any product shot tips?

[lucy111]

i'm fairly new to photography so any suggestions would be great

i need to do some product shots of a bed, when doing them previously i have struggled with the image looking distorted. is it better to use a wide angle lense closer up or zoom in at distance with a regular lens?

also i'm reliant on natural light plus a few fluorescents in the room so the images are coming out quite dark so i mostly use a slower shutter speed is this the best option?

thanks for any advice

[Booter]

if you can afford it and you think you'll be doing more product shots, don't struggle, just get the appropriate lense. if not, use your second option, like i do and just move back and zoom in. I'd also invest in a decent light and stand with an umbrella. I bought a kit long ago and it's been really handy indoors. Just gotta be careful with the bulbs, they are not cheap and break easily, i found.

[Taallyn]

With low light, a tripod would be very useful. I had to take photographs of my former employer's artwork. All of it was in poorly lit conference rooms and hallways. The tripod and using the camera's release timer made it very easy to get good exposures with no camera shake.

I haven't taken product shots of anything as large as a bed, but I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't end up needing to add some light to it somehow. An off camera flash on a stand with an umbrella and a hung, white bed sheet for a bounce card might do wonders for you.

[ditch_azeroth]

an off-camera flash and tripod would be good additions. you can even get/create some bouncers to highlight shadowed areas. sometimes, i find it interesting to play with the curtains and how natural light comes thru to get nice shadowettes onto the bed ^_^

[Sls5100]

As mentioned, if you think this is going to be something you'll be doing more than once just invest in a decent lens. Moving back and zooming in will work, but with the right lens you'd get a way better show, in my opinion.

[shooterspecks]

I second the suggestions for the use of a tripod to avoid camera shake. In addition to using the timer in the absence of a tripod, I read another tip that's worked out really well for me. If you can't access a tripod and are shooting with a slower shutter speed, shoot 3 shots in continuous mode. You'll hold steadier during the second shot since you're not either pushing down or releasing the shutter button.

[Alex168]

Your biggest concear here is going to be light! if you can controll the light you can pretty much do anything!

take a look at this thread where i m working and playing around with lightning, you could increase the shutter speed but if its a long time you will end up with noise in ur image. Using a fisheye would be really good in my oppinion because it wont render those "distorted" lines when corrected, a normal wideangel will give you those bent lines which r a true pain!