p.1 #1 · Product Photography - Blowing Out Background
I'm in need of photographs for my graphic design portfolio, I need to shoot images of some of my portfolio peices (swatch books, packaging design, etc) on a completely white background, however I want to keep a slight shadow.
Basically I need my images to look just like this:
My current gear is simple; 45" and 60" convertible umbrella, Sunpak 120J, Cybersync triggers (1 transmitter, 2 receivers). So I only have a single light, although I'm sure theres a way to go about this and get the photographs to fit into my portfolio website and book.
p.1 #2 · Product Photography - Blowing Out Background
the type of photography is commonly called a knockout. deisgners later knockout the bg and place the image in layouts.
that type of shot looks like its shot on a shooting table or something similar. you can mimic with a large sheet of posterboard. the lighting will be experiemental.
the setup youre going for isnt the same here than blowing out the background like you would a model.
p.1 #3 · Product Photography - Blowing Out Background
I suppose I'd have to use a longer lens for a table top setup? Kind of making it act as a crop?
I guess I could borrow (or buy and return at worst) a secondary flash unit, I do have my second receiver for my cybersyncs.
I tried shooting flowers in a similar manner (big white table) but I always got some grey vignettes, and cropping the objects in the image wasnt an easy task as the shadow produced from the flowers would cut into the vignette, which meant I couldnt really make a smooth crop.
p.1 #4 · Product Photography - Blowing Out Background
something small like that you can do with a speedlight and a shoot through umbrella.....granted this isn't the BEST example, and the background is a lot darker for some reason after upload, but trust me the actual raw image has a perfect white background...anyway, this was 2 shoot through umbrellas with 285hv's iso 200 f/11 with a d70...strobes prob at 1/16 power....focal length was at 50mm..prob could have done it with one umbrella if it was more on axis to the product, and i had more background distance...the background was about 1ft behind the product here.... super easy to do...i did this just to show a friend who makes the purses....spent about 2 minutes setting it up, just quick and dirty....prob would have got better results if i played with it more...but as you can see, it's easy....
p.1 #6 · Product Photography - Blowing Out Background
kamil wrote:
...I need to shoot images...on a completely white background, however I want to keep a slight shadow.
The main thing you will need is a white "sweep" -- that is, a white surface that runs from the horizontal surface you'll set your items on smoothly up to the vertical backdrop with no sharp angles between the two.
You can use an umbrella from up high and point it angled downward so that it's aimed at the point midway between the flat and the upright portions of the sweep, with the broad spread of the light covering foreground and upper background. A softbox or bounce panel would also work, but since you already have the umbrellas then you're good to go with those.
The further the light is from the set, the more even the light will be; so keep it back, as long as you can get enough power to keep the sweep looking white.
p.1 #10 · Product Photography - Blowing Out Background
swoop wrote:
Like this? You just point a light at the background and have it overexpose the background.
To my eye, the silver bracelet looks over exposed and the gems look undersaturated as a result.
"Just" overexposing the background may not yield the best results for the foreground; you need to take all factors into account. Overcomplicating things isn't good, but neither is oversimplifying them.
in order for me to blow out background all i had to do was aim the BD towards the back and feather some light onto the food. this would help solve the blown out milk and plate, also give that pure white bg. so itll take a few shots to get your lighting right but once you do, youll knock the rest of you shots out within seconds compared to the minutes it took to setup your first shot.
