Product photography canon 700d

[Herbz100]

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

[diverhank]

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@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)

[kvbarkley]

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.

[Herbz100]

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

[Herbz100]

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

[Waddizzle]

• 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.

[Herbz100]

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.

[Herbz100]

[Herbz100]

Set up shown in the picture. Thanks

[Waddizzle]

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

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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.