Single light small product photography tutorial

[johne]

Since there was a discussion about how to photograph your work here's a tutorial.

In this case i use:
- 4 pieces of styrofoam (about 50cm by 100cm) or 20 by 40 inches. You can use anything with a white surface
- A piece of paper (For the seamless background) About 40 inches wide and 50 inches long
- A single tungsten light source. You can use any kind of lamp, the brighter the better.
- something translucent and opaque to put on top of the construction to diffuse the light (an old sheet tacked to a frame for instance)

First i tape the paper to the piece of styrofoam and to the table so as to form the seamless background

Next i add two pieces of styrofam on each side to reflect light onto the subject. Then i put my translucent diffuser on top of the construction
and set up the lamp to light my "scene"

Now, if you have one use a tripod, if you don't then try to stabilize your camera as best as you can buy resting it on a table or something
set your camera to tungsten lighting for the correct white balance. Or if your camera can do this set the white balance manually by referencing your white background. (Check your camera manual for this)

take the shot

Not too bad but the circled area could use a fill light
Lets add one more piece of styrofoam as a reflector to brighten up the foreground

Take another shot

Not the best shot i ever took but not bad considering the setup.
This same technique can be used for larger objects. just scale components accordingly.
Just by bouncing light off white reflecting surfaces you can get easy nice looking shots.

Hope this helps.

 

[johne]

Another shot using the same setup

 

[Dan Clark]

John,

Excellent tutorial!  Since most of our pics are related to a product, it's use, a jig we create, or a work piece, this information has been lacking for a long time.  It shows the photographic quality that you can produce with a simple setup. 

When the Photographic section is created and the Photo Tutorial is moved, I'd like to add this topic to the overall tutorial with a link to this thread.  Sound OK to you?

Thanks,

Dan.

p.s. I know it's obvious, but...

;D

 

[johne]

Dan, sure if you want to use the tutorial be my guest. If i should add anything or if something is not clear just let me know

 

[Michael Kellough]

Thanks for the very clear tutorial johne. It's amazing what you can achieve with a single light. Many of us get stuck in the rut of only using a light stuck on top of the camera, with predictably poor results.

 

[nickao]

Thanks that is the exact type of info I wanted to see when suggesting a dedicated photography section.

Can that technique be used with a black background or different color background?

The picture I posted here I like, but I can not reproduce the results and the background may look better even more black with the object more bright. I think I have a better sample, I will post it if I find it.

Actually, the original picture does have a more black background and the item is brighter. Making the file smaller definitely changed it's look, darn it.

Nickao

 

[johne]

nickao,

You can use any color background you like. just experiment with colors, light position etc till you get something you like.

For this picture maybe a simple correction like this will do?
I would normally shoot something like this with the subject flat on a table or floor with the camera on tripod positioned straight above it.
Put the subject on something to elevate it off the background and use something like black velvet for background since this material absorbs
most of the light, giving you a solid black background.

You could also photograph it on a neutral background, cut it out in photoshop. Then put it in a new layer and add a solid black background to it.

 

[woodshopdemos]

Johne
  A great tutorial. For those people who are tempted toget and use more lights, I suggest you perfect Johne's single light approach. A second light doubles the problems. In video sets, sometimes you need more complex lighting since you cant use slow shutter speeds. I have had a table top of liquor and perfume bottles (Pan Am inlfight store) and have used 15 lights - one mini spot for each bottle. It took me and lighting guru 18 hours to light, for about 15 seconds of footage.  We started out with one light though and reflectors.

 

[johne]

This is a sample of isolating the subject in photoshop and changing backgrounds as you like

 

[nickao]

I like it! Any chance I can send you about 4000 pics to clean up!

 

[Ned]

About Nick's  Single_Saure_medallion_1:

I'd try something other than black for the background.  I'd use white.

Black isn't nearly as useful as you'd think.  I've got black paper, and every now and then my wife says "Let's try black" and we try it.  So far it's never been the choice we went with.  The only use I've had for it so far is off-camera, for light control.  Like everything else in photography, YMMV.

Ned

BTW, since a thread like this might have several images being discussed at the same time, I think a post should make clear which one the poster's talking about, as I've tried to do here.

 

[nickao]

This is a sample of isolating the subject in photoshop and changing backgrounds as you like

Yes, I remember I shot it flat on the floor in my shop sitting on a piece of black Formica sheet laminate.

I need to practice using the software to fix the pics, nice!

 

[nickao]

About Nick's  Single_Saure_medallion_1:

I'd try something other than black for the background.  I'd use white.

Black isn't nearly as useful as you'd think.  I've got black paper, and every now and then my wife says "Let's try black" and we try it.  So far it's never been the choice we went with.  The only use I've had for it so far is off-camera, for light control.  Like everything else in photography, YMMV.

Ned

BTW, since a thread like this might have several images being discussed at the same time, I think a post should make clear which one the poster's talking about, as I've tried to do here.

Ned I just love the way the Red Heart and Maple pops on the black background, everyone uses white! Actually out of over 4000 pics this is the only black background I have ever tried. I think for certain woods I like the Black background better, not from a photography point of view, but from what I like.

 

[Ned]

John's use of the gradient background is extremely effective, giving Nick his red popping without making the image as a whole too dark.

Pretty easy to spot the pro's work, isn't it?

Ned

P.S.  In celebration of my 1000th post since we moved from Yahoo, I've added the Chattering Teeth to my avatar rotation.  8)

 

[nickao]

John's use of the gradient background is extremely effective, giving Nick his red popping without making the image as a whole too dark.

Pretty easy to spot the pro's work, isn't it?

Ned

Yes I like the gradient background very much also!

Nickao

 

[johne]

Johne
  A great tutorial. For those people who are tempted toget and use more lights, I suggest you perfect Johne's single light approach. A second light doubles the problems. In video sets, sometimes you need more complex lighting since you cant use slow shutter speeds. I have had a table top of liquor and perfume bottles (Pan Am inlfight store) and have used 15 lights - one mini spot for each bottle. It took me and lighting guru 18 hours to light, for about 15 seconds of footage.  We started out with one light though and reflectors.

Sometimes you need more lights for effects like you mentioned and if done right you can get spectacular results especially with bottles etc.
the shots in the tutorial can of course also be done with multiple lights. The lights then can be used instead of the reflectors. There are no set rules for a lighting setup.
Experiment to see what suits you best.

 

[nickao]

Johne
  A great tutorial. For those people who are tempted toget and use more lights, I suggest you perfect Johne's single light approach. A second light doubles the problems. In video sets, sometimes you need more complex lighting since you cant use slow shutter speeds. I have had a table top of liquor and perfume bottles (Pan Am inlfight store) and have used 15 lights - one mini spot for each bottle. It took me and lighting guru 18 hours to light, for about 15 seconds of footage.  We started out with one light though and reflectors.

Sometimes you need more lights for effects like you mentioned and if done right you can get spectacular results especially with bottles etc.
the shots in the tutorial can of course also be done with multiple lights. The lights then can be used instead of the reflectors. There are no set rules for a lighting setup.
Experiment to see what suits you best.

johne I get what you are saying. But I have way to many projects and way to many things to do, so experimenting for days with lighting I just have no time for. While I write this I am in the shop working away, something I can not do with lighting and photography.

As many concrete examples you can give, like in this thread, I greatly appreciate. It saves me time on experimenting. I have been experimenting with the Festools and this forum so much  I have barely time to get my projects done! Maybe when I do not have to make a living making the pieces I can get full force into photography. I see their are entire books and college courses on lighting alone.

I think your setup below is about as complicated as I will ever get, of course that is just me others may want more. But at a certain point this forum needs to stay on  point as a Festool forum.

Thanks!

 

[johne]

Nickao, that's the reason i went with the simple one light set up and used some inexpensive readily available items like the styrofoam.
The main goal should be the woodwork. If you like this setup and you can use it to get better pics then I'm glad i could help.

 

[nickao]

Nickao, that's the reason i went with the simple one light set up and used some inexpensive readily available items like the styrofoam.
The main goal should be the woodwork. If you like this setup and you can use it to get better pics then I'm glad i could help.

Yes, it is going to be very helpful. Pictures are so much simpler to follow. Thanks you so much!

Nickao

 

[Michael Kellough]

Thanks that is the exact type of info I wanted to see when suggesting a dedicated photography section.

Can that technique be used with a black background or different color background?

The picture I posted here I like, but I can not reproduce the results and the background may look better even more black with the object more bright. I think I have a better sample, I will post it if I find it.

Actually, the original picture does have a more black background and the item is brighter. Making the file smaller definitely changed it's look, darn it.

Nickao

Nick, the classic classic copy stand setup would work well for flat stuff like this. Make it big enough for your largest piece and keep it setup in a corner or room. Actually in a corner might be bad if the closest wall bounces too much light back.