help me figure out a lighting/flash setup.

2quick2clique

I'm setting up a studio at work for photographing small items (1"x1" up to 12"x10")..

Previously I've done this with some heavy incandescent (hot) lights and a single bounce flash.

I've done it in a 3 point lighting scenario - 2 lights behind and above the camera, then with the flash bounding up to the ceiling where a 4'x8' reflector board is affixed.

I've got a couple nikons with the SB600 flash - that's the flash I'm using..

This has worked, and turns out tolerably useable pics.. but its insufferably hot. very hot. and the lights burn around 1500 watts on the two lights..

I've been contemplating going to either: 1 some stand-mounted flashes with umbrellas, to give full soft light, or 2. 2 more SB600's with an OmniBounce or a Gary Fong type diffusion. or 3. some LED based lights on stands for non-flash lighting..

The items being photographed are electronic in nature, so many have glossy surfaces which tend to reflect heavily (hence the need for heavy diffusion....

Thoughts?

I'd like to keep this in a lower budget range and not break the bank. I'd also like to have it be a replicable situation (where I'm not having to shoot mulitple shots to get usable results)....

ziggy53

Product photography can be tough, especially shiny stuff, white stuff and clear glass/plastic.

For shiny subjects I prefer a double-diffused setup. I used to shoot in a "white room", where the floor, walls and ceiling were all white, or very slightly off-white. I bounced the primary flashes off the room, at angles conducive to the subject matter. Then I surrounded the subject matter with some sort of additional diffusion as a sort of "light tent". You can purchase light tents, but any sort of translucent, color neutral material can be used.

Remember to use "flags" and dark "absorbers" to help shape the light and to model the reflections to add shape to the subject, as needed.

Electronic flash, either studio lights or small battery-power flash, may be used, but studio monolights are more useful for shooting large quantities of products. Most monolights have a modelling lamp which helps to position the lights and predict shadows.