Recording table
Shooting tables, also known as mini photo studios in common parlance , are mainly used today for product photography . These are devices for ideal illumination of the object to be photographed.
For this purpose, the object is illuminated from several sides with daylight lamps or corresponding light banks in order to ensure color fidelity and largely avoid the formation of shadows. The fillet, i.e. the edgeless background, is chosen either for the direct presentation of the photo, but mostly for the purpose of simplifying the image processing. It is fixed with the help of a frame on which the object to be photographed is also placed.
Variations
Three different types of shooting tables have become established, each designed for objects of different sizes to be photographed and for different purposes.
- Suitcase studios : Everything you need for recording such as lamps , covings , backgrounds is stowed in a portable container so that photos can be taken on site or at any point
- Photo boxes : These are solid containers with built-in all-round lighting and built-in chamfers in which the object can be photographed as if on a stage
- Mini photo studios : These permanently installed shooting tables in the true sense of the word offer most of the setting options (e.g. via illumination by controllable light banks) for photography, so that the recordings can be made with the highest quality here
commitment
Suitcase studios are the cheapest and, because of their mobility, the most flexible shooting tables. Its users include collectors , sellers in online auction houses, artisanal jewelry manufacturers , small businesses and dental laboratories .
Fixed photo boxes and professional mini photo studios are particularly characterized by a considerably higher light output, which, unlike in the case of the suitcase studio, makes time-consuming fine adjustment of the lamps to achieve optimal lighting superfluous. Due to the illuminance of the lamps, the light source does not have to come so close to the object.
These types of shooting tables are used, for example, to create industrial development documentation, catalogs or warehouse management. They can also be found with professional photographers who have permanently set up their own location for taking pictures of medium-sized products.
- See also tabletop photography
conditions
The main requirement of product photography is the cropping of the objects to be photographed. The object should therefore be detached from the background and without shadows - mostly on white - stand out on its own. This is only possible if several light sources illuminate the object from all sides. Ideally, it is also illuminated from below by a luminous background.
A special case of this shadow-free exemption is the soft focus of the shadow cast by means of a glass or plexiglass plate that is attached 10–15 cm above the ground. A shadow cast by the objects lying on it now blurs on the removed background and can easily be completely retouched during the subsequent image processing.