Looking for Help with Setup... please.

[Blufish]

Hey everyone. This looks like an awesome community, I'm not even a serious photographer and I get excited reading and seeing all these posts.

I do have a question that I hope you all can help with. I am with a design firm and we are currently in the process of re-working our website and therefore re-shooting our entire portfolio.

We would like to set up a shoot so that each piece has a real quality look to it. Soft, classy light if there is such a thing. We were looking to purchase a universal kit and found a 40" one from Kuhl. It includes lights, a light tent, bulbs, etc. etc. My question is if we are looking to shoot all sorts of paper, brochures, etc. etc. would this be something we should get?

I'd like to hear everyone's opinion on how we should set it up for optimal lighting and if a kit is something we should purchase.

Thanks in Advance!

Zach

[brucep]

Welcome to the Photozo, Zach! What size paper (rolls? cases?) and brochures (a table top full of them? a wall rack full?) are you wanting to light?

Are your products glossy? Do they show reflections such as wine bottles do?

For small products many people have found that a light tent is effective. You can find threads about DIY light tents by using our Search button, above. You can light your tent with most any light source as long as you set up a custom white balance in your camera for that light source or you can compensate for it in an image editor such as Photoshop. Be careful not to mix your light sources in a photo, though.

If you're photographing rolls of newsprint, etc., You'll want at least two very large light sources (softboxes or umbrellas). Soft light sources give soft shadows. If you had that huge roll of newsprint in a medium-size white room, you could simply bounce a couple of lights or flash units off the walls and ceiling and have pretty good light.

By having the lighting from one side be nearly twice the amount as the lighting from the other side, you'll show some dimensionality of your product. A light from above and behind (on a boom?) will separate your product from the background. You may find (especially with large products) that you have to light your background separately from your product.

It sounds as if you could get away with something as cheap as some garage halogens on light stands or as elaborate as four Alien Bees (or other brands) studio flash units in softboxes.

One thing to consider is setup and take-down convenience. Ideally, you'd be able to dedicate a room to this purpose and not have to do build your setup and dismantle it every time you photograph a product. I don't have that luxury. I have to set up for each product shoot and then take down and store the gear. That's why I'm glad we went with a Photek Lighthouse tent (click the B&H ad below and enter PHDLHL in the search window) for our smaller products. It pops open and pops flat for convenient storage. We do try to think in advance and shoot as many products as possible while we have the lighting set up.

I hope this helps. We have many knowledgable, experienced folks here who will be happy to give you their thoughts as well.

[W.Smith]

Hey everyone. This looks like an awesome community, I'm not even a serious photographer and I get excited reading and seeing all these posts.

I do have a question that I hope you all can help with. I am with a design firm and we are currently in the process of re-working our website and therefore re-shooting our entire portfolio.

We would like to set up a shoot so that each piece has a real quality look to it. Soft, classy light if there is such a thing. We were looking to purchase a universal kit and found a 40" one from Kuhl. It includes lights, a light tent, bulbs, etc. etc. My question is if we are looking to shoot all sorts of paper, brochures, etc. etc. would this be something we should get?

I'd like to hear everyone's opinion on how we should set it up for optimal lighting and if a kit is something we should purchase.

Do you tell your clients to do their own designing too?

Use a pro photog to get pro images.