How Did They Light This Table Top?

Shane McGee · May 10, 2016

Hi,

I was curious if anyone has any guesses on how exactly they achieve this seemingly simple overhead camera shot, as far as lighting...especially on a white table top like this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgmhi0Vi9oo

Is it just one large source from the upper left? Is that light higher up (vertically) or around table level or...?

Is there likely a fill light from bottom right, or just some bounce to fill in? Is it likely lit over the top as well? Its just pretty even looking...

Anyways, just curious if anyone has achieved this look before, or has any thoughts on how best to do it?

(Obviously while still allowing room for the camera rigged from above...and also the hands entering the frame from different angles, etc.)

Thanks for your thoughts.

David Mullen ASC · May 10, 2016

Probably big soft light from the left and a big white card on the right (or another soft light that was not as bright.)

Jean Gonzales · May 10, 2016

Probably big soft light from the left and a big white card on the right (or another soft light that was not as bright.)

I'm also going with this. I would like to add that the screens have been put in in post.

Edited May 10, 2016 by Jean G

Shane McGee · May 10, 2016

Probably big soft light from the left and a big white card on the right (or another soft light that was not as bright.)

Thanks David.

How big of a light source would you start out with for something like this...with this amount of softness? Maybe Diva Lite through a 4x4, 6x6, etc...shower curtain? :-)

Shane McGee · May 10, 2016

I'm also going with this. I would like to add that the screens have been put in in post.

Yeah, good call on that. I wonder if that glass edge reflection is put back in somehow as well?

Also, I'm curious how they do the black shots of seemingly the same white shots...?

JIGNESH JHAVERI · May 16, 2016

I may be wrong, but I think the phones have been rendered in CG.

Most of the product images these days from Apple etc are rendered from 3D Models in Keyshot.

I could be wrong, but my guess is the phones are CGI.

At a couple of points, I see the screen edge highlights below the finger of the hand. If I was shooting this for Samsung, I know they'd want their phones looking 'perfect' and would do the same.

timHealy · May 20, 2016

I have worked on one series of Samsung tabletop commercials and these things are way more complicated than everyone here thinks. (except David) There are a lot of reflective surfaces including the screen. that need to be lit and dialed in. They typically do a few commercials in one day or over a few days. These phones are not CGI. They are selling the product. However the screens may be embellished depending on what is on the screen at the time.

This may look relatively easy but tabletop photography can be surrounded with large sources, fill lights, reflective fill lights or show cards and bounce boards, Silver and gold show cards, mixed daylight and tungsten sources, and solids for unwanted reflections.

Tabletop can be mind numbing and tedious. Just saying

Best

Tim

Edited May 20, 2016 by timHealy

Robin R Probyn · May 20, 2016

Maybe not in this case.. but in my limited experience of studio shoots.. the white background look that Apple made trendy,and associated with High Tech.. a few years back .. is often shot green screen.. and the "white" is put in in post.. .

Shane McGee · May 20, 2016

This may look relatively easy but tabletop photography can be surrounded with large sources, fill lights, reflective fill lights or show cards and bounce boards, Silver and gold show cards, mixed daylight and tungsten sources, and solids for unwanted reflections.

Tabletop can be mind numbing and tedious. Just saying

Thanks Tim. The difficultly and complexity is definitely not lost on me. This is why I'm absolutely fascinated with it!

There seems to be surprisingly little info out there for this type of thing too, as far as behind the scenes explanations of lighting and examples of the results, etc.

Jean Gonzales · May 21, 2016

Thanks Tim. The difficultly and complexity is definitely not lost on me. This is why I'm absolutely fascinated with it!

There seems to be surprisingly little info out there for this type of thing too, as far as behind the scenes explanations of lighting and examples of the results, etc.

Here's some bts from a job past week.

Hope it helps!

To light up the glas:

2 skypanels through 1/1 diff camera right

To control reflections:

1 bbs area bounced into a overhead poly

bouncecard 45degree above mattebox

To light the background:

4 bank kino

Edited May 21, 2016 by Jean G

Akos Baranya · May 22, 2016

well seeing that setup above was a sobering experience, here is a *shittier* tabletop setup i did for thankfully unreflective objects:

timHealy · June 7, 2016

Maybe not in this case.. but in my limited experience of studio shoots.. the white background look that Apple made trendy,and associated with High Tech.. a few years back .. is often shot green screen.. and the "white" is put in in post.. .

Generally speaking, I think a green screen may not be a great idea for a phone with reflective glass and aluminum surfaces. Just saying. I'm sure there are times where green screen could work, but a black or white background may be better.

I can recall one Samsung series where white was the background and another series where black was the background. One had a motion control camera and a turntable, and the other most phones were attached to a grip stand or held by an actor's hand which in turn was supported by a grip stand and pad to keep steady.

Best

Tim

Robin R Probyn · June 7, 2016

Yes thats true sir.. esp for shiny stuff.. Ive done a few small scale commercial/ corp shoots where in the end, the background was white .. but they always shot green screen to be able to "control" the whiteness.. for want of a better word .. :) in post .. it all started from those iconic Apple commercials.. then everyone wanted the same look !