hardware photographing tips please :)

[Mendel]

Well, I'm about to take a few pictures of a graphics card and accessories.

I got to borrow this real nice camera for today and maybe for tomorrow from my workplace (found image of it from google http://www.agdrtv.com/add/picture.php?cat=aparaty_cyfrowe&prd=canon_eos_10_d )

So any tips on how should I approach this task? what kind of background to use? What kind of distance?

Im quite a beginner on photographing especially on nicer equipment like this.

Thanks in advance, especially if you can help me in a couple hours time

 

[rabidrabbit]

A tripod is a good accessory when taking product photographs.

I haven't rerally taken them myself, but a curved background sheet of neutral color and made from unreflective material is good for a background.

You should be careful withthe flash use, if possible the flas should be indirect to avoid unwanted overly bright spots on reflective parts of the product.

 

[Mendel]

A tripod is a good accessory when taking product photographs.

Almost forgot that one... well I might be able to get one borrowed too if I just ask.

I haven't rerally taken them myself, but a curved background sheet of neutral color and made from unreflective material is good for a background.

I got some blue bedsheets. Maybe they will do. Just need to figure a way of how to hang/arrange (the sheets) on floor or whatever

You should be careful withthe flash use, if possible the flas should be indirect to avoid unwanted overly bright spots on reflective parts of the product.

I'll keep that in mind. thanks.


Should I let the sunlight in or tightly prevent it from entering the room? Electrical lights... should they be on or off in either case? If on...Should I use the ceiling lamp or a smaller reading lamp (I don't have access to very nice harmonical lights or spotlights)

 

[nutball]

Should I let the sunlight in or tightly prevent it from entering the room? Electrical lights... should they be on or off in either case? If on...Should I use the ceiling lamp or a smaller reading lamp (I don't have access to very nice harmonical lights or spotlights)

The more diffuse the light source the better in general I think, so if you can avoid flash I'd do so at all costs (particularly the tiny built-in flash on the 10D). If you can have light coming from more than one direction that's usually good too, as it will suppress strong shadows. As for electric lights, they can be fine but make sure you set the white balance on the camera to compensate for the colour shift that they'll give you, otherwise your shots will come out with an orange colour cast.

The tip about the tripod is a key point -- with a good tripod you can set your lens to a very small aperture (f/22, f/32) and hence large depth-of-field without worrying about the long exposures that this will require. Using the self-timer on the camera will help avoid the inevitable camera shake you'd otherwise get pressing the shutter button (unless you have a cable release).

Using this technique I've been able to take some pretty good photos of various bits of hardware with the very same camera you're getting. In particular using a reasonably short lens (50-100mm) with small aperture on a tripod gives photos that are in focus from front-to-back, which is so often not true of the typical amateur shots you see on hardware websites.

 

[Mendel]

ok... I will try to figure out how to set the white balance and aperture, but I'm really lost with all the buttons in this thing

Tell you what... I might post up a picture here and then if you're still online you could tell me what I'm doing wrong... That's if the card arrives tonight, of course

 

[digitalwanderer]

A tripod is really a must for product beauty shots, the rest is sort of improvised for me. I generally set up a chair with a few boxes on it and toss a neutral colored sheet over 'em then arrange the products on top of that and take a picture of 'em, but I'm seriously considering changing the way I do it and just taking pictures of my kids holding the kit. (I like involving me family in my hobby, and my kids get a huge kick out of it and love seeing themselves in my posts/reviews...SCREW what anyone else thinks about it! )

I know a bunch of folks use their beds and arrange stuff on the pillows, and that works pretty well too. Personally I'm trying to think of something a little new and fresh to bring some originality to it, if you're not one of the first to be reviewing something the product shots just aren't as important so why not spritz 'em up a bit?

 

[jvd]

I use the back of movie posters for shots . It lets the shot become brighter (cause its normaly a white backround) but its flat so there aren't any reflections from flash

 

[Mendel]

well, here are some raw shots... not edited yet, except downsized to 25% to keep filesize small

I need to ask you to NOT look at these just for kicks (its just reference 6800 shot by a bad photographer) cause the servers bandwidth is not free, but do look if you want to give tips...

http://jt7-315a.tky.hut.fi/mendel/gf6/

edit: yes, there is static electricity on that sheet. hence the protective bag under the card

edit2: added pic of the retail box

 

[Apoc]

Use a lamp to iluminate the card. And use macro mode, the pics are a bit blurry.

This is a sample I just took to show you the goodness of macro mode

 

[nutball]

well, here are some raw shots... not edited yet, except downsized to 25% to keep filesize small

I need to ask you to NOT look at these just for kicks (its just reference 6800 shot by a bad photographer) cause the servers bandwidth is not free, but do look if you want to give tips...

http://jt7-315a.tky.hut.fi/mendel/gf6/

edit: yes, there is static electricity on that sheet. hence the protective bag under the card

edit2: added pic of the retail box

I still think you can extract more depth-of-field from the camera, assuming you've got a tripod. I'm assuming you're using one of the kit lenses that generally comes with these, 28-200mm or something like that?

Put it into Av mode and dial the aperture down to f/22 or something similar, it'll make the shots much sharper from front to back. Unfortunately this will push the exposure time up to the point where it's probably impossible to hand-hold unless you've got lots and lots of light, or you increase the ISO (the sensor noise on the 10D is very low, ISO400 is very very usable unlike other digital cameras).

 

[rabidrabbit]

That worn cotton bed sheet is ruining the pictures.
Use better fabric, or a large cardboard sheet if available, even a wooden tabletop would be better.

 

[Mendel]

That worn cotton bed sheet is ruining the pictures.
Use better fabric, or a large cardboard sheet if available, even a wooden tabletop would be better.

Oh well I will probably edit out everything except the card anyways. Just wanted to have a somewhat one color background to make selection (and then inverse selection) easier

Well... I guess the pictures ended up a whole lot more blurry than they could have... but they might still be usable. I just wasn't able to figure out how to use the monster of a camera in time :?

Maybe better things happen next time 8)

 

[GameCat]

Depending on what lens you've got you often can't get things in focus that are close to the camera. Usually there is a macro mode that allows you to take sharp pictures even when the camera is really close to the subject. The somewhat standardised icon for a macro mode is a tulip if you can't find it for some reason. To get *really* close, you need a macro lens, but that shouldn't be needed for simple shots like these.

Once you get sharp pictures you can worry about lighting. Try taking pictures outside, natural light is easier to get right without experience. Make sure the sun is behind you and to the side a bit and use a white bedsheet or something to soften the light if it is too harsh and gives sharp shadows. That should really be enough for soem pretty good shots as long as yuo worry about composition a bit as well. Just look at some graphics card product shots you think look good and steal their composition.

Here are some simple lighting tutorials (they're geared toward CG-artists, but they use classic photography setups):

http://3dark.com/archives/lighting_principles.html
http://3dark.com/archives/lighting_tips2.html