New Member – Learning Product Photography and Looking for Lighting Advice

[LUMENIX]

Hi folks,

I figured it was time to stop lurking and actually introduce myself. My name is Phil and I’ve been getting more serious about photography lately and right now I’m mainly focusing on product photography.

Most of what I’m interested in working on is small tabletop stuff. Things like guitar effects pedals, small kitchen products, various types of packaged items, that sort of thing. I’m trying to get to the point where I can consistently shoot clean commercial quality product photos. Eventually I want to start learning food photography as well.

I’m still very much in the learning phase and trying to really understand the fundamentals. Exposure, depth of field, lighting, reflections, all the things that make product shots look clean instead of amateur.

My current gear setup is:

Camera: Nikon D5300
Nikon 40mm Micro-Nikkor f/2.8
Sigma 105mm f/2.8 Macro
Nikon 18-55 kit lens

Most of my shooting right now is tripod-based tabletop setups while I experiment with lighting and camera settings.

Speaking of lighting, that’s probably the area I’m trying to improve the most right now. If anyone here has recommendations for solid but reasonably affordable lighting for product photography, I’d really love to hear what’s worked for you. Right now I’m using some cheap lighting that’s pretty amateurish that I got from Amazon.

So I’m curious - If you were starting over today and wanted a good but inexpensive lighting setup, what would you buy first?

Anyway, glad to be here and looking forward to learning from the community.

Phil

 

[nikonbill]

Welcome! Glad to have you

There are members here who will give info on your questions on current lighting for your projects (I'm an outdoorsy photographer mostly).

In the meantime enjoy the site, and checkout the sub forum on flashes in regard to some possible lighting suggestions.

 

[nikonpup]

CHECK OUT "LIGHTBOXES FOR PHOTOGRAPHY" ON THE INTERNET/YOUTUBE FOR INFO.

 

[LUMENIX]

Thanks for the info!

 

[PixlaTeam]

Welcome Phil. For small tabletop items, I'd start with one big soft light rather than several cheap small ones. A single LED panel or a window with a diffusion sheet in front of it, placed to one side and slightly behind the product, gives soft edges and gradual highlights. Then add a white foam board on the opposite side as a fill, so shadows aren't too dark. Shiny items like pedals or packaging show reflections, so move the light bigger and closer instead of adding more lights. Keep the camera on the tripod, stop down around f/8 to f/11 for depth, and shoot at base ISO. Once that looks clean, add a second light for a background or a rim.