| Photography Forum: Photography Help Forum: |
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Q. Studio lighting????
Asked by R Pike
(K=1242) on 12/4/2005
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I am relatively new to studio photography and am looking to set up a small-ish studio mainly for product photography and some portraiture. I have had a look at some strobe lighting and have a small idea of what i need but was wondering if anyone had any advice for me about what i should purchase. The picture attached is mostly the kind of things i will be shooting. Any advice would be much appreciated.
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Jeff Green
(K=154) - Comment Date 12/8/2005
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where's the pic? hahaha
some 'ghetto' studios usualy include one umbrella with a decent flash attached (60w/s or higher OR vivi 285/ sunpak 544's etc), a flash with a radio slave or a peanut slave for behind the subject (eliminate shawdows) and a few cheap reflectors to fill in and change up the effect youre going for.
You dont need to spend a lot for great results, as some may tell you, but going with stobes is a good idea with the budget in mind.
You'll definately need a background (wall painted semi-matt or a canvas of sorts) and some space.
Also, some people have been getting great work out of hanging the flash on the ceiling... they took an old vivi 283 and glued it to their cieling to shoot behind - not as effective for rimlighting, but also a good idea.
as for the set up - set your model a few feet away from the background, have the the strobe with umbrella no more than 10 feet away off to the side a bit (or more depending on how much of an effect you want), then put the other flash pointing agaisnt the wall to get rid of the nasty shadow. On the opposite side of your umbrella, put up a reflector just out of frame - gold works really well with some colors, but play with it, its the cheap stuff.
As for the type of umbrella, dont get a shoot through - theyre good for wedding photography and thats about it. The umbrella is also a lot better the softbox IMO.
.. and a nice model always helps.
hope this helps
- jeff
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Ivana Ivanova
(K=33) - Comment Date 1/29/2006
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Hi, there!
I'm 24, and I'm doing photography for 11 years alredy. I just graduated commercial and artistic photography degree in the UNI.
If you want to be prepared for shooting a lot of different things (although it will me mainly table top) you have to be well equipt.
First of all you need to have more that one studio flash (check brands like Broncolor (they r the best in my oppinion), Henzel, Visatech). U'll need a softbox for sure (u'll use it a lot more that the umbrella), a standart reflector and maybe a spot.
Check these brands. Also check some books about table top studio photography!
If u have any ?s, don't hesitate to ask!
Greetings from BG!
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Phillip Cohen
(K=10561) - Comment Date 1/30/2006
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Ryan, shooting table top product photographs is fairly involved and requires many different types of lighting depending upon the type of product and style of lighting the client wants. Typically it takes several difused light sources, some point source lights, reflectors, scrims etc.. to get the desired look. You cannot arbitrarilly say use this or use that without first seeing what the job is.
If you really are serious about shooting product photography, you should get the Finelight series of video tapes by Dean Collins. He was the master of lighting and you can learn pretty much everything you need from looking at his tapes. In particular get his 3D lighting tape first, it will teach you the theory behind lighting and show the various effects each light source has.
Below is a photo that I took for a client using several lighting sources. No Photoshop involved in this image other then cropping and a little level correction, what you see is right out of the camera.
If you would like take a look at some of the product images on my web site to see various lighting styles. http://www.pwcphoto.com/Product_Photography.htm The key with product photography is to make everyday items look good, some are easier then others. The items in the attachment below are about as boring as you can get, but with proper lighting you can make anything look good.
If you have any other question feel free to post back.
Phil
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Desicant Products - Client: Sud Chemie
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