Help with Product shoot

[j3w3ll3r]

Hi all

My brothers have opened a small handmade woodworking business in a craft centre and have asked me to take some pictures of their products

Their workshop is in a converted stable with just a small strip window at almost ceiling height

I have Canon 60d, 15-85mm, 70-200 F4, 430ex ii flash and tripod

What they dont realise is i have no idea what im doing (I just happen to own some resonable kit), I was thinking maybe a white sheet hung from the ceiling and trial and error with flash placement, but having had a bad ISO experiance at a party last week wondered if anyone could offer some pointers or camera settings to try to try and save my blushes :bonk:

Obviously i can take the items out to the courtyard but there will be loads of people milling about with dogs and kids

Any help greatly received

Many thanks


Stephen

 

[Tringa]

Sorry, no direct advice, but can you get access when the workshop when it is closed to play around with lighting and do lots of test shots without any disturbance?

Dave

 

[j3w3ll3r]

Yes, but they they have an empty unit next door that they are currently using as their storage area, im sure it will be done there, i'm not a fan of filling my sensor with dust and wood shavings

 

[Mark G]

how big are the items, you could buy a softbox/lightcube thing off ebay if they are only small or if they are larger then a white sheet and flash is probably the way to go.

I can't offer exposure advise as obviously I don't know how dark it will be. If the ceiling is low and white then I'd try and use bounce flash and have the camera on a tripod if you need to use exposures longer that 1/20th. Use an aperture of around f/8 as it should give a sharp product front to back. It really is just going to be trial and error for you, remember to use your histogram.

 

[j3w3ll3r]

Cheers Mark

They will be big items so I think I will be bouncing the light as you say with a bit of trial and error

Nice car BTW I have a Westfield, whats that you have there?