Originally Posted by shaolin95
Early in my career I did a lot of this type of product photography for the agencies I worked for in NYC. It is not hard to do but you do need to have the right studio setup and the right lighting. The key here is that you need to have sources for the reflective plastics that are under the computer. You can't always effectively use plexiglass or glass or even a conventional mirror for that matter. Many of those reflective sources are birefringent and will cause a ghosting image in the final image. You need a photographic mirror that does not have a double image and you should generally use some of the many highly reflective "non ghosting" plastics that are on the market which make for great reflections. Plexiglass is great at transilluminating subjects and when used as a very rich and intense color or in black for surface reflections.
The bool listed below, and any that he may have printed since then, are great ways to understand some of the complexities and subtlties that go into studio still life. Granted, much technical still life is done with a larger format camera (4X5, 5X7, and 8X10) but some can be easily be done with a 35mm/digital system.
I will post back an edit on this topic later tonight as I have an older book (which may or may not be in print still) which will get you started with this type of tabletop studio work. Your persistance to pursue professional outcome will be you biggest challenge. Desire and persistance, as Ben might agree, makes the differance in the outcome.
Originally Posted by benjikan
These shots are 95% post production in PS.
Yes Ben, today it's done that way much of the time. But remember when you actually had to shoot it that way and balance off all the light sources and films.
But, it can still be done right today without the computer.
Stephen
EDIT: The book that I referred to in the first comment is Secrets of Studio Still Life Photography. The author is Gary Perweiler. The book was originally published in 1984 (shows my age I guess
).... but, I can tell you that the quality of the images and lighting setups in the book meet or exceed the quality of the image the OP desired to do, on film/digital... right out of the camera. Good luck.