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I have little experience in this field of photography. I would like to get a "shadowless" photo on a gray background. An example of what I want I found on the Internet:

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My results are unfortunately bad. I use two 180x120 softboxes and radio synchronizer. One softbox was placed right in front of the target another softbox 45 degrees from the target. They are set to the same power. I use Canon EOS 5D Mark III with Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM lens. I upload simple example (ISO 100, F9, 1/125). Although the photo is slightly underexposed

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The photo was unsuccessful. As I understand it is surely the wrong scheme of light. But I can not understand how to achieve a shadowless effect as at the top of the photo. And of course my photo doesn’t look like a contrast compare to others.

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  • Imgur doesn't seem to be resizing the 2nd image properly - I've posted about it on Meta - photo.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/5821/…
    – Tetsujin
    Dec 16, 2018 at 18:08
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    You said product photography but you posted portrait photos. Have you read any books on studio lighting?
    – Alaska Man
    Dec 16, 2018 at 18:43
  • @Alaska man Many internet stores photograph their products on models (sweaters, etc.) But you are right, I edited my post to avoid misunderstandings
    – SysRq308
    Dec 16, 2018 at 20:52
  • Note that if you look very carefully at the background, you do see some slight shadows that may provide useful clues.
    – chrylis -cautiouslyoptimistic-
    Dec 17, 2018 at 0:09
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    Putting shoes on the model will already improve the image a lot :) Especially since the kind of background used does not feel like anything you would want to walk on in socks.
    – rackandboneman
    Dec 17, 2018 at 10:32

3 Answers 3

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Your results would improve if you change your lamp placement so that some shadows are realized. I am talking about the face as well as the garment. Set the frontal lamp at ½ power and the side lamp at full power. If the power is non-adjustable, back-up the frontal lamp so that it is about 1 ½ times the distanced from the subject as the side light. Such a lash-up will create the shadows you need to give an illusion of depth and add some pizzazz. Too much diffused light results in flat photographs.

The above set-up will create shadows on the background. You can remove these shadows via your photo editor or – illuminate the background with a dedicated lamp. You adjusts its power and or distance from the background to darken or lighten. For a permanent set-up – use a translucent background and illuminate from the rear. This will yield a shadow less background provided you can evenly illuminate.

Also, if editing using a photo editor is not your forte, consider, shadows are not as distracting if they are restrained.

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Have you considered a ring-flash?

These are often used in macro photography to eliminate shadow, but there are large ring-flashes for studio work, too.

By surrounding your lens with a light source, it ensures that the shadow is behind the subject.

Ring-flashes tend to be high-contrast, but some manufacturers have light modifiers — reflectors or softboxes — that spread out the light and make it lower contrast.

Powerful studio ring-flashes can be pricey, especially if you don't already have a pack-and-head system. I use Profoto Acute D4 with reflectors, converted to work on my Speedotron packs. I have also modified large "beauty dish" softboxes to work with the Profoto. That results in absolutely shadowless shots of even large items, but your catchlights will be little doughnuts. :-)

enter image description here

Finally, here is a cheap (under $20) light modifier to work with your speedlight to give it ringflash capabilities. I have one, and find it is okay, but a bit uneven, and I don't really like speedlights. It may be all you need, or it may help you determine if you want to spend the money on a decent pack-and-head ring-flash.

ring softbox for speedlight

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The picture used as the example has probably been retouched in photoshop to even out the background and get rid of any unwanted shadows, a procedure that is quite easy in photoshop and very common.

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