Light toned products on white backgrounds

[yukkauk]

Hi,

I'm in the process of migrating to a new online store for our fashion business, in the process we are reshooting all our products to give customers more angles of products in addition to definition Zoom function. We use light tents with a selection of 5.5k daylight bulbs to shoot our small products and generally the darker toned products come out very well, e.g:

http://www.iampimp.com/d_images//SKU16139-1.jpg
http://www.iampimp.com/d_images//SKU16139-3.jpg

Not to fussed about the lack of shadows as the above were not edited. However when it comes to shooting light toned products I have nothing but problems, e.g.

http://www.iampimp.com/d_images//SKU16142-5.jpg
http://www.iampimp.com/d_images//SKU16143-5.jpg

The above are a result of adjusting images using the curves function in photoshop CS.

I myself am a beginner in photography and have always struggle with light toned items, previusly resorting to using a black toned backdrop and then editing the image afterwards:

http://www.yukka.co.uk/sabz_020605/aka_white.jpg

But the edges are choppy and it is't really a solution for subjects with a combo or dark and white tones.

So how can I go about improving what I'm doing? At the mo I over expose images to produce a brilliant white background, but can't got too far until the product starts matching that of the background. I've experiment with WB, Exposure and lighting but I'm afraid this is as far as my knowledge presently takes me - Am I wrong to assume that other sort of other colour background is used in such instance?

Thanks for your help in advance,

Regards

Robby

[JCPhoto1]

What kind of camera and equipment are you using.

[yukkauk]

Hi,

We have three 30W 5.5k daylight bulbs, a light tent and have recently acquired a digital SLR (Nikon D100) - I appreciate the the lighting that I'm currently using is likely to be under powered to acheive the result I desire.

I understand that using a nuetral toned back drop such as grey along with light strobes set on the background and a light tent over the product may work......

Regards

Robby

[JCPhoto1]

You can use a white background but don't try to overexpose to get white. You'll just mess up the subjects exposure. You can try to throw more light on the background or even better makes sure you white balance correctly. The D100 should give you good predictable results. You can also try to shoot your pieces on top or in front of a frosted sheet of plastic and shoot some light up from below or from behind. I have been getting ready to experiment with a shooting table I built. I have a frosted piece of plastic used to diffuse flourescent lights. I'm going to use it as the table base and shoot a strobe up through it. I haven't tried it yet but hope for some success. What your trying is one of the hardest things to do in product photography. I'm not positive but I think it might have to do with the Inverse Law too. You have very little depth of field in macro/close up work and the light falloff might be why your not getting pure white backgrounds. I just know it works in portraiture and might be a factor for you.

[Packard]

First of all be glad you are shooting digital; what took months to learn on film can be learned in days using digital.

Caps: When you are shooting a light colored object against a white background the shadows are what separate the object from the background. So if you used one light from behind and above you would see a distinct shadow around the brim of the hat. If you add a second or third light you will kill that shadow and lose the separation. Try shooting with one light and perhaps a reflector to gently fill the shadow areas.

Even if you do this the crown of the hat will lose its separation from the white background. Is there a specific reason that you need to use a white background? Calumet (www.calumetphoto.com) sells graduated paper backgrounds. It starts with a color at one end of the sheet and gradually gets lighter until it is white. In that case you could have the darker color behind the hats and get a nice white in the foreground. The shadow will provide the needed separation for the brim.

In any case you need to get the following:

1. A note book. A loose leaf works well; I always used a grade school composition book.

2. Some 3 x 5 index cards.

3. A marking pen

Each time you shoot a set up sketch the set up in the note book. Include enough information that you can exactly duplicate the set up at a later date. That would include the light position, distance from the subject, the camera position, its distance from the subject, the focal length of the lens, the shooting mode, etc. Also assign an identifying number to the set up. I always used the date plus a letter: 8/12/02 A; 8/13/02 C, etc.

This book is your "recipe book".

When you take a test shot per the recipe book include a 3 x 5 card with the identifying number in the shot so you can correlate the recipe with the result.

Later on you can view your results in the computer and decide which you like best, what changes you want to try etc. And, since you have an exact recipe to duplicate the shot you will have no problem once you have come up with a satisfactory set up.

If you do not use a recipe book your learning curve will be dramatically more burdensome.

Also: Tents were designed for shooting shiny items like jewelry, flatware and glass beads, It kills the reflections and makes these shots much easier. It also diminishes textures and I believe that once you start to make real progress in your lighting that you will abandon the tent for your lighting.

Be patient; be systematic; be smart about your approach; ask questions if you get stuck. But the recipe book is by far the fastest way to learn on your own.

Good luck.