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Re: [OM] How to take proper product pics outside (WB?)

Subject: Re: [OM] How to take proper product pics outside (WB?)
From: Olaf Greve <ogreve@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Fri, 22 Oct 2010 00:29:36 +0200
Hi Chuck and others,

Good news!
Last Friday the swivel heads came in, and yesterday the brolly boxes  
arrived. :)

Spare time seems to be "sparse time", so I've only had about 15  
minutes to play with the set-up (though I hope to get around to it  
some more over the weekend).

There were a few unforeseen issues in the set-up, for which I'll have  
to figure out a solution:

1) I mounted the brolly boxes on the swivel heads with the flashes; no  
problem. But... the umbrellas are wide and the tripod legs are  
preventing the umbrellas from being angled at some 45 degrees from  
above. I may figure out an easy way around this, but I certainly  
welcome suggestions.
Either way: this issue caused the umbrellas (and flashes) to be  
shooting perpendicularly from the table top (i.e. from the side of the  
subject, but then positioned higher than the subject, so it's not from  
the very side).

2) The daylight was just starting to fade and the location where I was  
taking the pictures was relatively dark. This caused great  
difficulties for the Auto Focus to do its work. The built in flash  
cannot pop up, as the flash shoe cable (T-cord) blocks it. I guess I  
could use an external (small) lamp to make focussing easier, but then  
I'd be throwing incandescent light into the mix. I tried manual  
focussing but that's pretty tough too. I guess I need to shoot during  
the daytime then...

Then, the set-up was:
E-500 + 14-45 F3.5-5.6, Manual, 1/160 @ f5.6, ISO 100, two T20s, one  
to the left, one to the right of the subject, both firing into the  
brolly boxes, coming straight from the side. Distance from flash to  
diffuser (i.e. round part of the umbrella) +/- 20 cm, distance of  
diffuser to subject +/- 25 cm.

The results are pretty pleasing, but not perfect. If you consider this  
shot (full size, unedited):
http://www.millennics.com/test/PA215718.JPG

The WB was not yet set properly; in reality, the backdrop is plain  
white.

Now, my two main issues with the pictures are:
1) Some shadows still occur. This was surprising to me. Perhaps the  
high, perpendicular, position of the flashes relative to the subject,  
caused that? Is this something that can easily be improved (reflector?  
45 degree angles from above? something else?)
2) Another unexpected issue are the two 'gleam' lines running over the  
length of the subject.

To illustrate this, consider:
http://www.millennics.com/test/PA215718_with_comments.jpg

Could it perhaps be that the light was not diffuse enough?

Any ideas how I can improve this?

Cheers,
Olafo
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