This is the first time we saw a DIY 360 photography turntable that has a simple design and is not just automatic but also features a unique opening in the center. This surely opens a lot of possibilities with the bottom lighting that can really help with a shadow free 360 product photography. Patrick says the development is still in progress but we can clearly see how his concept can be very useful.

We’re looking forward to seeing how Patrick’s design will evolve. Of course, if you own a commercial studio or an e-commerce shop that needs to handle a large number of products, an industry leading robotic Ortery PhotoBench series share a similar concept with built-in lighting and full computer controlled automation.

Check out our latest guest blog post on PhotoGear360.com by Bary Daly, an Australian product photographer in Melbourne and our friend. In this post Bary talks about 360 spin photography of a small scooter that he produced for one of his clients. It's pretty informative with a photo of his studio setup and can be used as a simple guide for shooting larger items in 360.

Bary’s set up and his manual DIY 360 photography turntable (which is similar to ours) are good examples of how 360 product photography can be done professionally and on a budget.

Read the full post here or visit his 360 photography studio on the web.

Here's an interesting use of WebRotate 360 Product Viewer that was kindly shared with us by Group Delphi.

And here's what they had to say: "Group Delphi worked with WebRotate 360 to create a touchscreen demo at an industry tradeshow showcasing several industrial motors. 3D CAD models were animated to show the exploded views with pop up details as well as rotations of individual parts. After the show it was so well liked the client wanted it packaged as a self running PC app for sales to use on laptops. Finally it was also made into an internal iPad app for sales to take on the road."

PS: Some of the functionality used by Group Delphi in this project was made possible by recent additions and fixes in the latest release of our 360 photography software that you can download here.

In this guest blog post our friend, an Australian product photographer Bary Daly, is sharing his 360 photography setup that they used to capture 360 product images of several scooters for one of their clients. 

I shot 4 mobile scooters last year for a company here in Melbourne. I did it here in my small studio which would be a 6 m x 4 m. The scooters are very heavy so it took 2 people to get them in then lift them up on the turntable.

I have a very unsophisticated set up. I used 3 direct light heads with five (28watt fluorescent colour temperature 5000k-5500k) bulbs in each head. These lights plus reflectors on both sides of the scooter and at the back was all the light needed.

I used direct lights because flash lights make the rotation flicker as there is a slight difference in power output between each flash. To keep the perspective of the scooter right I positioned the camera as far back as possible with a 105mm lens. The aperture also needs to be at least f16 to give sharp definition to the scooter from back to front. I focused on the front then set to manual so it would not change as the scooter spins. At f16 the shutter needs to be dragged to get the best exposure I’m not sure exactly what it was but the camera needs to be on a tripod.

The top part of the turntable is marked 24 evenly around. I did this by putting masking tape around the top of the turntable then peeling it off measuring it and dividing it by 24. 24 images works well for large items smaller products need more images per rotation to make them look smooth.

Once the 24 images are complete a clipping paths is done for each image to knock out the background and fill it with white. I’ve also added a reflection on the tires to enhance the perception of depth.

This set up works well for most large items. The turntable is home made using 2 pieces of scrap woods with a 12 inch Lazy Susan bearing in between. It can take quite a bit of weight also. Live models also works well with this setup.

See the completed 360 product view here: http://www.see360degrees.com.au/scooter1-net.html

Bary Daly is a manager and a photographer at See 360 Degrees in Melbourne, Australia. His company offers a unique service based on the wealth of experience in product photography to truly make your products stand out. Visit their website for more information and check out their blog for more 360 photography samples and resources.

Like blogging? PhotoGear 360 is looking for guest bloggers who would like to share 360 product photography tips and tricks on this blog. Just send us an email to support at photogear360 dot com.