Lighting Softbox
Product Photography Techniques
Product photography involves photographing a single product by itself with a plain background to remove any distractions and focus the viewer's attention on the product. While practicing product photography can be fun in of itself, it is particularly important if you want to sell items on eBay or through your own website. A good product image can make your listings more effective and increase your sales.
To set up an area for product photography, you can use a table pushed against a wall. Use a piece of large white card and attach one end to the wall and one end to the table. Be careful to ensure the card has a curved bend where it goes from the wall (vertical) to the table (horizontal) as you want to avoid any creases in the card. This will create a white seamless background for your product photography.
Next set up a couple of lights or flashes to light your product and the background. A two light setup can result in much better photos than relying on natural light. The ability to control the power, shape, size, and position of lighting gives you much greater control over how the photos will look.
Always-on hot lamps, small speedlights, and full size flash strobes will all work well for lighting, so long as you have some way of controlling their power output. Use light stands to hold your lights in place, this will keep the lighting consistent between shots. Your lighting needs to be diffused otherwise you will end up with harsh shadows that distract from the product.
To diffuse the lighting, there are a large of accessories available. Some common diffusion techniques are using a softbox, reflector, shoot thru umbrella, or reflective umbrella. These attach to your lights or the light stands. Diffusing the light will help bring out texture and detail in the product without causing harsh shadows and clipped highlights.
If using flash units for lighting (as opposed to always-on hot lamps), you will need some way of triggering the flashes. You can use flash sync cords that connect the flash units to the camera, or radio trigger units. Some speedlights can also be triggered by an infra-red signal from your camera's pop-up flash.
Position your product on your backdrop, and set up your camera on a tripod. For product photography a focal length of 35mm - 100mm will work well, giving you a reasonable working distance between the camera and the product. Take some test shots, adjust the brightness of your lights as necessary, and position the lights to give pleasing lighting. Two lights pointing down at the product 45° to either side from the front works well in most cases.
If you would like a reflection underneath your product, place the product on a piece of perspex plastic. Shoot down at a slight angle to include the reflection from the perspex in the image.
Take a variety of shots of your product, at different angles, and some detail shots. Once you have your lighting set up correctly, taking extra photos should be just a case of changing the position of the product, and possibly adjusting your camera position slightly.
Depending on the size of your product, a macro lens may be needed for taking detail shots. Macro lenses are specially designed to be able to focus at close distances, and maintain their sharpness, where with other lenses image quality may degrade at short distances.
While it may cost a bit to purchase light stands, speedlights or strobes, and diffusers, it can make a big difference to your product photos. And if you are a business, good product photos can make a big difference to your sales. If you are a budding photographer, remember that these accessories are also useful for other types of photography, such as portrait photography, and will likely be a good investment towards improving your photography.
About the Author
Product photography can easily be carried out at home or in the office, and you don't need a lot of expensive equipment (though some basic equipment such as lights will make it easier). For more advice on product photography, see product photography tips. As well as photographing products for use on a website or ebay, photographing your latest purchase just to show off to friends on facebook or flickr can be fun. And if you follow these product photography tips, your friends will marvel at your photos.
Will a softbox and reflector get me as good lighting as 2 softboxes?
Might be tough to get 1:1 lighting ratio (key:fill) however 1:1 is very 'flat' lighting. Softbox & reflector is good combo - you'll get around 2:1 or 3:1 ratio which is very pleasing.
You do need some shadow to help define shape & form.
5-in-1 reflectors are great because you have a choice of white (neutral), silver (slightly cool) or gold (warm) to use as reflective sides or black if you need to flag light to reduce spill. With all covers removed you get a nice diffusion panel (scrim) which can be handy.
Lighting Softbox
ePhoto 4 Light Video Photography Softbox
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Sunpak 394 Octobox Softbox $219.99 This softbox features a double diffuser for obtaining ideal lighting when capturing images and a lightweight design for easy portability. |
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Sunpak Ultra 138 x 138 Softbox $119.99 This softbox features a double diffuser for enhanced lighting and a lightweight design for easy transport. |
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Sunpak Platinum Plus 394 x 394 Softbox $189.99 This softbox features a foldable design for easy portability and a double diffuser for optimal lighting. |
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Sunpak Ultra Series 197 x 394 Softbox $199.99 This softbox is compatible with select PlatinumPlus series monolights and features a double diffuser for enhanced lighting effects and an aluminum die-cast adapter for secure connection. |
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Tocad 1300 Softbox with Softbox Diffuser $29.95 This Tocad 1300 SP-1300-SB softbox is compatible with most shoe-mount camera flashes and includes a diffuser that spreads direct light over a wide area to produce softer light with reduced shadows. |
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Sunpak 629 Octobox Softbox $299.99 Get ideal light when capturing images with this softbox that features a double diffuser for soft highlights and shadows and a lightweight design for easy portability. |
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Sunpak 472 Octobox Softbox $239.99 Get ideal light when capturing images with this softbox that features a double diffuser for soft highlights and shadows and a lightweight design for easy portability. |
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RS-7500SB 3x3 Softbox $239 This 3’x3’ softbox produces a wonderful soft light and includes the adapter ring to mount this unit to the RS-7500 Variable Quartz Light housing. Fabric is designed for use with continuous light amplications of the RS-7500. Features inner and outer diffus |
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Tocad Large Softbox Diffuser $49.95 Connect this Tocad large softbox diffuser to your shoe-mount camera flash head to project light over an expansive area, to help soften ambient light and help minimize shadows while you capture digital photos. |
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Toughbuilt 3 Pack Octagon Tower Softbox TBSBS01111A $30.71 Softbox set. Includes one 11 softbox one 6 softbox and one 3 softbox. Maximizes storage for small supplies. Compact size. Heavy duty mesh window. Wide zippered opening for easy access. Label window. Puncture resistant material. 3 pack. Length: 4.5. Width: 10.88. Height: 4.5 |
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Tocad Medium Softbox Diffuser $39.95 This Tocad medium softbox diffuser attaches to your shoe-mount camera flash head to help project light over a large area, soften ambient light and minimize shadows while you capture digital photos, resulting in improved image quality. |
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Tocad Small Softbox Diffuser $29.95 Help your digital camera's flash project light over a large area using this Tocad small softbox diffuser that attaches to your shoe-mount camera flash head to soften ambient light and minimize shadows while you capture digital photos. |
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Sunpak Ultra 18 Square Softbox $139.99 This 18" square softbox features an aluminum die-cast adapter and a lightweight, foldable design for ease of use. The double diffuser provides a soft, white light for natural-looking photographs. |
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Elinchrom Rotalux 39 Mini Octagonal Softbox $254.99 This softbox features a foldable design for easy portability and a removable front diffuser for contrast control. |
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RS-4070 Dual Rectangle Folding Softbox $209 The RPS Studio RS-4070 Dual Square Folding Softbox Kit is excellent for digital photography. A snap to set-up or close, they have no ribs or adapters...everything is built-in. They include quick folding softboxes, which expand quickly and easily, like an |
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Sunpak Ultra 16 x 305 Softbox $169.99 This 16" x 30.5" softbox features a double diffuser that provides a soft, white light for natural-looking photographs. A lightweight, foldable design offers portability and ease of use. |
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Tocad 1300 Softbox with 20 Honeycomb Grid $29.95 This Tocad 1300 SP-1300-HG softbox helps diffuse direct light and includes a honeycomb grid that narrows the beam of light from your flash, so you can easily control the fall-off for customized shots. |
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Tocad 1800 Softbox with Inner and Outer Dish Diffusers $69.95 Produce softer light during shoots with this Tocad 1800 SP-1800-SD softbox that includes inner and outer soft dish diffusers that help spread direct light from camera flashes over a wide area. |
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Tocad 500 Softbox with 25 Honeycomb Grid $29.95 This Tocad 500 SP-500-HG softbox helps diffuse harsh direct light from a camera flash. The included honeycomb grid narrows light from your flash, so you can easily control the fall-off for customized shots. |
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Toughbuilt 3 Count Octagon Cube Softbox TBSBS01166A $32.78 Softbox set. Includes three 6 softboxes. Maximizes storage for small supplies. Compact size. Heavy duty mesh window. Wide zippered opening for easy access. Label window. Puncture resistant material. 3 per pack. Length: 6. Width: 6.25. Height: 17.25 |
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+ Lighting $18.63 + Lighting |
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Lastolite Ezybox Hot Shoe Softbox Kit $164.99 This kit converts your hot shoe flash's harsh directional light to a softer diffused light to enhance your photo-taking options. |
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Film Lighting $18.67 Film Lighting |
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Lighting Systems $20.87 Lighting Systems |
Why does the lighting in my pictures come out harsh, even though I'm using a softbox?
I use a medium soft box with a strobe, and I use a Dynalite power pack with 1000 ws. I would love to have really nice soft lighting, and perhaps take pictures of someone in a natural setting (in a living room, when it's still light out). But everytime I do this, everything looks really harsh and blown out. I want soft, a la annie leibovitz (even though I think she's loosing her edge now!). Any thoughts? I have two other strobes to use...
A) Try a large white screen in front of the softbox.
B) Bounce the softbox light off a reflector
C) Reduce output power
D) Use a smaller aperture
E) Try combinations of the above
F) Leave the softbox at home and use natural light from a window...maybe with a reflector if needed.
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Portraits with One Light: Mastering the 4 X 6 Softbox $2.99 ... |
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Portraits with One Light: Mastering the 4 X 6 Softbox $59.00 ... |
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Portraits with One Light: Mastering the 4 X 6 Softbox $79.00 If you are on your way to creating professional portraits with a large quality softbox, why not start with a lesson from a master of studio lighting. You'll see how Tim evaluates and positions his modified light to perfect distance and angles for each lighting style or subject. As in previous videos, Tim describes everything with great clarity and demonstration. In this lesson, he uses one adult f... |
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Smith Victor KSB-1250 Economy Softbox Three Light Kit, with 2 SBL-2436 & 1 SBL-1024 Softbox Lights, Light Stands, Mini Boom & Photoflood Lamps - 120V AC $569.95 The Smith Victor economically-priced line all-in-one SoftBox Lights combine a softbox with the light fixture, all in one unit! Can be used with fluorescent lamps, photoflood lamps, and Smith Victors new quartz halogen lamps. The Economy Softbox Light is a great way to take advantage of softbox lighting quality at very reasonable prices. The silver metalic lining inside the softbox is designed for ... |
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Arri Softbank D1 Light Kit 571960 $2,079.99 Arri Softbank D1 Kit Model # 571960 The Arri SoftBank D1 Kit is perfect for use with your new DV camera. As Digital Cameras are getting smaller so are the Lighting Kits!! With (3) Arri Fresnels and a Chimera Softbank, the D1 Kit is lightweight and portable, but doesn't sacrifice great light quality. Here's what you get: 1 530100 Arri 150W Fresnel Light |
