About to start a massive photo project for work (11,000 product shots)

[shocksyde]

So, any tips on not going nuts and setting fire to all the camera equipment?

The good news is that the 11,000 items are all bottles of wine, spirits and beer. Sooooo, if I get thirsty...

It's actually all very exciting. I'm ordering brand new studio equipment, a 5DMKII, 100mm Macro (product shots) and a 16-35L (retail store shots). This will be the single greatest thing that I've done in my (relatively short) career.

AND it involves a road trip to DELAWARE! Oh, the excitement!

Here's an example of what the pics will looks like. The lighting will be softer with the new setup.

 

[xchangx]

From the picture on your sites, it looks like there's a hotspot line on the left side. I'd try to get rid of that somehow. I've never done product shots so I wouldn't know.

What lights will you be working with?

 

[Kaido]

Lightroom 3 beta supports tethering, I think the 5D2 is on the list. Might want to look into that for some addition speed (no swapping memory cards).

 

[Dubb]

Does canon have an updated 85 TSE yet? great for controlling focus/DOF on objects in a controlled environment. I'd also get the new 24 TSE for interiors over the 16-36L. The new 24 is sharper and you can shift up to keep verticals straight.

The biggest thing with product photography seems to be controlling reflections and shadows.

Most of the guys I've seen have piles of screens, reflectors, grids, and lights, as well as goose-necks, clamps, armatures, stands, etc to hold everything just right.

 

[slashbinslashbash]

The biggest thing with product photography seems to be controlling reflections and shadows.

Most of the guys I've seen have piles of screens, reflectors, grids, and lights, as well as goose-necks, clamps, armatures, stands, etc to hold everything just right.

This.

Spend more on lighting and studio tools than on the camera and lenses. You'll be shooting at f/11 anyway. Practically any lens will be good enough. Although a TS-E would be nice to have extreme DOF. Probably the 90mm TS-E would be ideal for that, as long as everything you're shooting is breadbox-sized or smaller.

 

[angry hampster]

Oughtta be a fun, but tiring project.

As mentioned above, make sure you have a good light setup. Hot lights would be easiest, but would be terrible to work around for 11,000 products. Get yourself a couple Nikon SB600s or Canon 540EZs and wireless triggers.

 

[soydios]

I suggest tethered shooting using either Lightroom 3 Beta or your camera manufacturer's software with Lightroom autoimporting from that folder. Set up your default develop presets and create collections as you shoot and you should be good to go.

 

[shocksyde]

From the picture on your sites, it looks like there's a hotspot line on the left side. I'd try to get rid of that somehow. I've never done product shots so I wouldn't know.

What lights will you be working with?

Yep that's the main thing I'll be fixing before getting started. New equipment will allow me to play with light ratios a lot more.

 

[shocksyde]

Lightroom 3 beta supports tethering, I think the 5D2 is on the list. Might want to look into that for some addition speed (no swapping memory cards).

Reeeaaaaaally? Lightroom 2 will be on the laptop, but maybe I'll have them install beta 3 and play around with it.

 

[shocksyde]

Oughtta be a fun, but tiring project.

As mentioned above, make sure you have a good light setup. Hot lights would be easiest, but would be terrible to work around for 11,000 products. Get yourself a couple Nikon SB600s or Canon 540EZs and wireless triggers.

Getting a hybrid portable/studio setup with monolights to replace our current hotlight setup. I've been messing around with flashguns and wireless triggers on my own time so it'll be exciting to play with some actual studio strobes.

 

[shocksyde]

Got all the new equipment! Now I have to play with it for a week or so and get a feel for the best setup before we head out and start shooting.

I've got the white wine setup pretty much ready.

 

[klocwerk]

Got all the new equipment! Now I have to play with it for a week or so and get a feel for the best setup before we head out and start shooting.

I've got the white wine setup pretty much ready.

Looks pretty good!

You've got a strong vertical line just to the left of center from your lighting (probably the edge of your softbox judging by location), but that's nit-picky photographer eye and not something a consumer would likely notice or care about.
One way to get around that is to pick up a piece of whiteboard, cut a hole in it for your lens, and shoot through that so you have 360 degrees of white around the bottle. Eliminates that white/black edge.