Product photography help

[jorgemonkey]

I need to take pictures of about 30-40 different objects, all are shiny metal objects about this size. What would be the best (or actually the cheapest) way to light these? They are going to be used for a web store with a white background. This picture was taken to show what the products are using a Nikon D70 & an SB600. I work in a warehouse as well as doing some of the product photography for items we sell. I have access to a few small watt lights (aka 5-6 60-70 watt houselights) to use, as well as some white foamcore board to use as a background. I can get all the other product stuff, but these shiny objects are the biggest hurdle I've come up against!

[Trevor Ash]

Use the white foamcore as the background. But what you'll want to learn to do is to use black or white foamcore in the reflection so that you have a smooth tone to the object. In other wods, pretend it's a mirror and fill the mirror completely with the tone of your choice (black or white foamcore). You'll need to angle everything so that the camera see's the black faomcore through the reflection of the object.

If you want it to look more "silvery" use white. Adjusting the cameras exposure also make a huge difference in appearance so play with that too.

It's easier to do than to describe! sorry. You may need some fairly large foamcore depending on the focal length of the lens and distance from camera/subject. Use the longest lens possible to help.Use

[another view]

Like Trevor says, it doesn't take a lot of fancy stuff to get good results. It's hard for me to tell how big the object is, but foam core comes in sheets about 32"x40", and should be available at a craft store. Foam core will be easiest to work with because it's stiff. Just keep moving things around and watching the effect these changes have on the object.

Since you're using a D70, are you familiar with shooting RAW (.NEF files)? I'd probably do it that way but it isn't really necessary - jpeg will work fine if you do a custom white balance and make sure your exposure is right on. Since there will be a lot of white in the shot, you'll need exposure compensation of about +1 to +1-1/2, but use the histogram to make sure you've got what you want.

[jorgemonkey]

The objects vary in size from 1/2" to about 2". I have either a 28-70 lens (That photo was taken with that lens @70mm) I also have a 70-200, and soon a macro lens for the smaller objects. I've got white foamcore board that I'll use since I want a more silvery object. I'd love to use the NEF files, but I don't have capture on my computer at work, but I'll be bringing in the plugin for PS on tues. I mostly shoot sports/nature type stuff.

I'll try out these tips and see what else I can get. Thanks!

[Photo-John]

You'll probably want to shoot them at a bit of an angle to make sure you and the camera aren't reflected in the objects. I have a big black card and a reflector that I use to eliminate reflections and glare in the studio.

For the NEF files, you can get BreezeBrowser for the office. It's a very good, and inexpensive RAW conversion software package. I have CS2 and I usually use it for RAW conversions. But I have BreezeBrowser on my laptop and at the office and I don't mind using it one bit.

[raven1234]

You know what... you can use a mirror... use it to reflect the image of the object . Place the background card in the back and shoot through a hole of the background card. ^.^