Ok so have have a fe nail polish containers for a makeup comp. that i did some ad work for and they asked me if i can help them out and shoot these for them. my question is where do i start? How should i light these ect etc? I have never shot anything like this and i don't have a light box should i go get one and if so what one? ad should i use hot lights or my strobes that i already have?
Any info would be nice.

Thanks!

Joe-

http://www.strobist.blogspot.com/2006/0 … tudio.html

or just google "diy macro studio"

It really depends on what type of shots. Since you're new to this style, I'd suggest hot lights or a light kit with modeling lights. That way you can see exactly what you're doing. In the end it really doesn't matter much in terms of your end results. Are they looking for hi-key or shots with a background?

One suggestion would be to use a large softbox close in, so you don't get harsh shadows as well odd reflections. Keep the room dark so that you don't get reflections from objects in the room and yourself.

Yeah from what i understand is they want it high key to display there polish but with this being said there tops of teh bottels are very very shiney and are refelecting objects (light stand ect ect)

I use a whit sheet over white painted wire hoops with a small desk lamp with daylight bulb on each end.

The setup that I want to build is going to be one of those milky white plastic 55gal. drums- modified, but I haven't run accross one, now that I'm looking for one.

Use those sticky goowy things that you peel off and place, to keep stuff still because they are only about the size of a small pencil eraser, and can be cut smaller, and are translucent to keep shadows down.  Looking for some transparent plastic rods, as well. 

Hope that helps.

One thing that you can do (that we used in out studio for product shots) is to take a trip to your local hardware stor and pick up a sheet of 4' wide by 8' (or 6') by 1/8" translucent (milky) plexiglas or Lexan... and get a few clamps and two saw/work horses.

I clamp one end of the plexi to the saw horse and then I bend the sheet in an arc (like a cove) up a wall, and then I clamp or screw it to the wall. (If the front of the plexi is too droopy where its clamped to the saw/work horses, then place a 1x3 or 2x4 between the plexyi and saw horses to stabilze the front.)

I place a large softbox w/strobe directly underneath (and up against) the plexi and use that to illuminate from below.  I place another large softbox w/strobe directly overhead for even lighting from above and then I used a strobe with snoot to provide the specular or directed spot lighting.

Best wishes on your project,
John

I've shot for the nail industry for years. I've also shot just about every polish manufacturer's products both in and out of the bottle. As for bottles, I never use softboxes... I always shoot with lights behind scrims. This is kinda my style with products, so it's not a general rule, just my rule. I just like the highlights to have a feathered edge instead of a hard one, especially for companies like Essie where the logo is molded into the glass of the bottle instead of silk screened like most everyone else.

For pours, I use a single light with 11" reflector covered with diffusion and sometimes use a silver card for an opposing reflection.

As for your client's bottles. It's hard to say how I would light them because there are so many shapes of bottles and cap/brushes. I would have to see the shape of the bottle and cap first.

Oh, one more thing. Don't use fome-core as a reflector in product photography. It's not white and you'll have color correction issues. For small products, I either use silver or cover fome-core with white paper.