Product photography. Please help!

Hi Everyone,

I have been struggling for a while now to make a good setup to register items for my portfolio (i am a graphic designer.) It has really been difficult to get it right. I keep feeling that i don't have enough light. My latest setup consists of:

2x100 W 6400K CFL's on the right side (in two soft boxes)
2x85 W 6400K CFL's in the middle and,
4x85 W 6400K CFL's in a big softbox on the left.
Some white deflectors and a grey backdrop

I'm using a Nikon D200 SLR with a Tokina AT-X 100mm f/2.8 PRO D Macro Lens and a Nikon 50mm f/1.4 on a tripod. I shoot manual mode at ISO100, and around aperture 11-16 to get everything sharp. Shutter times are not too long. I use Sofortbild and Photoshop CS4 on a USB connected mac to control the shoot.

In spite of all my efforts, the result still comes out a bit unsharp. I can't say that i'm happy at all. I have to register 3 years of work, and therefore i would like avoid big amounts of retouch.

I have included an image with the setup and zooms of the result.

I hope someone can give me a few pointers to get it better. This is as far my amateur knowledge gets me. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Regards Kalle

http://www.kallegraverholt.com/setup.jpg

Well, I don't have a lot of experiecne with copy work, but I do have a few observations, so I'll share.

One, you have plenty of light. If you're working with a tripod, and assuming there isn't hurricane force wind in your studio, there's no reason you can't slow your shutter speed down to whatever it takes to get a good bright exposure.

Second, the sharpest f-stop for a lens is usually not at either end of the aperture "spectrum", but somewhere around f/8. So, I would use that and set my shutter speed accordingly.

Finally, serious copy work requires what's called a "flat field" lens. A very specialized piece of gear. This is very different from a "macro" lens. It is meant to give the best results focusing on a single flat plane, and is meant to correct distortions present in more conventional lenses. Any other type of lens is going to be a compromise, and will not be as sharp across the entire image.

So, it may be worth your while to try to borrow or rent a flat-field lens, or you may just want to try to use more correct lens settings and see if you get better results. You may also want to check into tips for sharpening flat copy work in photoshop, as all digital images are a bit unsharp out of the camera.

Hope that helps. Good luck...

I see also you are shooting at an angle.
That's not going to help because you don't have a very large depth of focus, and if you stop down the lens to f/22 then it gets less sharp because of diffraction.

Normally for making a photographic record copy, you would shoot from straight on - perpendicular to the subject not at an angle.

Maybe your tripod has an adjustable centre column so you can put the camera out as if it was on a boom and shoot vertically - but the problem with that is it may be unstable enough to fall over. Hang a weight from the centre column to hold it steady if necessary

Or use a more traditional copy stand, like an enlarger stand, that has no legs to obscure the light, and illuminate from the sides at 45 degrees to minimise reflections.


If you are shooting like this because you want the perspective, then you will benefit from a tilt/shift lens to keep everything in focus. Rental is perhaps more practical than $1500 or so for a new lens.

Hi guys,

TY for your quick response! I don't think that flat-field or tilt/shift lenses are an option, because i have a tight budget im afraid. I found part of the problem anyways from another forum. It seems that the mirror movement was enough to vibrate the camera even though it was fixed to the tripod and remotely fired. I will have to look into getting a better one. I tried doing some shots with the mirror up, and it helped remarkably. Not perfect though. I might want to try to go more perpendicular even though it can take out some of the dynamics of the photo (in my opinion). I will keep you updated.

Now I look again, I should have mentioned the tripod.
It has a hook on to suspend a weight from the centre column for more stability.
I thought it was a decent sturdy one, seems I underestimated it.

No expert, but I too think the main problem is not shooting vertically, so that the lens and subject are on the same plane. One of those field lenses might help but you'll also get better results by getting the subject and lens on the same plane.

Better focus, but not better results, artistically ?