Why are certain photos very dark?

I have become the product photographer for the company I work for so I now own a Canon EOS Rebel T7i (am I in the right forum??). I am having two problems that I'm hoping I can get some help with.

1. Please ignore the fact that this is an adult product I'm trying to get a photo of. But can someone explain why nearly all images from this angle keep coming out so dark like the 1st image, rather than bright like the 2nd image? I have tried using my two 135w 5500k photography lights shining above it as well as them off, and I have also tried with my flash on and off, and my super bright (white) ceiling light on and off.

I have also tried adjusting the brightness on the camera.

2. In the second image, the side of the device that is closer to the camera is MUCH more in focus than the parts in the back, which in only 1.25" away. How do I get them both to be in focus? I've already tried adjusting the F setting many times, even as high as it goes.

What settings do I need to change?

Photography Idiot wrote:

2. In the second image, the side of the device that is closer to the camera is MUCH more in focus than the parts in the back, which in only 1.25" away..

Photography,

One thing you could try is that the minimum focusing distance for your 18-55 lens is 9.4 inches.

Try backing up a little.

Steve Thomas

Keep in mind how a camera makes exposure decisions. It sees the world in greyscale and assumes that whatever you're metering is mid (18%) grey. Then it adjusts exposure so that the "18% grey" it saw is properly exposed. If in fact that scene was brighter than mid grey, it'll be overexposed. Conversely it if was darker it'll be underexposed.

Manual mode and the histogram are your friends.

But more on point here, if it has some bright areas against a darker background (e.g., a lighted figure on a dark stage) or some dark areas against a brighter background (e.g., a silhouetted figure against snow or a bright sandy beach) it'll probably get confused by the background and miss the exposure. You might be having metering issues with bright (specular) highlights, harsh shadows, etc. I can't say for sure but unless you have your object against a backdrop that's reasonably close in value (brightness) to the object you'll have to deal with that difference.

Practically speaking, if you're going to be shooting a lot of objects (and if they're of a size that will accommodate), consider buying or building a white box. That's basically a cubicle framework with either translucent white Plexiglas or smooth white fabric walls through which very diffuse light can shine and bath your object in soft light. The object is either suspended by a monofilament line or placed on some kind of support inside the box. From what I've seen it makes for a much better "object shooting" environment than trying to light and shoot stuff on a table top.

You can Google "photographic white box" and find lots of DIY ideas, plus commercial units for sale.

For focus at this scale, you might need to focus stack.

Photography,

In your first photo, you have the shutter speed set to 1/100 and your aperture set to f22.

In your second photo, your shutter speed set to 1/40 and your aperture at f/5.6.

Your second photo is going to let in a lot more light.

The 1/100 shutter speed isn't bad,  but try that at a wider aperture like f/5.6 or f/8.

Steve Thomas

Did the camera meter on the silver metal for the dark one?