[ychousa]

Hello, I'd like to get your opinions specifically about lightings to take product pictures like these ones. What kind of lightings would have been used? I'm familiar with continuous lighting, but these ones look like strobes/flashes might have been used (I might be wrong:-) Can anyone guess the lighting that might have been used? Also, if some less expensive (around $200) but effective equipment recommendation? I would highly appreciate your opinions. Thank you!

Attached Images

     

[AquaDome]

Looks like a light box.

[enoeske]

Light tent with the white background dodged to white.

[EarlVonTapia]

I've taken similar shots, though not as nice (I use it mainly to take photos for buying and selling online, so I never need to make it super fancy)

Here's my setup.

https://instagram.com/p/i-JU37lX8P/

Here's the result

https://instagram.com/p/i9uDHnlX5U/

$10 of foam core at Walmart

any random manual flash. They can even be triggered via. the onboard flash, so you don't even need to purchase a trigger.

A yongnuo will set you back around $75.

Under $100 and you'll be good to go.

EDIT: I should add, with a little bit of practice, refinement, and post processing, you should be able to get similar results to your example photos.

[Na Horuk]

Yeah, these days you can just buy a little tent with lights and all, no need to piece it together yourself.
What you need are soft lights (diffused, reflected). If you use continuous lights, make sure they have a full spectrum (no missing wavelengths) and make sure their flickering will not interfere with the photos.
Or use flashes, umbrellas..
You would also need a background, which has to be a little farther away from the object (so shadows and stuff won't show up). Its a good idea to use the kind of background that seamlessly bends into the bottom base where you rest the product. And usually you want to use a separate light to equally light the background to pure white. Avoid patterns or something with uneven gloss, texture
Good idea to use a macro prime lens, like HD DA 35mm f2.8 macro or DFA 50mm f2.8 macro, but if you want to go cheap you can go with something as old as Pentax M 50mm f1.7 and it will be sharp enough. Macro lenses just give you that clinical, sharp look, and they let you take those closeups of fine detail.
Oh and get a tripod or some sort of base for your camera. Bonus points for remote trigger. Then simply use 2 sec timer, Av mode, ISO 100, f5.6 - f8 (or even bigger f-number for wider DoF. But if you go above f10 or so you will need extra sharpening. DoF should be wide enough to fit the whole object, but not any wider than necessary.)
A lot of these things you can do fairly cheap if you are clever and patient. Of course, if you want things done right, it will cost. This is why product photography is a business. Amazon even has a patent for "white background" product photos.

[CarlJF]

This really look like it was taken with a macro box, similar to that of ErlVonTapia. You should get a look at this How-To, which has a slightly different design, the flash being outside the box shooting through a diffuser: DIY 10$ Macro Photo Studio.

[normhead]

What we did in school was buy translucent paper and form it into cones with holes cut at appropriate places to the lens to peek through. Set up on a light table and you can achieve completely shadowless product shots..... without highlights... by experimenting with light placement.

[ychousa]

I've taken similar shots, though not as nice (I use it mainly to take photos for buying and selling online, so I never need to make it super fancy)

Here's my setup.

https://instagram.com/p/i-JU37lX8P/

Here's the result

https://instagram.com/p/i9uDHnlX5U/

$10 of foam core at Walmart

any random manual flash. They can even be triggered via. the onboard flash, so you don't even need to purchase a trigger.

A yongnuo will set you back around $75.

Under $100 and you'll be good to go.

EDIT: I should add, with a little bit of practice, refinement, and post processing, you should be able to get similar results to your example photos.

That is very impressive setup and shot. Right now, I'm helping a small company to set up the right equipment set, but I'll definitely try it for myself at home. About flashes, I need to buy 2 flashes, right? One attached to shoe mount and another to light the back panel, something like that? I've been using continuous lights only, so please bear with me

---------- Post added 03-26-15 at 02:48 PM ----------

Yeah, these days you can just buy a little tent with lights and all, no need to piece it together yourself.
What you need are soft lights (diffused, reflected). If you use continuous lights, make sure they have a full spectrum (no missing wavelengths) and make sure their flickering will not interfere with the photos.
Or use flashes, umbrellas..
You would also need a background, which has to be a little farther away from the object (so shadows and stuff won't show up). Its a good idea to use the kind of background that seamlessly bends into the bottom base where you rest the product. And usually you want to use a separate light to equally light the background to pure white. Avoid patterns or something with uneven gloss, texture
Good idea to use a macro prime lens, like HD DA 35mm f2.8 macro or DFA 50mm f2.8 macro, but if you want to go cheap you can go with something as old as Pentax M 50mm f1.7 and it will be sharp enough. Macro lenses just give you that clinical, sharp look, and they let you take those closeups of fine detail.
Oh and get a tripod or some sort of base for your camera. Bonus points for remote trigger. Then simply use 2 sec timer, Av mode, ISO 100, f5.6 - f8 (or even bigger f-number for wider DoF. But if you go above f10 or so you will need extra sharpening. DoF should be wide enough to fit the whole object, but not any wider than necessary.)
A lot of these things you can do fairly cheap if you are clever and patient. Of course, if you want things done right, it will cost. This is why product photography is a business. Amazon even has a patent for "white background" product photos.

Thank you so much for your great advice! That is really helpful-Do you think M 50 1.7 would be a better candidate for products shots than DA 50 f1.8? Just wondering because I'm getting both this week:-)

---------- Post added 03-26-15 at 02:49 PM ----------

This really look like it was taken with a macro box, similar to that of ErlVonTapia. You should get a look at this How-To, which has a slightly different design, the flash being outside the box shooting through a diffuser: DIY 10$ Macro Photo Studio.

I googled ErlVonTapia but nothing came up. Could you let me know what ErlVonTapia is? --->>> WOoooops. Sorry, ErlVonTapia. I missed your user ID! LOL

[EarlVonTapia]

I just use 1 light. In my setup, the light (with a diffuser) bounces around sufficiently in the tent to provide nice, even lighting.

You can use the built-in flash to trigger a manual flash in slave mode. Just be sure to get one of these:

SG-31R IR Panel for Built-In Flash from Nikon

You can get a cheaper version from ebay or amazon.

This prevents the built-in flash from adding light to the picture, while still being able to trigger the off-camera flash.

---------- Post added 03-26-15 at 01:53 PM ----------

I googled ErlVonTapia but nothing came up. Could you let me know what ErlVonTapia is?

Don't google that, you will release the kraken!

[Parallax]

You can't take photos like that. Amazon has a patent on product photos with no background.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/amazon-patents-technique-seamless-w...icle-1.1808939

[ychousa]

What we did in school was buy translucent paper and form it into cones with holes cut at appropriate places to the lens to peek through. Set up on a light table and you can achieve completely shadowless product shots..... without highlights... by experimenting with light placement.

That sounds very interesting. How did you guys light the item? I'm curious

Thanks for everyone's comments. Because I'm trying to achieve this task rather sooner, can anyone suggest a specific item with around $200 budget? I know that some Chinese lightboxes really suck and are waste of time and money.

---------- Post added 03-26-15 at 03:03 PM ----------

Don't google that, you will release the kraken!

LOL Sorry ErlVonTapia! I thought that was a brand name for an expensive lighting equipment! Haha

[Adam]

My setup is a little more pricey but I tend to prefer floodlights as they give me better control over the lighting without trial-and-error, and they can be moved around to create shadows if/as desired. A third floodlight can be used to fill in the remaining shadows, but I've found that the on-board flash works just as well for that purpose (in slow speed sync mode). These things generate an insane amount of heat and the bulbs burn out quickly (after a few hours of use), so that's another reason in favor of using 2 instead of 3 lights.

Impact Two-Light Digital Light Shed Kit - 24 x 24" DLS-XLK

Here's a sample image, with no PP:

[TaoMaas]

I agree with those who said it looks like a light tent. Just for future reference...if you look really closely at the highly reflective parts of a product in a photo, you can often see the lighting arrangement of the photographer...or at least get some really good hints as to what was used.

Edited to add: If you want to know what lighting arrangement was used, enlarge the closest corner of the first pic you posted. It looks like it's not a light tent, but a light directly over the lens with reflectors placed on either side and on top of the subject. The black sections that break up the white reflected areas are the studio.

[ychousa]

My setup is a little more pricey but I tend to prefer floodlights as they give me better control over the lighting without trial-and-error, and they can be moved around to create shadows if/as desired. A third floodlight can be used to fill in the remaining shadows, but I've found that the on-board flash works just as well for that purpose (in slow speed sync mode). These things generate an insane amount of heat and the bulbs burn out quickly (after a few hours of use), so that's another reason in favor of using 2 instead of 3 lights.

That's great shot, Adam. But if it emits heat, that would not be suitable in current condition. So, generally using a good softbox/light tent and some enough amount of light (whether continuous or not,) including the one that would light the back shadow are the keys?

[TaoMaas]

Here's a close-up. Do you see it? There's some kind of bank light (I would guess an LED arrangement of some sort) directly over the camera and reflectors on the side and over the top.

[IMG][/IMG]