Hi all,
I've been contacted by a friend to photograph flutes for product pamphlets and photos for website use. Since the flutes are polished metal (silver and gold) and highly reflective, I could use all the advice/guidance I can get. I have some experience with macro jewelry.
I don't have a current product/studio lighting setup for something as large as a flute (~29" in length), so I'd be looking into purchasing equipment. I've done extensive reading on lighting, but there's A LOT of information out there. Any real world/practical experience would be MUCH appreciated.
I was thinking of using something like this (http://www.photoflex.com/Photoflex_Products/Large_LiteRoom/index.html) to keep down reflections. Is this a useful/realistic option?
What type of lighting? I own one 580 EX now, but I was thinking that continuous light would be more advisable in this product photography situation.
I'm open to any and all recommendations!
Thanks!
~Torin
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Torin,
I don't think the photoflex tent is the too for flutes.
Instead of a white tent, what you might want is a black velvet tablecloth and backdrop. Then I would surround the "set" with black cloth (this cloth doesn't have to look as good as the velvet as it won't be photographed). You're going to need a fairly large space as you're going to have to put your lights inside the black tent, or at least above it.
You can rent a selection of "c" stands and black flags to build your "studio" walls from. Make sure to get sand bags as well to keep them from falling over. You might want as many as 8 to 10 of these stands. I would suggest at least 6 4x4' black flags to go with it.
After you build your dark studio, set your shot with a temporary light on so you can frame the shot with the camera on a tripod.
Since the flute is reflective, like glass, you won't be lighting the flute but rather photographing the lights reflecting off of the flute. This means you want large soft lights (bouncing a light of a 2x6' white card for example) instead of shining a lamp directly on the flute. By lighting the white card, you'll be seeing the reflection of the card in the flute, and that will define the flute.
I would start by using only one light source (the light source here means the card you're reflecting the light off of) and place it above and behind the flute (a soft back light).
Shoot an exposure (I'm assuming digital here) and you'll see a well defined top of the flute with the bottom probably too dark and blending into the black velvet. To solve this, get another white card and place it in front and below the flute, just out of frame. This will reflect the backlight onto the dark part of the flute and the reflection of the 2nd white card will define the rest of the flute.
If you don't shoot in the "black" studio, light from all the white walls will be reflected off the flute and it will appear flat. I think that the single light into the white card should be enough, but if the 2nd white card isn't reflecting enough light, you can add a small amount of light to the 2nd white card.
Hope this makes sense, it would much easier to show a diagram but I'm not sure how to post one here.
You can use either strobes or light bulbs, or fluorescents for this project as the flutes don't move and you can make as long an exposure as necessary.
It's just like shooting a car --- but smaller.
Good luck!
-bruce