Product photography?

Question

lets say a highly reflective object, what type of lighting do you prefer?

defussed, bounced, key, backlight, fill light, flash on/off camera?

watts and distance if you want, more want to know just angles etc.

example can be a cell phone lcd screen.

all contributions really apprieciated.

some awesome answers guys!!

Answer 1

This is my area of expertise (jewelry!)

Generally speaking, highly diffused light is better for reflective materials (there are exceptions). However, managing reflections often winds up mattering more than the quality of the light. Thus jewelry is typically shot in some sort of tent to make a uniform (usually white) reflection on the metallic surface. It is vital to carefully control the angle at which light is hitting the reflective surface. For your cell-phone LCD, if the light is hitting at a direct angle, the light source may be reflected on the surface of the screen, obscuring the display. An oblique angle will help alleviate this issue, even if you are using hard light. So you could shoot your cell phone with highly diffused light, but in this case (high-tech electronics) I'd probably look at a hard-light creating sharply delineated shadows, but with the source hitting the screen on a very acute angle and thus not reflecting back into your lens much.

Answer 2

Hi Antoni.

You've asked a very broad question. Highly reflective can cover the range from jewelry and polished metal objects to plastics and how you want to interpret the subject.

For very highly reflective subjects which are mirror like, like polished metal, you are actually photographing the reflections and light boxes or tents are commonly used which provides a complete diffused environment which works very well. Jewelry, watches, etc. are usually shot this way.

A very good book on studio lighting is 'Learning to Light' by Hicks and Schultz, Amphoto Books, 1998. I highly recommend it but there are others.

In general, you want to use diffused lighting and this is a matter of apparent light source size to subject size. The sun is an example of this phenomenon; direct sun, a huge light source that is apparently small in relation to subjects, acts as a point source and gives very defined shadows. Open shade and overcast days give you huge light sources and very soft to no shadows. I'm pretty sure you already know this, but with product photography it's good to keep it specifically in mind.

Lighting sources can be hot lights or flash. What really matters is how the light is modified, though flash, even with modelling lights, can be harder to work with since the modelling isn't always accurate because the modelling lights are offset from the flash tube and because they are not always accurate when set to a ratio. Modelling lights are indicators, but the shots will tell. Adjustment is really easy in digital, especially if you shoot tethered to a computer.

Without a specific subject and desired representation, all I can think of is to point you to potential sources, like the book I mention, and online material you can find by Googling 'product photography lighting'. I know the Olympus camera site has tutorials and I think the PhotoFlex site does, too. However, almost all of these tutorials are geared towards small object shots like you would use in a catalog or e-bay. For anything else, you are going to have to turn to the material for studio still lifes.

For shooting a cell phone, you'll want the reflections to accent the subject, give it some pop, but not obscure details. This will probably put the main light source skimming the subject surface to put highlights on the edges of the case and keys with a fill just off the camera lens axis. You'll need to play with the lighting/subject/camera angles to get the reflections and subject modelling you want. Lighting ratio is up to you, but near a 1:1 is a pretty good starting point.


A nice touch is to turn the screen on. You can meter the screen using a reflected reading and adjust the rest of the lighting as required to get a nice rendering.

I wish I could be of more help.

Vance

Answer 3

I find that diffused lights(2 at 45 degree angles for flat lighting) in a light tent works well for me. Depending on the backdrops and color of the subject, I may need to add or subtract a little exposure compensation.

Lighting can be changed for different dramatic effect, but the important thing is that it be diffused. so you don't get a harsh glare.