I5ts all the same colour so its hard to distinguish between background and foreground

You chould only need a relatively low apature too. F8 is a bit high try an f4. This will increase your shutter speed and then sync it with your flash.
Why didnt the flash fire as its in a studio?
try an Automatic run and see how that turns out.

I dont have a flash, im using some studio lights from bowens which dont appear to be that bright to me but what do I know.

Ill try something automatic and see what happens, what about changing the background, would that potentially help?

Iwould image so. I dark backgound will make the case seem brighter and easier to see

EDIt: somat like....

Just having a look at my lights now, they do have a what can only be called a white sheet, that goes over the front of the lights to stop the harshness I believe

The case is actually inside a light tent but I think I put the lights over the top resulting in the harshness.  Ill try angling them so it hits the light tent first and then try with some carboard and tin foil. If it works Ill send out some freebies to people (ive loads stuff floating about that somone might find interesting lol)

Your photos seem a little underexposed and lack contrast.

You dont need studio lights to do product photography (although it helps).

This was taken with a single flashgun...


I sh*t you not.

 :mrgreen:
 

Wow.. I hate you lol.  To increase the exposure I can increase the shutter time (thats the fstop isnt it)  could you make a few suggestions to help us out?

F Stop is apeture not shutter.

Apeture = the amount that the shutter opens
Shutter time = the time that the shutter is open that amount.

Large F stop = small apeture.
Small F stop = large apeture.

Small F stop = shallow DOF (in eagles photo the rear of the photo is blurry, the front isnt)
Large F stop = Deep DOF = Everything will be in focus.

Eagle is right however, instead of using a white background in your light tent get hold of a piece of dark material to stand the material on, a sheet of flexible black plastic stuck onto some plywood will suffice (look for fablon in B&Q), same goes for the backdrop, get hold of a metre of some soft fabric (preferably not felty... because it picks up dust and crud thatll be possible to see, but cotton should be fine, a local market should be able to get you that stuff for a couple of quid).

Use a diffuser (the white stuff you have in front of the lamps) to soften the light. and thats it pretty much.

You may also find non-typical bases and backgrounds work best... so not necessarily black and white, but maybe light blue and white, or bright deep yellow and white.

...So the bigger the Fstop the more in focus Ill get it.  Right with you now

The bigger the number, yes.  Large f number = small aperture = less light onto the recording medium BUT... greater Depth of Field* which inherently gives you a little more leeway for errors in focusing.

*Depth of field is the zone of acceptable sharpness extending approximately 1/3rd in front of and 2/3rds behind the point of focus at any given aperture.

Simple!  
 

brummie, eagle - keep that sort of stuff out of photography or a lot more posts are going to be removed.