Still life and product photo ?
VILNTFLUID
props.
Since I have no formal training, I have been cooking up the scenes with
tungsten halogen table lamps, a reflector, a mirror or two, and my handy black
darkcloth as a background.. Other than the fact that I don't have the foggiest
idea what I'm doing, some of the images came out OK.
However, how do those guys do those still life and product shots with the
subjects isolated/separated from the backgrounds? Is there a simple way to do
it without a sophisticated studio?
Maybe some of you commercial photographers out there will weigh in for me.
Thanks
Keith
Tom Thackrey
On 27-Nov-2000, vilnt...@aol.com (VILNTFLUID) wrote:
> I have been trying some still life photography with various around the
> house
> props.
> Since I have no formal training, I have been cooking up the scenes with
> tungsten halogen table lamps, a reflector, a mirror or two, and my handy
> black
> darkcloth as a background.. Other than the fact that I don't have the
> foggiest
> idea what I'm doing, some of the images came out OK.
>
> However, how do those guys do those still life and product shots with the
> subjects isolated/separated from the backgrounds? Is there a simple way
> to do
> it without a sophisticated studio?
If I understand the question you want to have images where the object is on
a pure white background or you want the background to be out-of-focus.
On a white background:
1) shoot on a backlit piece of milky plexy (often curved like a seamless) or
a well lit white seamless
or
2) use photoshop, outline the subject and blow away the background
Out of focus background
1) Increase the subject to background distance and/or decrease the camera to
subject distance
2) use a larger aperture (less light)
--
Tom Thackrey
tom at creative-light.com
www.creative-light.com
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Michael Gudzinowicz
>I have been trying some still life photography with various around the house
>props.
>Since I have no formal training, I have been cooking up the scenes with
>tungsten halogen table lamps, a reflector, a mirror or two, and my handy black
>darkcloth as a background.. Other than the fact that I don't have the
>foggiest idea what I'm doing, some of the images came out OK.
>
>However, how do those guys do those still life and product shots with the
>subjects isolated/separated from the backgrounds? Is there a simple way to do
>it without a sophisticated studio?
supplemented with homemade bounce cards, diffusers, etc. The best treatment
I've seen is the book by Fil Hunter and Paul Fuqua (below). It covers most
topics in detail - including lighting reflective objects, glass, and people.
Moreover, it is a very rational approach - not one of the "generic" texts
with a mediocre "solutions".
If your local library doesn't have it, the reference department should be
able to acquire it for you through interlibrary loan.
AUTHOR(S) 1) Hunter, Fil.
TITLE Light : science & magic : an introduction to photographic
lighting / Fil Hunter & Paul Fuqua.
PUBLISHER Boston, Mass. : Focal, 1990.
DESCRIPT 1)xii, 308 p. : ill.
SUBJECTS 1) Photography -- Lighting.
NOTES Includes index.
ADDAUTHOR 1)Fuqua, Paul.
LCCN/DYNIX 89032077 358932
Dick Weld
> 1) shoot on a backlit piece of milky plexy (often curved like a seamless)
This probably should say.... shoot on a translucent plexi, lit from the back
and bottom (to eliminate shadows), in addition to your normal lights.
Dick Weld
annqlee
I am an true amateur and I have been dealing with still life quite
unsuccessfully also.
Mainly for DOF and lack of time. Lighting is been done by window lights
diffused through some white
sheets. Isolation from the background is almost automatic with LF due to the
DOF.
Further separation can be done with illuminating the background, either
behind or infront
of the backdrop(if it is cloth). There is a book by Michiko Kon called Still
Life. The lady
is extradonary and I believe her work does not involve complex lighting, but
just an enveloping
light source (from what I gather of the catchlight). You can use lighting
techniques from
fashion/glamour photography, since to many of them it is a still life.
Good Luck,
Ann
---
http://carcassi.eng.uci.edu/intropictures.htm
VILNTFLUID wrote in message
<20001128013753...@ng-ck1.aol.com>...
Jess4203
I think you got some good advice in this thread, but describing lighting for
product photography is difficult without diagrams. there are at least two
books on still life photography which have numerous diagrams of how the photos
were done. Double exposures, tents, reflectors and cards, rear projection,
multiple lights, lighting gels, and numerous other tricks are used. I would
visit a good bookstore, look in Books in Print, or visit one of the on-line
stores for titles. One of the books I have in mind is called Still Life, but I
can't remember the author's name. I think it is a really fun area of
photography, really creative and good for us types who can't seem to take a
candid picture at the right time.
Good Luck,
Roy