO issue?