Product shots in an office - How would you do this?

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Swissglover

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Kevin
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Hi Guys,
I've been asked to photograph various chemical kits for a company I've done PR stuff for before. The kits are quite small and all bottles are 5ooml in volume.
I've been told they have to be done in the office and as such I need to bring everything including a bench!. I have a light tent, although this may not be big enough for the combination of kit shots so I'm taking a background roll of Polar white paper attached to a background support pole system along with a fold up table to create a kind of cove.
My biggest issue is that I only have 2 elinchrom D lite 2 studio flashes with a small and larger softbox. I also have 3 speedlights (Yonguno that I can fire remotely) and stands for them.
Could I get away with the speedlights and brolly's or would you get a separate studio light to light the background to go with the D lites?.
Either way, what lighting technique would you employ to get nice even lighting on subject and background to ensure a clean white backdrop (the images will be pasted amongst text on websites , flyers etc) and to ensure minimal PP required as images are needed asap after the shoot.
Many thanks in advance for any help/advice.
 
I Kevin. I am not a photographer so will leave that to those that know the real answers. But being practical though can you not grab some bottles out of your home (shampoo or what ever) and practice this before hand ? Would give you a good idea of the outcome.

Gaz
 
Swissglover said:
...
Either way, what lighting technique would you employ to get nice even lighting on subject and background to ensure a clean white backdrop (the images will be pasted amongst text on websites , flyers etc) and to ensure minimal PP required as images are needed asap after the shoot.
Many thanks in advance for any help/advice.
Click to expand...

You'll want to light the background separately, I think your biggest challenge will be flagging the BG lights so they don't interfere with your products.

But what worries me mostly from your question is this...
Swissglover said:
...
Either way, what lighting technique would you employ to get nice even lighting on subject ...
Click to expand...

Even lighting isn't going to do a good job of showing the form of the products. Have I misunderstood, or have you no experience of shooting products?
 
As above, this is a specialist subject that requires specialist knowledge, and with the greatest possible respect, your question demonstrates that you don't have it.

But, it isn't hard, once you understand the principles. You will need, as a minimum, and overhead softbox on a boom arm, a honeycombed light from behind, a reflector and separate lighting for the background. Trying to do this in their office would be ridiculous.

See our learning centre for detailed tutorials on the subject.
 
Garry Edwards said:
As above, this is a specialist subject that requires specialist knowledge, and with the greatest possible respect, your question demonstrates that you don't have it.

But, it isn't hard, once you understand the principles. You will need, as a minimum, and overhead softbox on a boom arm, a honeycombed light from behind, a reflector and separate lighting for the background. Trying to do this in their office would be ridiculous.

See our learning centre for detailed tutorials on the subject.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the link, much appreciated. Re your comments, no clearly I am not a specialist product photographer as my question demonstrates, however I have done product shots before but that was 20 years ago and with a dedicated cove, product table and all manner of lighting equipment available to me BUT in this instance the client budget does not allow for studio hire or for th esubject materials to be left with me.
It HAS to be done in their office as getting the chemicals to me is simply not an option for them, so even if this means cutting out the product and producing composite images on a clean background it will have to be done that way, plus I only have a 2 hour time window to do the job in. As a working professional with 26 years experience I'm sure I will find a way around it as I always do though, cheers.
 
Phil V said:
You'll want to light the background separately, I think your biggest challenge will be flagging the BG lights so they don't interfere with your products.

But what worries me mostly from your question is this...


Even lighting isn't going to do a good job of showing the form of the products. Have I misunderstood, or have you no experience of shooting products?
Click to expand...

Hi Phil,
See my comment below, the answer is that this is not my specialist field hence me asking the question, By even lighting I'm sure you understand that I mean clean, shadowless, and non reflective.
It's not a job I relish doing mainly as I don't really have the kit for doing the job nor the space or time in which to do it to the best of my ability, BUT the client is a good one and a long standing one too who I want to try and keep happy and onboard if at all possible, I'm sure you and others have been in that situation before over the years!
 
cargo said:
I Kevin. I am not a photographer so will leave that to those that know the real answers. But being practical though can you not grab some bottles out of your home (shampoo or what ever) and practice this before hand ? Would give you a good idea of the outcome.

Gaz
Click to expand...
Thanks Gaz, good idea and advice mate, ideally that is what I will do, however I'm currently doing 16 hour days and the shoot may be as early as the beginning of next week so it's a luxury I may not have!!
 
One method could be to keep the camera on the tripod and sort out the basic exposure. Then hand hold a flash gun attached to a remote trigger and take a fair few photographs, moving the light around. Then in photoshop, pick your best 4 or 5 and open as different layers in the same file. Then mask out the parts you don't like of the various layers.

Not an ideal solution but it can be quite effective.
 
are you just going to do basic packshots at the clients location or are they wanting their location incorporated in to the shots somehow?

why can't the products be shot elsewhere if it's just smallish bottles, is it an availaility, geography or safety thing?

if actual product can't be shot elsewhere for some reason can an empty product/packaging be provided to plan with?

what shape, colour, material are the bottles made out of?

there's so many possible approaches to lighting products and the requirements vary depending on exactly what you are photographing, umbrellas are rarely ideal as the only modifiers due to uncontrolled spread but speedlights should be fine. If you're not sure exactly what you need for the job I'd just take as much gear as you can manage to carry and work it out best you can when you see it.
 
Any of you guys ever used one of the backgrounds in the link below?. I'm thinking this may be my solution as it is small enough to take with me and set up, I can light the background easily with an additional light source (be it studio light or speedlights) and then place products on the additional train that can be bought to go with the background, light them to get the best result and balance against the background to get a nice clean result. I've seen the background used to good effect in portraiture before.
https://www.calphoto.co.uk/product/Lastolite-HiLite-Background-6-x-7-/753-228V
 
Swissglover said:
Any of you guys ever used one of the backgrounds in the link below?. I'm thinking this may be my solution as it is small enough to take with me and set up, I can light the background easily with an additional light source (be it studio light or speedlights) and then place products on the additional train that can be bought to go with the background, light them to get the best result and balance against the background to get a nice clean result. I've seen the background used to good effect in portraiture before.
https://www.calphoto.co.uk/product/Lastolite-HiLite-Background-6-x-7-/753-228V
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For product photography, if that's the effect you want then you may as well just use a large softbox instead - same result without spending the money on extra equipment.
EdwardL said:
I use one of these:
http://essentialphoto.co.uk/product/pixapro-foldable-shooting-table-60x130cm/

It folds flat and you can put a speed light or two underneath to create a white background
Click to expand...
Far too small
 
Garry Edwards said:
For product photography, if that's the effect you want then you may as well just use a large softbox instead - same result without spending the money on extra equipment.

Far too small
Click to expand...
Thanks Garry, good point and that may well be a viable option for me with this shoot.
 
Garry Edwards said:
For product photography, if that's the effect you want then you may as well just use a large softbox instead - same result without spending the money on extra equipment.

Far too small
Click to expand...
I'm sorry - I must have mis-read something as it's easily large enough for a 1 litre bottle of orange squash.

As long as Kevin ends up with what he needs that's the main thing.
 
EdwardL said:
I'm sorry - I must have mis-read something as it's easily large enough for a 1 litre bottle of orange squash.

As long as Kevin ends up with what he needs that's the main thing.
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Hi Edward, I wil need to do a group shot of several chemical kits, this will mean I need a width of up to a metre for that shot.
Cheers,
Kevin
 
Swissglover said:
Hi Edward, I wil need to do a group shot of several chemical kits, this will mean I need a width of up to a metre for that shot.
Cheers,
Kevin
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I think you will be ok with you're lighting so long as its not transparent bottles? If you have to do a group shot with limited space (and its going to be white background), then shoot each bottle 1x1 and group them in post. Just make sure all your positions are fixed (camera, product, lens etc).
 
Swissglover said:
Hi Phil,
See my comment below, the answer is that this is not my specialist field hence me asking the question, By even lighting I'm sure you understand that I mean clean, shadowless, and non reflective.
It's not a job I relish doing mainly as I don't really have the kit for doing the job nor the space or time in which to do it to the best of my ability, BUT the client is a good one and a long standing one too who I want to try and keep happy and onboard if at all possible, I'm sure you and others have been in that situation before over the years!
Click to expand...
I think I understand what you mean, but in order to do it, you need to reassess your aims.
clean - I understand that aim, you're looking for clean professional results.
shadowless - the whole point of lighting is to create shadows, shadows create the impression of form, enabling a 2d image to show a 3D shape
non reflective - if an item has a reflective surface, your job is to illustrate that.
So the real struggle is to control both the shadows and the highlights (reflections), not to eliminate them, but to ensure that they land correctly to properly show the shape of the items.

As Garry may have mentioned, there's some great tutorials on the Lencarta site. There are some great tutorials on the Internet, unfortunately there are some rubbish ones too.

If you had plenty of time, I'd recommend the book 'light science and magic' which takes you through the methods for lighting every kind of surface and shape.
 
Phil V said:
I think I understand what you mean, but in order to do it, you need to reassess your aims.
clean - I understand that aim, you're looking for clean professional results.
shadowless - the whole point of lighting is to create shadows, shadows create the impression of form, enabling a 2d image to show a 3D shape
non reflective - if an item has a reflective surface, your job is to illustrate that.
So the real struggle is to control both the shadows and the highlights (reflections), not to eliminate them, but to ensure that they land correctly to properly show the shape of the items.

As Garry may have mentioned, there's some great tutorials on the Lencarta site. There are some great tutorials on the Internet, unfortunately there are some rubbish ones too.

If you had plenty of time, I'd recommend the book 'light science and magic' which takes you through the methods for lighting every kind of surface and shape.
Click to expand...

Thanks Phil,
I will order that book and look through it, just a shame i won't have time to do that before the shoot!! and I also understand and take on board the points you make.
 
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