# Product Photography advice



## bournemouthmike (Mar 30, 2014)

Hi, I've been asked to do some product photography for a local shoe company, Its got to be on a white background for their catalogue. I'm using a canon 70D and i've got a Yunguno flash. I'm a bit worried as to how tho go about the set up, should i invest in some proper lighting? also whats best for a white background , i've been using white perspex and lighting it with off camera flash from behind


I've done a few test shots but worry that shinny shoes will have to many highlights. If anyones got any advice or can point me to some tutorial that would be great!


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## gsgary (Mar 30, 2014)

Shooting shinny objects is one of the hardest things to shoot, this book will help http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8&...vptwo=&hvqmt=b&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_6g57nv9u69_b

Here's any example of one of my shot and how to was lit


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## JoeW (Mar 30, 2014)

Anything you can do to soften the light (scrims, soft box, light tent) would help with the hot spot and reflection.  Also the angle of the light to the surface makes all the difference ("Light:  Science and Magic" provides the details on this).  For anyone doing product photography, that book is your bible.


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## sk66 (Mar 30, 2014)

bournemouthmike said:


> Hi, I've been asked to do some product photography for a local shoe company, Its got to be on a white background for their catalogue. I'm using a canon 70D and i've got a Yunguno flash. I'm a bit worried as to how tho go about the set up, should i invest in some proper lighting? also whats best for a white background , i've been using white perspex and lighting it with off camera flash from behind
> View attachment 69780
> I've done a few test shots but worry that shinny shoes will have to many highlights. If anyones got any advice or can point me to some tutorial that would be great!


First things first, the "shinier" the BG material the easier it is to make it go white... This is good and bad depending on the space/control you have. I'm going to suggest you use white paper; use some clear acrylic under the object if you want a reflection. The paper will have similar reflectivity level to the shoes.

Second, you are blowing out the BG way too hard and that is causing a lot of light back into the lens (loss of contrast/sharpness/etc). Lighting thru the perspex is easy to make white, but you need more separation (and to turn it down a lot).


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## KmH (Mar 30, 2014)

Get the book gsgary recommended - *Light: Science and Magic*.
The front 2/3 of the inexpensive book is a product photography lighting primer.


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## bournemouthmike (Mar 30, 2014)

cheers sk66, useful tip, i'll get some white paper for a background. Keep seeing the book "light:science and magic" being plugged! might be worth a look?


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## Scatterbrained (Mar 30, 2014)

bournemouthmike said:


> cheers sk66, useful tip, i'll get some white paper for a background. Keep seeing the book "light:science and magic" being plugged! might be worth a look?



If you go to Amazon they have a decent preview of the book available (I find that many books have just the intro and index, making the "preview" useless).   You can see for yourself.  I agree though, it's a requisite.   Rather than use a speedlight for this you might be better off with a constant light source like a cheap clamplight.  Turn the room lights off and shoot with just your light source.  This way you can see exactly what your light is doing.   For low buck diffusion you can get a roll of drafting paper for about $12.  Couple that with some white and black foamcore from the craft store for reflectors and flags and you should be good to go.


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