Television offers way to create backdrops, sets for product, model photo shoots

     Caleb Pike, over at the DSLR Shooter on Youtube offers a way to set up backgrounds or even animated sets for shooting product photos, models or action figures.

    Pike recommends using a flat-screen television. In his case, he uses a 55-inch 4k TV screen that has built-in Roku, allowing him to cast photos or animations on to the screen.

    He uses it as both a tabletop, where he projected heads-up display-style graphics around his subjects, or created animations that helped light it up. The TV he used was durable enough to put a mirrorless camera body on, but he suggested getting a plexiglass sheet to protect more delicate screens.

    The other way is to use it as a backdrop, putting up an image to serve as the background, which can be adjusted for perspective and lighting through a linked phone.

    Pike also offers a few things to look for when picking a TV, or a monitor, and how to get the best photo possible in the process.

    

 

PVC Lightbox improves quality of product photos

    Between Etsy, eBay and other online commerce sites, there are a lot of people hawking wares on the internet.

    And to promote these products, the sellers put up pictures, and the quality varies from professional-looking product photos to something someone took with a cheap phone camera on a kitchen table with no thought for lighting.

    Poor photos don't necessarily lead to sales, or getting the best price in an online auction. People can't see how good the product looks.

    But there is a way to get good looking product photos. Use a light box. It's a device that surrounds the product in soft light from multiple sides, eliminating reflections and shadows, as well as distracting backgrounds.

    There are some DIY versions made from cardboard boxes, but the best, in my opinion, is the one made from PVC pipe. PVC Fittings Online has a Youtube video showing how they put together one for product photography.

    I built one, using two 10-foot lengths of ½-inch PVC pipes, with four three-way connectors and four elbows. I use the elbows to put the extra two-foot sections across the bottom as feet. It cost me less than $11 in PVC parts at Lowe's.

    While the video calls for making the walls out of curtain, I found that blank newsprint works as well. You can usually get a roll of the material from your local newspaper for a dollar or two.