Thread: Woodworking product photography

I should also mention that since doing the original post I have improved the setup a bit. I now use the camera tethered to an ipad, so I can instantly review the images on the ipad. This mightn't sound like much, but I have found it very useful because Ipad's have quite accurate displays (mine is the retina model), so its much more revealing then viewing the images on the tiny monitor on the back of the camera and beats the inefficiency carrying to the desktop and downloading.

This makes me a more efficient tweaker, though it doesn't deal with the inconsistency issue.

Originally Posted by FenceFurniture

You could just put one of your E27 globes into a floodlight holder or similar and not worry about diffusing it - it's only a test of the temp, not to see how the shadows fall.

No, I'm good. The lighting setup is E27. Its the other task which I had for them which is bayonet, hence why they were never used.
Are you able to estimate how many LEDs I would need to make this task worthwhile. I think they are equivalent of 60 watt incandescent ?

Well the good thing about E27 LEDs from Aldi is that they are usually the brighter ones only. My Aldi floodlights are 18w I think (they are heavy though - particularly at the front, so they would be problematic in your set up). Have a look in a hardware for Philips LEDs - I bought some pretty bright bayonets, so they may have some strong E27s. Those floodlights are pretty damn bright.

Also, be aware that Aldi LEDs have two different colour temps, depending on the run of manufacture. Some are good at about 3000°K but too many are hideously yellow at 2700-2800°K. I think the floodlights might be 3200°K - they are really good.

The 5500s you have in that kit are fine. They are excellent lights. Front left/right (45 degrees), top and top back are all you need.

Get your Speed down to 1/80. Set the camera to (M)anual or macro (flower) and disable the flash. Buy an 18% grey card and use that to set your colour balance right in the shot.... You can use the inbuilt white balance to set it pre-shot, but I don't bother, just leave it somewhere in the shot where it can be cropped out and your camera will magically set the white balance properly. Grey cards are magic. A quick google will tell you more in a better way than I can here how they work.

You are right about the backgrounds they supply. They are not opaque. God help you if you own a white cat....

Originally Posted by Arron

I should also mention that since doing the original post I have improved the setup a bit. I now use the camera tethered to an ipad, so I can instantly review the images on the ipad. This mightn't sound like much, but I have found it very useful because Ipad's have quite accurate displays (mine is the retina model), so its much more revealing then viewing the images on the tiny monitor on the back of the camera and beats the inefficiency carrying to the desktop and downloading.

This makes me a more efficient tweaker, though it doesn't deal with the inconsistency issue.

I am interested to know how you tether to the ipad, did you have to buy software ?

I cant work out why you are getting inconsistencies . If your lighting remains the same each time, and you use the same camera settings you should get consistent results.

Maybe put the coloured backgrounds away for now, and use a sheet of plain white paper to help get things sorted.
Keep using the lights you already have for now , no reason they shouldn't work for you. I only changed to leds because my tungsten lights were melting my diffusers.

I just went through all my photos, seems I must have deleted the photos of my lightbox. I will take some more on the weekend and post them here.