Close-Up Product Shots??

Hello All!

I am the proud owner of a new D5100 with the 18-55mm kit lens. Besides plenty of planned personal use, this camera will be used extensively for close-up product shots for online sales. Any help you can offer would be much appreciated.

I have just 2 questions for now:

1. What type of lens would be best for close-up product photography to minimize
distortion and maximize detail?
2. I've always used "daylight" type compact fluorescent lights to illuminate products with my old Casio EXP-600 digital. With the Casio, selecting one of the fluorescent white balance choices gave me very good color rendition in most cases. Doing the same with my
D5100 isn't providing good results for light cream-colored items like plates, figurines,
etc. Instead, no matter what white balance I choose, it comes out bright white or
yellowish. I tried a fluorescent filter, but images looked purple!! And, when set for complete auto the items are over-exposed despite my using the same amount of lighting I've always used before with the Casio. I'm perplexed! Any ideas?

JA Warrior said:

1. What type of lens would be best for close-up product photography to minimize
distortion and maximize detail?

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In general you'd want a Macro lens. Most lenses can do a certain degree of macro focusing so it's really a matter of how much macro you need and/or are willing to pay for. One good example is the Nikon AF-S 40mm f/2.8G. If you don't want to spend that much for a dedicated lens you can get a reversing ring (link goes to amazon) for less than $10. This ring allows you to mount your lens backwards and use it for macro photography.

JA Warrior said:

2. ... Instead, no matter what white balance I choose, it comes out bright white or yellowish. I tried a fluorescent filter, but images looked purple!!

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The white balance issue is a little trickier but there are a few options. First, I'm assuming you're shooting in JPG, correct? If so, you could change your lighting or stop shooting JPG's and start shooting RAW, which will make the white balance issue much easier to correct. You don't mention what you're using to edit your photo's with but if you have access to Lightroom or Photoshop it would be easy-peasy. I'm not sure how well View NX2 will correct white balance but I think the cheapest, easiest solution would be to shoot in RAW, and do some post processing; either with View NX2 or IRFanview or another free application.

Thanks for the insight!:encouragement: I was still using the same lighting because of how well it had worked with the Casio. I found I didn't have to edit the colors nearly as much as I did with incandescent bulbs. I'll try them, or warm fluorescent, with this Nikon, though, to see if color rendition gets better.

BTW, yes I have been doing jpegs. I've never worked with raw files before, but will also give that a try. I have always used Photoshop Elements for editing. I also have View NX2 installed, but haven't tried it.

I did some checking of buyer reviews for the reversing ring. Based on their comments and uploaded photos it seems the ring would mainly be for extreme close-ups of very small things, right? I would be doing close-ups of things from small figurines, such as Precious Moments, on up to much larger size items. My 18-55mm kit lens frames the items well, but I still see distortion such as two candlesticks, side-by-side, appearing to be tipping away from each other - as if on slanted surfaces.

JA Warrior said:

My 18-55mm kit lens frames the items well, but I still see distortion such as two candlesticks, side-by-side, appearing to be tipping away from each other - as if on slanted surfaces.

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Sounds like you are using to wide of a setting on the 18-55. Try increasing your distance to the subject and shooting closer to the 55 end of the lens.




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I have two suggestions. Firstly the Tamron 90mm macro is rated optically as good a the Nikon in many reviews and my wife has one so I can confirm it is a good lens, but half the price of a Nikon.

If you're after true colour, use raw as suggested and get an xrite colour checker passport. This will allow you to set white balance on the camera before you shoot, or in Lightroom after the event which is fine for raw files. It will also allow you to take a colour profile shot so your colours will be exactly as seen. I've started using one recently and it's fantastic for setting an accurate starting point on your images. You can obviously still adjust settings from the if you wish to. I find the corrected colours have a bit more pop.

Thanks, jwstl! I will increase the distance and see. The ideal for me would to be able to frame the item so that a minimum of editing, or none at all, would be needed (ie. color adjustment, cropping, etc.).

Thank you, Geoff. I went on Amazon and viewed about 200 photos from buyers of that Tamron, and it DOES look like the kind of lens I need! Unfortunately, I'll have to save my pennies - even at the Tamron's lower price point of about $450.

So, for now, I'll have to take the advice of jwstl and use more of the 55mm end of the lens and rely on cropping for framing the subject.

I appreciate the problem, nothing in this hobby is cheap. When you eventually save up and get a macro lens you will be surprised at the difference. I remember some years ago trying to explain to my wife why a 90mm macro yielded a much bigger image than a 300mm zoom. One quick demo and she was sold on it.

Geoff,

I have been reading a lot of good things about the very reasonably priced Nikon 35mm f1.8G AF-S DX lens. With regard to product shots where the size is about 6 inches high, would this lens have low distortion at a distance of about 3 ft. from the subject? Specifically, if two of these 6" items stood side by side would this lens make them appear to be tipping away from each other? What is that effect called?

That is the specific problem I had with my old Casio EXP-600 that I want to get away from. Even the Photoshop Elements camera distortion fix doesn't cure it and, even if it did, that's much too time-consuming when you have hundreds of shots to edit.

JA

As far as the oldies go you might look into a Micro-Nikkor 55/3.5. One of Nikon's heavy hitters...

JA Warrior said:

Geoff,

I have been reading a lot of good things about the very reasonably priced Nikon 35mm f1.8G AF-S DX lens. With regard to product shots where the size is about 6 inches high, would this lens have low distortion at a distance of about 3 ft. from the subject? Specifically, if two of these 6" items stood side by side would this lens make them appear to be tipping away from each other? What is that effect called?

That is the specific problem I had with my old Casio EXP-600 that I want to get away from. Even the Photoshop Elements camera distortion fix doesn't cure it and, even if it did, that's much too time-consuming when you have hundreds of shots to edit.

JA

Click to expand...

The 35mm is a very good lens for the money, although still not a macro. I'm not sure if the distortion you are referring to is because you are using the edge of the lens or the angle of the camera. The latter is a converging verticals effect like you get with tall buildings. I've never noticed it with small stuff but then again I've never really looked. Maybe someone else can reply if they are more familiar with that issue.