topic Re: Product photography canon 700d in EOS DSLR & Mirrorless Cameras

Product photography canon 700d

Herbz100 — Tue, 07 Nov 2017 23:19:19 GMT

Hi all,

my my wife has started working for a company on some product photography but is struggling to get the perfect image. Can someone help to get the best image for her.

The image is still not sharp and the image of the product and the background is still dark.

the settings using a cannon 700d are:

manual mode

1/60

F 8.0

iso 800

she did change the the ISO to 1600 and the image is brighter but the quality and sharpness is not great.

I will get try to get an image uploaded when she back into work this week.

all the help would be great. Thanks

Re: Product photography canon 700d

diverhank — Tue, 07 Nov 2017 23:29:53 GMT

@Herbz100 wrote:
Hi all,

my my wife has started working for a company on some product photography but is struggling to get the perfect image. Can someone help to get the best image for her.

The image is still not sharp and the image of the product and the background is still dark.

the settings using a cannon 700d are:

manual mode

1/60
F 8.0
iso 800

she did change the the ISO to 1600 and the image is brighter but the quality and sharpness is not great.

I will get try to get an image uploaded when she back into work this week.

all the help would be great. Thanks

I think we discussed a similar topic not too long ago. First and foremost, you need to have a very sturdy tripod. You also need to have lights to properly light up the subject.

While having the camera on a tripod, you set the aperture to f/11 or f/16, ISO to 100 and adjust the speed to get the desired exposure. You don't really care what the speed is, assuming that your subject is not moving (thus risking motion blur)

Re: Product photography canon 700d

kvbarkley — Tue, 07 Nov 2017 23:57:52 GMT

Unless you can change the lighting, don't use manual mode. Use Av mode and set the Aperture to f/16. Make sure you are also have AutoISO set. This way shutter speed and ISO can float to get a good exposure. If you find it too bright or too dark, use exposure compensation.

Re: Product photography canon 700d

Herbz100 — Wed, 08 Nov 2017 00:26:50 GMT

Thanks KV, I'll try and report back on Friday when she has some images. Lighting on the 2 lamps cannot be adjusted.

Re: Product photography canon 700d

Herbz100 — Wed, 08 Nov 2017 00:30:01 GMT

Thanks diverhank, the products are still life so not moving. Will report back.

Re: Product photography canon 700d

Waddizzle — Wed, 08 Nov 2017 00:39:34 GMT

Are you using a tripod?
What focal length is being used?
How large is the product, or subject?
How close to the subject is the front of the camera lens?
Are you familiar with “White Balance” and “Depth of Field”?
What are you using for a background, and how far is it from the lens relative to the subject?

That’s enough for now. The last question is the most crucial.

Re: Product photography canon 700d

Herbz100 — Wed, 08 Nov 2017 23:29:48 GMT

Tripod was not used but will now be used on Friday.
Definitely not an 18-55 as it's longer . Will report back on that on Friday.
Products would be rings (jewellery) , t-shirts, to large plush teddy bears.
Distance in lens will depend on the size of the object.
She's not familiar with white balance or depth of field.

Re: Product photography canon 700d

Herbz100 — Wed, 08 Nov 2017 23:34:18 GMT

Re: Product photography canon 700d

Herbz100 — Wed, 08 Nov 2017 23:35:47 GMT

Set up shown in the picture. Thanks

Re: Product photography canon 700d

Waddizzle — Thu, 09 Nov 2017 00:28:17 GMT

@Herbz100 wrote:
Set up shown in the picture. Thanks

Nice setup. Make sure that you have a capable lens, and good post processing software. You will definitely need it.

If neither of you is familiar with the terms “ Exposure Triangle “ or “ depth of field “, then I suggest that you do some web searches, and take a crash self-study course on the topics. Those are the basics of photography.

http://www.learn.usa.canon.com/galleries/galleries/tutorials/eos101_cll.shtml

Canon has an online Digital Learning Center, which has a wealth of information about Canon gear. There is also a few general tutorial oriented articles and videos. Above is a link to series of 13 video tutorials.

What you are doing is essentially “ macro photography ”. Do web searches for those topics, too. Having a macro lens would be a significant improvement over the camera kit lens. I recommend using Photoshop should the need to do “ image stacking ” arise.

https://shop.usa.canon.com/shop/en/catalog/ef-s-60mm-f-28-macro-usm

https://shop.usa.canon.com/shop/en/catalog/ef-100mm-f-28-macro-usm

https://shop.usa.canon.com/shop/en/catalog/ef-100mm-f-28l-macro-is-usm

A decent budget macro lens is the EF-S 60mm f/2.8 USM. My recommendation would be the EF 100mm f/2.8L IS USM lens. Having a very robust tripod is a “must have” if you want professional results. No plastic tripods will do the job.

Having an understanding of White Balance, and using a “ grey card “, is essential to getting white backgrounds, instead of a dingy looking shade of grey. With your setup, having the distance between the subject and the background be as small as possible, relative to the distance between the subject and the lens will help brighten up your backgrounds. Do those lights capable of a flash? You can get some interesting effects, both desireable and undesirable, if they are.

Light intensity from a flash drops off dramatically with distance, so keep your subject close to your background so that it receives as much light as the subject. Doing the reverse, making the distance between the subject and camera small, while making the distance to white background relatively far away can cause the background to appear dark grey.

BOTTOM LINE: Get a macro lens, and a robust tripod. Do a crash course in “ exposure triangle “ and “ depth of field “ and “ macro photography “. Above all, practice and experiment. At close distances, you will most likely NOT be able to get the entire subject in focus in a single shot. This is where “ image stacking “ becomes useful, but you need software to do it.

Re: Product photography canon 700d

RobertTheFat — Thu, 09 Nov 2017 03:01:24 GMT

Herbz100 wrote:
Tripod was not used but will now be used on Friday.
Definitely not an 18-55 as it's longer . Will report back on that on Friday.
Products would be rings (jewellery) , t-shirts, to large plush teddy bears.
Distance in lens will depend on the size of the object.
She's not familiar with white balance or depth of field.

If she wants to do product photography at the professional level (i.e., if she's getting paid for it), she'd better start getting familiar with depth of field sooner rather than later. At the camera-to-subject distances commonly used in product photography, depth of field can be pretty important.

Re: Product photography canon 700d

Waddizzle — Thu, 09 Nov 2017 10:32:03 GMT

This image was the result of an experiment using image stacking software. At this focusing distance, less than a foot, the lens could not capture the entire coin in focus. If I were to slice the image into a dozen horizontal slices, then the lens could only get just one slice in focus.

A total of 40 shots went into the creation of this single final image. A series of 4 shots taken of each horizontal “slice”. These 4 shots were combined to average out noise. This created 10 images, one at each slice, were stacked into the final image. While noise was noticeably reduced, the sharpness of the final image seems to have suffered, probably due to large amounts of processing.

Below is a shot of a single slice. This is what comes out of the camera. Notice how a “slice” across the center of the coin is in focus, while the rest of the coin is out of focus..

If the above explanation is hard to understand, then you should have some idea how big the learning curve is you need to climb. As for the background color, I used a flat white background, but completely forgot about capturing white balance to make it appear white, as it did to the eye.

Re: Product photography canon 700d

ebiggs1 — Thu, 09 Nov 2017 16:29:08 GMT

"If she wants to do product photography at the professional level (i.e., if she's getting paid for it), ..."

Hmm, I've done that. I can tell you without hesitation when somebody tells you what gear you need, they have not done it. The truth is you need what you need. If it is a tripod, fine. if you don't need a tripod, fine. A macro lens, fine. No macro, that is fine too. And ... etc, etc on and on. The end result is what you really "need".

We used everything from a P&S to a large format 8x10 camera. I will tell you the better you are at problem solving all the better things will be. Items that have no relation to photography can be life savers. In other words gadgets!

There is no doubt the better gear you do use wil have an easier road to a successful outcome. If you have a Rebel with the kit lens and the guy with a 1Dx MK II and "L" lens is probably going to get a better result.

One tip besides learning the basics of photography which is mandatory, don't use any auto settings. Set everything exactly the way you or the exposure warrants. This should include many shots with slight adjustment from the optimal settings. Over and under. It does require, again mandatory, to learn and use a post editor like Photoshop.

So, the question is, just how good do you want to be? Willing to put in the effort and work?

Re: Product photography canon 700d

Mr_Fusion — Tue, 14 Nov 2017 20:01:40 GMT

I would drop the ISO to 400. My preferred aperture is around 8.0 or 9.1. I won't say other apertures and ISOs are wrong as obviously they work for others and their equipment. Since you have set your aperture and ISO, you only need to worry about the shutter speed. With still life that isn't much of a problem provided nothing is moving.

Move the lights back and turn them onto the products. In the sample shot, you are wasting the light by having it bounce away from the camera. Let the lights reflect off the products to the camera. That usually means closer to the axis of the camera. That also helps remove stray light reflecting into the lens. Make sure your backdrop is non reflective. I would use more distance between the subject and the backdrop, but that is something you might need to play with. My suggestion is having the lights at 90 degrees to each other with the camera in the center at 45 degrees to the lights.

A tripod is preferred in still life and is required with slow shutter speeds. If you don't have one, then using a folded up blanket or large towel on a platform or table can work. Either use a remote shutter or set the camera for delayed shutter. That removes any camera shake caused by pressing the button. Using a table and recording straight to a computer also helps and you can see right away what you have.

While an expensive, graphite $350 tripod is nice, you just need something that is steady. If someone else is buying, get the expensive one. If you're buying, then anything in your price range can be made to work. A hint with the cheaper tripods is to bend the legs out a bit. That helps to stop any vibration. Collapsing the tripod and setting it on a table beside a computer works too.

I prefer a longer lens (EF 100mm, f-2.8) set up a few feet from the subject. That opens up my depth of field somewhat. It also allows room to rearrange the display as required without bumping the tripod. However, as mentioned, even a kit zoom lens will work if that is all you have. If the subject is small, such as a ring, you will want to use a macro lens and get closer. For something very small, get closer but at least 25% further away than the minimum focus. So if your minimum focus is 20", set up 25" from the lens to the subject.

If you are doing a lot of different subjects, use small cards with the part number or description on them. Place the card at the edge of the shot. That way when you go through them later you can identify what the object is. Crop out the card and label the photo with the part number. Last year I led a team photographing everything in our warehouse for a sales catalogue. That trick came in handy.

Just remember there is no "only way" to do it. If my suggestions work for you then great. If you like someone else ideas then go for it. Just do what works the best for you and trial and error helps a lot.

Good luck.

Re: Product photography canon 700d

Waddizzle — Wed, 15 Nov 2017 00:14:38 GMT

@Mr_Fusion wrote:

Move the lights back and turn them onto the products.

Moving the lights away from the subject will also move the lights away from the background. Net Result: a darker background.

Inverse Square Law says the light intensity drops off exponentially with distance.