[BLOG] Better Photos = Better Reviews?
I've never considered myself a professional or even a serious amateur photographer. I bought a relatively pedestrian Canon PowerShot A520 a couple of years ago and it has been serving me well. For about a year and a half of the two years I owned the camera, it never left the 'Auto' preset. The camera definitely took some great photos but I frequently struggled to get good product review shots. The camera was never my problem.
I still remember the very frustrating time I had back in 2006 trying to get decent shots of a some LCD monitors I was reviewing. Lighting had always seemed to be the biggest problem I faced. I recall having to actually take some of the shots outside and then edit out the background. Natural light seemed to make all the difference.
Fast forward a year or so to 2007. My photography skills had improved a bit and I found ways to improve the lighting in my shots. I had a large white piece of laminate that was the base for the majority of my shots. I installed overhead florescent lights in the lab and added a couple of 'cool white' CFLs near by. Although my shots were much improved, the lighting still lacked. The whites were always off-white (even after software touch up) and shadows were rampant. I found myself touching up the images way too much and simply degraded their quality.
I took the above shot using my old setup. Notice that I have to take shots from up high as there is no backdrop. I also had to worry about reflections off of the plastic cover. It is not a bad shot, but not something that a card manufacturer would want to use as PR material. I did a fair bit of brightness and contrast adjustment via software for this shot as well.
In search of a magic solution, I started digging around online and determined that the key to good product photography is the use of a light tent (or light box as they are sometimes called). Buying a pre-constructed or packaged light tent is not cheap so I did some searching and found a great DIY light tent guide at DPS. I followed the instructions pretty closely but at a larger scale. I used a box large enough to review motherboards, PSUs etc. I went pretty heavy duty on the lighting as well and opted for four 23W (equivalent to a 100W incandescent) full-spectrum CFLs (5000K). I have one on the top, two on the sides and one as a spot from the front currently. The lights can be moved around to my liking. I used a thin white fabric to 'dull' out the lighting and cut down on reflection. Once all four CFLs warm up, it is VERY bright—so bright that it bothered my eyes and gave me a bit of a headache the first time I used it.
The first couple of shots I took with the light tent looked terrible. I found the camera yellowing the background and the shots way too dark. The automatic modes of the camera were simply not designed for lighting like this. I had to go full manual—a scary proposition for a digital photography amateur. It took me a while to finally understand and adjust the ISO and white balance correctly but in the end it was like the difference between night and day. I still find that I have to do a small amount of touching up to get the image looking just right, but it is so much easier to touch up a good base image than a bad one.
Although I've still got quite a bit to learn, I've been very happy with the results. As you can see above, the improvement is tremendous. Not only am I getting better shots, I have a greater understanding of what my camera is capable of and how to use it to its full potential.
I still remember the very frustrating time I had back in 2006 trying to get decent shots of a some LCD monitors I was reviewing. Lighting had always seemed to be the biggest problem I faced. I recall having to actually take some of the shots outside and then edit out the background. Natural light seemed to make all the difference.
Fast forward a year or so to 2007. My photography skills had improved a bit and I found ways to improve the lighting in my shots. I had a large white piece of laminate that was the base for the majority of my shots. I installed overhead florescent lights in the lab and added a couple of 'cool white' CFLs near by. Although my shots were much improved, the lighting still lacked. The whites were always off-white (even after software touch up) and shadows were rampant. I found myself touching up the images way too much and simply degraded their quality.
I took the above shot using my old setup. Notice that I have to take shots from up high as there is no backdrop. I also had to worry about reflections off of the plastic cover. It is not a bad shot, but not something that a card manufacturer would want to use as PR material. I did a fair bit of brightness and contrast adjustment via software for this shot as well.
In search of a magic solution, I started digging around online and determined that the key to good product photography is the use of a light tent (or light box as they are sometimes called). Buying a pre-constructed or packaged light tent is not cheap so I did some searching and found a great DIY light tent guide at DPS. I followed the instructions pretty closely but at a larger scale. I used a box large enough to review motherboards, PSUs etc. I went pretty heavy duty on the lighting as well and opted for four 23W (equivalent to a 100W incandescent) full-spectrum CFLs (5000K). I have one on the top, two on the sides and one as a spot from the front currently. The lights can be moved around to my liking. I used a thin white fabric to 'dull' out the lighting and cut down on reflection. Once all four CFLs warm up, it is VERY bright—so bright that it bothered my eyes and gave me a bit of a headache the first time I used it.
The first couple of shots I took with the light tent looked terrible. I found the camera yellowing the background and the shots way too dark. The automatic modes of the camera were simply not designed for lighting like this. I had to go full manual—a scary proposition for a digital photography amateur. It took me a while to finally understand and adjust the ISO and white balance correctly but in the end it was like the difference between night and day. I still find that I have to do a small amount of touching up to get the image looking just right, but it is so much easier to touch up a good base image than a bad one.
Although I've still got quite a bit to learn, I've been very happy with the results. As you can see above, the improvement is tremendous. Not only am I getting better shots, I have a greater understanding of what my camera is capable of and how to use it to its full potential.
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nice writeup!