I have been trying my hand at product photography for the past few days. This involves setting an object on a large sheet of paper, or "seamless" and shooting with high intensity lights to make the background disappear. The problem is I don't have powerful lights, just a speedlite SB-800. This lime project has taken a little bit of Photoshop tweaking.
Here is the original image:
...and here is the final product, after replacing the dark background with white, cloning or healing out the nasty brown scrapes, and increasing saturation a few ticks to make a refreshing, juicy, tasty, fake ass lime:
If anyone would like to learn how to nerd out like this, shoot me an e-mail. I am also posting answers to general photo questions every Friday. If you think I can be of some help, send a message to erickrousephotography@gmail.com. Now go have a mojito.
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If you have less experience editing in PS (etc.) but would like to do product-style images, what lighting would you suggest to approximate it? I'm especially interested in neutralizing the background to whatever degree is possible. Are there any DIY solutions? Multiple angles/Fresnels/high wattage lamps/bounce...?
ReplyDeleteI would like a diagram of your lighting setup for this shot. Every time I try to do something like this, I get weird shadows or uneven illumination. Were you outside? Did you use lamps? Fluorescent, halogen, or tungsten light bulbs?
ReplyDeleteAlso, curious about tips on doing this with a point-and-shoot.
The best way to achieve these results without a bunch of photoshop jockeying is to have at least two lights, three if you can swing it. Aim one light down at a 45 degree angle on the subject, and have the other mostly illuminating the background paper. If you have three lights you can shine one from both the left and right sides at a downward angle, and devote the remaining light solely to the background. For ease of use, the Nikon Creative Lighting System may be the way to go. With this system, off camera flashes are remotely triggered by a "signal" flash. This can come from a shoe mounted unit, or from the camera's pop-up strobe, if available. This does get pricey, and depending on what you shoot the rest of the time, a proper studio setup may be in order. A couple of strobes and umbrellas can be had for about the same price or less than three Speedlights. Perhaps the easiest way to achieve this effect is with a light tent. It's a cube shaped structure made from soft box material that provides even illumination when just one strobe is fired through it. Happy shooting!
ReplyDeleteKat G: The lime shot was indoors. I have uploaded a terrible drawing of my setup. Click on View My Gallery, then Tablet Scribbles. The idea is to just flood the subject with light from as many angles as you can. With a point and shoot, try the built in flash first with all the reflectors in place. If that's too harsh you can deflect it with a piece of paper or a sticky note. If that doesn't work try bringing the seamless paper outdoors around noon, and don't worry about reflecting from the side, but keep your flash on. Good luck!
ReplyDelete