# Product Photography What's wrong?



## iBeck (May 31, 2012)

Hello, I began with product photography, and want to ask professionals what is wrong with this picture, a slight photoshop work made: white balance and exposure correction and finish, no crops or retouching, as you can see there is a tape on a diary, which I intentionally left.
I'm not a very good at English, so sorry for that.
My client don't like distortion (if it has any), he says it's looking weird, specially right corner of the diary, and he says that it is taller than original.
Oh I almost forgot, shooting with Nikon D5100, 18-55 mm Kit lens, f16, 1/160s, 2 soft boxes (flash), product on a table with white paper on a background, just a hurry work. I also have 55-200 mm zoom lens.
Any advices, tips will be very appreciated.


----------



## tirediron (May 31, 2012)

Hmmm... not really sure that there's anything 'wrong' but if the client doesn't like something, we need to address that.  My first thought is that because of the white up on the book's cover, I would use a colour other than white; I think a light grey would work well for the background.  I would also lower the camera somewhat which will reduce any possible perspective distorion.  I would shoot with a focal length of around 35 milimeters, and adjust my exposure to use an aperture of f8 to avoid any possible diffraction.  Hope that helps.


----------



## o hey tyler (May 31, 2012)

I would start shooting in portrait orientation to maximize the journals area in the frame. It will also crop the paper which doesn't take up the entire frame, so you'd want to get rid of that anyway. 

Get the camera a bit lower, and shoot at a longer focal length than 55mm. 80mm+ should be good. Also, shoot between f/8 and f/11 for optimal sharpness.


----------



## o hey tyler (May 31, 2012)

tirediron said:


> I would shoot with a focal length of around 35 milimeters



Why, if I might ask? I figured if the client was concerned with distortion, that a wider FL would be out of the question. Curious as to your reasoning, John.


----------



## iBeck (May 31, 2012)

Thanks for your  quick answer, my client likes this kind of view angle because it gives some kind of 3d look, and he wants a pure white background because he will use pictures in product catalogue and web, any other advices? such as use your 55-200 mm lens, or go & buy macro lens, like 50 mm Nikon?
& again I apologize for my English if something is wrong.


----------



## joel28 (May 31, 2012)

What kind of lighting do you use?


----------



## 2WheelPhoto (May 31, 2012)

I'm with Tyler, 80+ minimum to eliminate the "weirdness" distrotion, hold cam portrait and low, and aperture sufficient for max sharpness and ample depth of field.


----------



## MK3Brent (May 31, 2012)

In my opinion, the lighting needs 'modification'. 
It's so washed out in the white, it loses depth. 
A simple shadow would make the book pop off the sheet.


----------



## Dao (Jun 1, 2012)

I will  ...


- Use a longer focal length, longer the better.   (i.e. take a look at the red bottle in this photo  File:Focal length.jpg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
- Move the subject a little bit further away from the background.  I do not like the way the shadow look.
- Move the main light (the one on the left of the camera) a little higher (position wise) and stronger (more power).
- In post production, adjust the curve to blown the background.


----------



## iBeck (Jun 1, 2012)

Thanks all for a very fast replies, here is what I did & my client liked it, finally .
In first screenshot I did simple tranformation with ctrl+T so it looks more pleasant to eye (hope so), so there will be more amount of photoshop work . But if client is happy, I'm happy too.


----------



## tirediron (Jun 1, 2012)

o hey tyler said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> > I would shoot with a focal length of around 35 milimeters
> ...


You may!

My reasoning is that if the client is concerned about distortion, then the 50mm FL is generally acknowleged to be the one which most closely represents the view of the human eye, and since the OP is shooting with a DX-format body, go to 35 for an effective focal length of ~50.  

I agree; my first instinct would be to shoot this at 100+, BUT that might also introduce some distortion and produce a slight 'cabinet maker's perspective.


----------



## Big Mike (Jun 1, 2012)

Distortion actually has a lot more to do with distance than focal length.  The closer you are, the more of that perspective distortion you will get...the farther away you are, the less you will get.  Of course, that naturally leads to using a wider angle when you are closer and a longer lens when farther way.


----------



## iBeck (Jun 1, 2012)

I definitely agree with you, if you shooting in portait like angles, I shoot bunch of other angles, but the most preferred was this angle, slightly top right. I assume that there is no other option than Photoshop editing.
Last question for this thread, I want to buy Sigma 70-300 mm DG macro, (more affordable than Nikkor) will it be better quality, if I shoot with macro option with this lens? Textures of some materials must be visible.


----------



## o hey tyler (Jun 1, 2012)

tirediron said:


> o hey tyler said:
> 
> 
> > tirediron said:
> ...



I could be wrong, but wouldn't shooting at 35mm (even though the FoV is about equal to 50mm) still introduce more distortion from being shot at a shorter focal length? That's just how I see it playing out in my head...


----------



## Kerbouchard (Jun 1, 2012)

o hey tyler said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> > o hey tyler said:
> ...



You are correct.  A 35mm lens is still a 35mm lens and will have some distortion.  On a crop camera, this is somewhat reduced because for the same field of view, it will be shot from further away than it would be on a full frame camera, thus slightly reducing the distortion.

For me, I would be shooting these between 60mm and 80mm.


----------



## tirediron (Jun 1, 2012)

Kerbouchard said:


> o hey tyler said:
> 
> 
> > tirediron said:
> ...


True, but since you are using the sweet spot, my thinking was that this would give the most accurate represenation...  something to play with this evening perhaps.


----------



## mjhoward (Jun 1, 2012)

Big Mike said:


> Distortion actually has a lot more to do with distance than focal length.  The closer you are, the more of that perspective distortion you will get...the farther away you are, the less you will get.  Of course, that naturally leads to using a wider angle when you are closer and a longer lens when farther way.



I think it is a combination of things.  For instance, if I used a 10mm focal length and shot my subject 30ft away, it would likely still have more distortion than if I had shot a subject with a 50mm focal length from 20ft away.  Distance can no doubt play a significant role though.


----------

