Lighting for photographing products on a flat white surface...

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Hi,

I sell products online, and looking for a lighting kit. I'm really not sure where to start. The items I sell are laid out flat on a white surface and need to be photographed mainly from above. Items are around 15cm - 50cm by approx 10cm and a few mm high.

It would be great if you can advise on a lighting kit, and a white surface and white background as I sometimes take photo's from the front.

I have a canon 500d.

Thank you in advance :)

Two older pictures but gives an idea of what I'm trying to photograph, I would like the background colour to be consistent and a get a true colour of the products.


 
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Those dog collars could be lit much better. The light is much too far away and is pointing straight down.
All that you need - for something as simple as this subject - is a single flash head such as this one https://www.lencarta.com/all-products/smartflash-4-heads-and-kits/lencarta-smartflash-4-fla035
A radio trigger to make it flash https://www.lencarta.com/all-products/triggering-control/wavesync-2-4-remote-radio-trigger-tri015
A Softbox, which needs to be at least twice the size of the subject (bigger than that if you also need to photograph very shiny subjects) https://www.lencarta.com/all-products/softboxes/profold-folding-softbox-lencarta-70x100cm-sof030
A Boom arm, to position it above, slightly behind the subject and tilted slightly forwards https://www.lencarta.com/all-products/light-stands-boom-arms/lencarta-studio-boom-arm-kit-sta008
And a 5-in-1 reflector, used to bounce 'spare' light back to the subject, will pretty well act as a second light https://www.lencarta.com/all-products/5-in-1-reflectors/life-of-photo-107cm-5-in-1-reflector
Other makes are of course available.

Be aware though that the background will not photograph as white, when arranged as in your sample pics.
You would need to place the products on a sheet of glass, have the background a few feet below the glass and light the background separately, with at least one other flash head. Even so, care is needed to get the background pure white but without overexposing it to the point where it reduces image contrast and eats away at the edges of the subject. A more professional way of doing it is to photograph it on a white paper background and cut it out on computer, a quick and easy job.

If you're not going to cut them out from the background then get a paper background. Vinyl is an option and it wipes clean, doesn't get creased etc but the texture will show in closeup shots.
 
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russellsnr said:
Hi, Cheap way to photograph small items
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiihXExf5Ss&t=193s

Russ
Click to expand...
And sleeping in a shop doorway is a cheap way of living, but there are some economies that have serious limitations:)
These bodges provide a simple way of showing what something looks like, so if you're selling both coach screws and coach bolts, the photos produced by this method will show whether it's a screw or a bolt.
But the photos make everything look bland, and if you look at the example of the watch, the contrast has been ruined and the edge detail has been eroded. That's what we need to avoid if we want to sell products, rather than just illustrate them.
 
Photoshop. light it the best you can (we use godox 60w led heads) then process it in photoshop, there are very few times your ever going to get a perfect background from the camera. Alternatively outsource, you concentrate on selling your product, let someone else worry about getting the images right :)
 
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