Portable Photo Studio - I am impressed

[1step]

Yes have to crop them. Will move product up. Have some super white paper will try that. Thanks!

What about white Tshirt, cut up? I have read this is a good side diffuser

 

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[CommonCents]

Just looked at my samsung note2 phone cam settings, a million of em. Do phone cameras have F-stop settings or apps that could adjust the depth of field?

Products always look better when adjusting depth of field to keep product in sharp focus and fade out the background a bit. The product really jumps off the screen.

A friend has used high school/college/vocational/arts schools to get some photography interns to do shots free for their portfolio. They do just as good of work as you need. They are probably photoshop whizzes as well or I'm sure you could find an expert on Fiverr to do any photoshop work.

That goes for video/voice-overs too. Local schools have great young talent that will work for free or very little to build their portfolio. Even many municpalities have free studios and high end equipment they let residents use. (ie studios for community public cable broadcasts, recording/broadcasting city council meetings etc..)

 

[JasonR]

Products always look better when adjusting depth of field to keep product in sharp focus and fade out the background a bit. The product really jumps off the screen.

Not in my experience they don't. I have a bunch of product shots where the product fades out. It's a NIGHTMARE to crop on white, and looks awful to boot. I like my products in focus, and sharp.

 

[CommonCents]

the purpose is to keep the subject(product) in focus and fade out the rest so the subject stands out.

Not in my experience they don't. I have a bunch of product shots where the product fades out. It's a NIGHTMARE to crop on white, and looks awful to boot. I like my products in focus, and sharp.

 

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[JasonR]

the purpose is to keep the subject(product) in focus and fade out the rest so the subject stands out.

Example? You usually end up cropping out the background 90% of the time.

 

[GPM]

You guys that are using your phone cameras are crazy. You can get an old used Canon 40D with a lens for about $500 that will take absolutely stunning pictures. That was my old camera and you would not believe the pictures it takes.

Go to an older 30D and you can get that with a lens for probably $250-300 easily now.

A dSLR camera will take infinitely nicer pictures than point-and-shoot or cellphone ever will.

 

[CommonCents]

the shot of the watch above, fades out to the back of the watch and the tag.

Example? You usually end up cropping out the background 90% of the time.

 

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[Vigilante]

My wife has an awesome super high end SLR camera.

However, what I am experimenting with is if you can accomplish website grade, high res images with an iPhone 5 and a cheap light box. I realize there are all kinds of things you could do differently. It's just a test. There was a post on the forum a few months back (maybe from Biophase?) that showed a photo shot in proper lighting with an iPhone. It was gorgeous.

So... the list of what I could buy to make it more and more professional is not necessarily what my primary objective is.

 

[JasonR]

Yes - it's all about the lighting. The iPhone can capture some amazing shots with the right lighting. And it's more than hi-res enough to use for web.

Now if I can only get strobes to flash with the iPhone shutter....haha.

 

[biophase]

Here's one product shot: View attachment 4748
My color is a little off. No post picture editing has been done

David,

Replace that cloth on the background with white paper. Get yourself a long sheet and lay it the exact same way as your cloth background.

You need to up the lighting. Get more lights shooting in from the sides.

In your photos the background should be all white with no lines. You can post process that by increasing brightness and contrast.

 

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[nzerinto]

David,

Replace that cloth on the background with white paper. Get yourself a long sheet and lay it the exact same way as your cloth background.

You need to up the lighting. Get more lights shooting in from the sides.

In your photos the background should be all white with no lines. You can post process that by increasing brightness and contrast.

If this is a standard lightbox tent, you should be able to remove the fabric that runs from the top/back of the box to the front/bottom, and give it an iron to remove the creases. If its that "plasticy" material you may need to iron it between 2 towels (to prevent it from melting), but that should get rid of any creases.

Based on that photo though, your tent is too small for the necklace display, because you need to set it much closer to the front of the tent, allowing the backdrop to "sag" from the roof of the tent.

As Biophase said, lighting is everything. You don't need fancy ones from a lighting/camera store either - just pick up standard desk lamps, but make sure you use "daylight" bulbs. They have a very "white" light that works well with product photography.

The only other key point - double check your "white balance" settings on your camera, if you have it. Can make a HUGE difference.

 

[CEBenz]

What would be required to build a light box?

 

[nitrousflame]

What would be required to build a light box?

Come on man, did you read the thread? :smash:

Literally all you need for a basic setup is the following: lights, wax paper or white t-shirt cloth, poster board and cardboard.


Wiki-How: How to make an inexpensive lightbox

[video=youtube_share;EAVLO3pGNdk]http://youtu.be/EAVLO3pGNdk[/video]

[video=youtube_share;mNxBGXTbdXE]http://youtu.be/mNxBGXTbdXE[/video]

Hundreds of other ideas

 

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[JAJT]

Here are 4 photos from my first shots on my DIY ghetto-setup.

The yellow ones are how they first came out. The whiter, better ones are when I adjusted the white balance on my camera to tungsten (indoor) lighting.

Used a Nikon D5000 with no photo retouching. I need to work on the lighting to eliminate some of the shadows but this was after literally 3 minutes of work.

(Please note these are one of my son's toys, not something I am selling, although I do admit a car that turns into a dinosaur kicks a$$)

 

[GPM]

I did not end up having time to make my photobox last night as I picked up my girlfriend after and printed some more shipping labels – PayPal labels may be convenient and cheaper but they are not very speedy.

Here are my supplies and costs
2x Clamp lights - $26.67 (I got 20% off because I asked for the ones with cosmetic blemishes, still ended up more expensive than American versions)
2x White CFL – Had them sitting round the house, probably $5
1x Cardboard box – Free
2x Dollar store white pillow cases for light diffusers - $4.20
3x White Bristol board sheets - $2.10
1x Spring Clamp set (large set on sale, will be handy for tons of stuff) - $17.84

All in I am looking at $55.81. I only needed a few spring clamps that cost about $2 each, but there was a large set on sale that came with those large squeeze clamps as well which are excellent when gluing wood and other materials, I use these all the time so sprung for the larger set.

I am going to be cutting the sides out of my box and attaching the pillow cases to the holes to act as a diffuser. I saw on the internet you can use the clamps to hold the Bristol board in place, or to hold fishing string on a stick above the box – that way you can suspend your objects depending on the angle or way you want your object to be placed.

I can’t wait to get home from my “day job” and set all this up. Pictures to follow

 

[CEBenz]

Come on man, did you read the thread? :smash:

Literally all you need for a basic setup is the following: lights, wax paper or white t-shirt cloth, poster board and cardboard.


Wiki-How: How to make an inexpensive lightbox

[video=youtube_share;EAVLO3pGNdk]http://youtu.be/EAVLO3pGNdk[/video]

[video=youtube_share;mNxBGXTbdXE]http://youtu.be/mNxBGXTbdXE[/video]

Hundreds of other ideas

I wanted to make sure I was tracking right. The PVC arrangement isn't a bad idea. Thanks for the patience. I'm a bit under the weather.

 

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[DavidofMN]

So I changed my camera settings, lighting and used a white paper background.


Setup:
Necklace on right was first attempt, necklace on left with white paper.
Earrings on left first attempt, earrings on right with white paper.
Still need to adjust a few little things but definitely. much better looking.
How do they look?

 

[CEBenz]

So I changed my camera settings, lighting and used a white paper background.
View attachment 4761
View attachment 4762
Setup:View attachment 4763
Necklace on right was first attempt, necklace on left with white paper.
Earrings on left first attempt, earrings on right with white paper.
Still need to adjust a few little things but definitely. much better looking.
How do they look?

White earring photo looks mostly good but focus seems off. Hard to tell on an iPhone though.

 

[JAJT]

Dave - Much, much better!

Did my walkthrough on white balance help or did you actually use totally different bulbs?

 

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[DavidofMN]

White earring photo looks mostly good but focus seems off. Hard to tell on an iPhone though.

I was hand holding it so I was a little shakey - I'd use a stand for the real one.

Dave - Much, much better!

Did my walkthrough on white balance help or did you actually use totally different bulbs?

Yes it did help and I used different bulbs. They both made it better. Thanks.

 

[JAJT]

FYI for anyone using a DSLR and are new to photography:

If you are having issues with the back of your product being out of focus (see the far horn of my child's toy, or the far end of Dave's earring) this may be a result of the aperture (f-stop) being too open. A super wide-open aperture will obviously let more light in but it also shortens the depth of field.

Being super-close to your object is also a factor.

For example, an easy way to get this effect would be to get as close as possible to the child and open your aperture as wide as it can go.

If you are having focus issues, try closing up the aperture a bit. If brightness is an issue (as in, closing the aperture has made your subject darker than you'd like) you can use a tripod and lengthen exposure time (shutter speed) or perhaps increase your ISO number to make the camera more sensitive to light (generally speaking though, you want the lowest ISO number when possible - image noise increases as that number increases)

 

[CEBenz]

I was hand holding it so I was a little shakey - I'd use a stand for the real one.

Ok. Makes sense.

 

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[Milkanic]

Along with whatt JAJT mentioned, I'd experiment with setting your camera to aperture priory mode (the A on the settings wheel) with and f-stop of around 11 to get everything in focus. To get a blury background effect, set it as low as possible (f/2).

David, on your earning photographs, lock the focus on the large blue portion and re-position the shot to fill the frame.

Using Focus Lock on Your Autofocus Camera - For Dummies
Aperture Priority and Shutter Priority: Exposure Lesson #1
How to Take Better Product Photographs for Free: 17 steps

 

[nitrousflame]

Necklace on right was first attempt, necklace on left with white paper.
Earrings on left first attempt, earrings on right with white paper.
Still need to adjust a few little things but definitely. much better looking.
How do they look?

Lookin good! Those stands/umbrellas look similar to what I have. How are you attaching the lights to those stands? Are those just plain Edison bases for the bulbs? Also, it doesn't look like you have reflectors on the outside of those umbrellas so you're losing a lot of light through them. Have you tried turning the umbrellas around and shooting through them?

For example, an easy way to get this effect would be to get as close as possible to the child and open your aperture as wide as it can go.

 

[JAJT]

I just thought of this and figured I'd post it here for a general photography tip.

If you own a DSLR and only use the kit lens that came with it (probably a F3.5 lens with a zoom of 18-55mm or 18-200mm or similar) you may have noticed it's a total pain in the a$$ to get good indoor / night time / party shots. If you take a lot of these kinds of low-light photos and are frustrated with all the blur I would highly, highly recommend getting something like an 50mm F1.4 lens (no zoom).

Right now I'm literally the only person in my social group whose shots turn out at parties, wedding receptions, nighttime bashes, etc... because this thing lets in four times more light than the F3.5 everyone else is running around with. Also, if people are zooming in with their fancy zoom lenses they are likely restricted to F5.6 which lets in 16 times less light than the F1.4.

You are restricted with not having zoom, obviously, but if you are "the photo guy" of your family and friend group and take a lot of these kinds of shots, it is a god send. Easily one of my favorite purchases ever.

 

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[GPM]

One note I would like to add to all the tips. If you are specifically looking to blur out the background but do not have a lens that can go below say f4, there are other ways to get the same “portrait” look. Back away from your subject and zoom in more, that will force the background to blur while your subject remains sharp.

For instance, I have a lens that only goes to F4 across the range of zoom, in order to get good portrait shots I have to back up an additional 5-10 feet from the subject than I normally would and I zoom in to have the subject fill the lens. While this does not let in the additional light that using a lower F stop number would give you, it does create the same effect.

 

[GPM]

Here we go, these are some sample shots that I just took. I tinkered with the white balance using the temperature adjustment, never really done this before and my monitor is not calibrated properly so I just quickly picked one that looked fairly white.

 

[CEBenz]

Blackkramer, do you use a macro lens at all?

 

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[GPM]

I do not have a macro lens so I back up and zoom in, not sure if the results are as good but it works well enough. Maybe later I can post a few insect pictures that I took with a 200mm lens (1.6 sensor conversion, equal to a 320mm lens) from about 4 feet away, they look pretty close to macro shots.

 

[million$$$smile]

Just ordered the stuff on Ebay.
Vig, they oughta be payin' you a little kickback :coolgleamA:

Can't wait. I've always just pointed and clicked (and it sure shows) but I've got product images I desperately need to update on my websites. I think I still got one of myself on there when I was sportin' hair down to the middle of my back. Think I was modeling some suspenders...
Anyhow, glad I finally got to this thread.

Randall