Rookie need help!

[ron_ongkowijoyo]

I have never done any studio photography before. I have some products that i

want to shoot without hiring professional people. so here's the breakdown... the

room is an office room lit with several neon lights (the long ones), I have

Nikon D40X with SB400 flash, the product is plastic pail (for decorative paints,

like a bucket).

 

The problems that i'm having is that these pails (mostly white in color) tends

to give me so much glare, i assumed it's because of the lights... Anyway, i need

to get this done very soon and hiring someone is not an option. Any help would

be greatly appreciated. What do i need to invest on? or maybe some simple tricks

you guys know to solve this problem.

 

Thanks so much in advance!

[b_christopher]

Some example images would be helpful in giving specific/accurate advice. Depending on how much time and willingness to learn, the answer can be as simple as purchaing a light tent, or experimenting with lights/reflectors/diffusion material. If you choose the latter, keep in mind one constant: angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection.

[mel_unruh]

Ron,

 

Your problem is that you need to soften the light. An inexpensive option is a big piece of foam core board. You can usually get this at any art supply store or frame shop. Your flash appears to have bounce capability. So, depending on whether you are shooting in a vertical or horizontal format, you simply have someone hold the foam core either above the camera or next to the camera and you aim the flash at the board. The board is angled to reflect the light towards your subject. You may want to have a second board near the pail to reflect the light back onto your subject to soften any shadows. You can cut cost even further if you have a white wall to bounce the flash off of. However, you will have a little more control with the foam core. Is this the best solution? No, professional equipment (soft boxes, etc) is way better. But, if you want a lot of bang for the buck, this is the $20.00 answer. Just remember, the bigger the board = the softer the light = better light.

 

Good luck

 

Mel Unruh

[hughes]

Ron

 

the very easiest solution is taking the object outside. Subject to the right conditions I'm looking outside right now and it's perfect thick clouds and great diffused light you could use a few white boards from an art shop and your done, maybe a little fill flash to add some sparkle but the best and easiest just the available light simple simple simple

here's a shot for Ebay not fine art but very simple lighting

Steve<div></div>

[scottconners]

Does the room have a window? Window light can be great diffuse light ot use for something like this.

 

Beyond that, bounce flash is going to be your best option. Unfortunately, mixing flash with fluorescents will cause some weird color cast issues. Either shoot with as few of them turned on as possible, or completely off and use a table lamp or something for focus and composition, and use your highest shutter sync speed to keep the flash the main light.

 

Try bouncing off the ceiling if it's not too far away and white, or you can use foamcore or anything else light colored to bounce off of, as long as it's relatively matte finished.

 

A slightly more expensive option is to buy a light tent. These soften the light on the object by surrounding it with diffusion material, and you use light from outside the tent. You could use ambient light (fluorescents), or flash, but you'd probably need a TTL off camera cord to do so - thew SC-28 or similar to position your speedlight outside the tent. I think a tent would be better with more unified lighting though, such as the office fluorescents or a 2+ inexpensive hotlights (hardware store floodlights).

 

An example of what you are trying to achieve or your best results so far and what you don't like about them woudl help us give better advice as well.

[shootme]

For your case I recommend you take it outside. If it?s an overcast day you may get away shooting without any light modification.

If its sunny then you have to place a white diffusion clothe on top of the products. The glare problem is most likely due to the placement of your lights relative to the lens, so remember to block light from the front of your lens if it?s coming at a wide angle relative to the lens axis.

 

Since you will have the light coming from above then block it by placing a black or dark piece of paper in front of your lens.

 

Remember that reflective objects reflect things around them. You can use this to give depth to the objects by using black or white pieces of paper or other similar material, depending on the color of the object.

For example , if you have a white object and you are shooting on a white background, you may use two pieces of black paper positioned at both sides of your object to create a darker area at the sides of your product, that in addition to give it shape will separate it from the background giving a better 3d look.

 

Use a tripod if you have one.