Photographing oriental rugs..skill level - novice

<p>Hi,<br>

I have a small business of manufacturing oriental rugs and now I am trying to sell them online on Ebay as well as Amazon. To do that i must have great pictures but sadly my pocket does not allow me to hire a professional. (Total number of pieces exceed 2500)<br>

I have thought of the following setup to take pictures of rugs at my office :-<br>

Cannon 1100D (Cheap DSLR which I proudly own)<br />A tripod<br />4 point diffused hot light system at an angle to the rugs<br />Thermocol sheets to reflect the light back to the rugs<br />Hang the tripod on the ceiling so that the camera is directly above the rugs<br />Use florescent paper as background so the background can be erased easily and make the rugs appear as if they are hanging in the air<br>

I took the first sample shot at f20, Shutter 10'' and ISO 100 (Hope this is correct) without the hot lights and reflectors. Also the camera is on the ground right now, the result is in the following link<br>

http://imgur.com/BEN8nQ6<br>

I have several questions on how to improve this picture, but my first and foremost concern was when I tried to remove the background using the magic selection tool , it left out quite a bit of the background unselected which kind of defeats the whole purpose of using the background paper. How do i overcome this problem.. any ideas ?<br>

2.) How can i adjust the white balance on my camera ? Any home solutions will be greatly appreciated vis-a-vis expensive equipment<br>

Thanks a lot,<br />Karan</p>

<p>I would take an entirely different approach considering it's for the purposes of selling online. </p>

<p>I think potential customers will respond more favorably to a rug seen in a typical domestic setting, and if you concur, then it'd be simply setting up a staging area with some furniture and taking a picture using typical room light with the rug aesthetically placed, and separately, a closeup shot of the rug, perhaps a one square foot area to show its surface texture. <br>

<br>

Doing it this way will let you make consistent photos for each rug and minimize computer time required tweak each picture. Having consistent pictures will also make your "brand presence" more recognizable on eBay and Amazon. </p>

<p>Hi,<br /> Thank you for your response ! While I agree that pictures taken in a staging area will look better than those taken alone, practically speaking it will not be possible in my case. I have rugs ranging in size from 2ft x 3ft and upto 12ft x 18ft , in a wide variety of colours. So for each different size / color option i will have to construct a new staging area which will get expensive and complicated very soon. It would have worked if I had say 20 new designs for a new collection to market but not for the complete inventory.<strong> What you say is absolutely correct and thank you for the suggestion</strong> but alas it will not work in my particular case.<br /> This is an example of a rug I am selling on Ebay with pictures in a staging area (taken by me)<br /> http://www.ebay.com/itm/181385854579<br /> Example without staging area.. (these were taken by a friend who is a hobbyist photographer)<br /> http://www.ebay.com/itm/181398723132</p>

<p>Hanging all rugs is also not possible because of the immense amount of effort it takes to hang one piece.<br /> Thanks,<br /> Karan</p>

<p>The first example shot (on the green paper) strikes me as a little over-exposed. Don't use the camera's meter to guess about the exposure - choose your ISO, shutter speed, and aperture manually - and be sure that the camera doesn't have auto ISO turned on. You're not gaining anything by stopping all the way down to f/20. Because you're more or less looking down on the carpet, you can open up to, say, f/11. Focus on the nearer third of the rug.<br /><br />If you get that exposure under control, the ability to select the background color will be easier. The closer that gets to being blown out in the highlights, the harder it is for that process to work with only a few mouse clicks. <br /><br />The reason for manual exposure: the camera has no idea what it's looking at. It doesn't know if a black rug is gray, or a gray rug is white. So it will attempt to expose for the middle ground, pushing everything towards gray. In the example of a relatively dark rug, the camera will probably try to boost the exposure to make that darkness more middle-ground ... and the bright background gets lifted up at the same time, making it too bright (likewise with other white elements, like fringe).<br /><br />Also: do your best to square up your rig and the carpet. If things are tilted a bit, the skewed perspective makes it look sloppy. You can fix that in post, but that's just more work, thousands of times. Consider using some green marker on the paper showing where the nearby foot of the rug should go (instantly in focus!) and how it should be lined up (no skew!). </p>

<p>If you are using Photoshop, when you use the magic wand tool to select an area of similar shade and it misses part of the area, try increasing the tolerance in the box at the top. The higher the tolerance, the wider the range of tones and shades selected. If you set it too high it will select part of the rug itself.</p>

<p>If there are still bits not selected. you can use the magic wand tool again to add them to the selection. Look at the four square shaped logos to the left of the "tolerance" box. Click on the second one and it will say "add to selection". Now when you click the magic wand on the missing bits they will be added to the original selection. You can repeat this until the whole background is selected. Click on the third square logo to "subtract from selection" if it has selected areas you want to keep.</p>

<p>I don't know how different white balances are selected on your camera. If you shoot raw, you can change it in the raw converter. Otherwise try to find out how to do a custom white balance in the camera manual.</p>

<p>Personally I found the lighting on your sample somewhat flat, a stronger light coming from one side would bring out the texture more and give a better 3D effect.</p>

<p>The setup you described is OK. I would not use any kind of fluorescent paper -- the fluorescent part throws off weird colors and is difficult to photograph. I would use a white or gray paper so that the color of the paper can't be reflect by the rug and throw off its color. As for white balance, if you are using standard hot lights they are 3200K color temperature. Use that setting on your camera (it may be marked tungsten or show an image of a light bulb).<br /><br />This is a bit of a challenging job. Catalog photography for textile products is very critical work because your customers are buying based on what they see on the web. If the color of the rug they receive is not absolutely identical to what they saw on their computer screen, they are going to blame you. At best they will return the rug if they are not happy. Worse yet, they will keep it but badmouth you and unfairly harm your reputation. Even with professional photos, most consumers do not properly calibrate the color on their computer monitors so the odds of them seeing the wrong color are very high.<br /><br />If you can figure out how to shoot these rugs yourself, that is the most economical thing in the long run. But you might want to at least get a quote from a professional. The tricky part here is not in shooting 2,500 rugs but in getting the setup right. Once a professional has the lights and camera set up, he can shoot the rugs as fast as you can pull a new one into place. Then it's his job to get the color right, drop out the backgrounds, etc. Whether you do it yourself or farm it out, keep in mind that the sales and profits of your business might very well hinge on how good these photos are.<br /><br />Whether you do it or hire someone, one thing to keep the project manageable it to only photograph the different styles and colors you carry, not every single rug. I assume that if you have 2500 there is some duplication. I don't know the rug business but I'm guessing that a given style and color is offered in a varies of sizes. You only need to shoot one, then say what sizes are available.</p>

<p>lighting its easy, you arent trying to reproduce an art piece (yes the rugs can be art but the pics are for ebay sales so...) you can use a cheap setup just be careful at the colors... hanging the tripod from the ceiling makes for quite a complicate setting, I would think its easier and more practical to hang the carpet to a wall or other support (dont know if your location is a warehouse or not but the carpet doesnt need to be completely hung, the bigger ones can be left half on the floor. That way you can just move closer or further away from the carpet to frame it properly, cant really move the ceiling with the bigger carpets.<br>

i wouldnt spend time with fluorescent background and passing the picture in photoshop etc, if this is for a business then time is money and you have the immediate result using 2 or 3 different color backgrounds fairly neutral that will contrast with the edges of the carpets, in many ways its like you were putting a frame around it. You just group the carpets to photograph so you wont have to change the background 100 times. (plus no one will use the carpets suspended in the air so people wont pick that up despite all your efforts)<br>

PS: a staging area involves just a chair and a couch or similar on only 2 sides of the carpet, it forms just an angle, nothing on the carpet, that way you can show most of the sizes without changing the stage in any way... It does help people to visualize it in their homes and pick up the dimensions, a lot dont get those from the numbers for some reasons.</p>

<p><em>Thank you all for your responses!! This site really helps a beginner grasp the basic concepts of photography all thanks to the valuable inputs of esteemed members of this community such as yourselves.</em></p>

<p>http://imgur.com/D9yyUTY<br>

This is my latest effort. As per the suggestion of Matt Laur , I have taken this at f11 ISO 100 and Shutter 0''4. I am using overhead yellow (Tungsten I think) lights for this right now and used the relevant WB mode in my camera. (I will be switching to standing hot lights soon, not directly aimed at the rug ). To my eyes, the picture looks a little yellowish but it can be easily corrected in PS. I am yet to have the background for it, as, as per Craig Shearman's suggestion I will be using grey paper and am waiting for it to be delivered. <br>

That being said and set aside, can you please critique this picture. As in what are the shortcomings which I can improve. Are all areas of the picture properly in focus , is everything properly exposed, etc <br>

Again thanks a lot for your help !<br>

Karan</p>

<p>P.S. @ Craig Shearman - Yes, there are duplicates and also same design/colour combo in different sizes, but the rug business is such that every rug is a little different. It is a handmade product and there are subtle variations from piece to piece due to several factors, which adds to the product's desirability as every piece is truly one of a kind. So I will have to photograph each and every piece. <br>

Taking pictures of all 2500 rugs together will be challenging and will take me anywhere between 15-20 days but once done it will be done. We keep getting new pieces almost every day so even if I call a professional this one time, I can't keep calling one every week or every 15 days. And I would very much like consistency in my photos so having a pro do this shoot and I doing the rest will not look good overall . <br>

@Ali Baba - Yes, using 2/3 different colour backgrounds as a frame is an interesting idea. I will experiment with it and see how it turns out. Thank You !</p>

 

<p>Although I still consider myself a beginner, as someone who would buy a rug online, I think your second attempt is spot on! The color seems true. I would just make sure that when you look at the picture enlarged (such as you can do on Ebay, etc.) it looks like YOU see it.</p>

 

<p>What I would add to the above suggestions are just some simple steps (which effectively calibrate your workflow to the color balance of the scene):<br>

First, switch to shooting all "raw". Yes, it makes for a longer workflow but the control will be better.<br>

Secondly, what Matt said: set all exposure parameters to manual (exposure time, ISO, aperture, lights, etc) and identify the exposure settings that create a well lit shot. For instance in your shots things came out slightly overexposed - although this is generally good for sales shots (light makes people happy), don't overdo-it.<br>

And last, take a shot where you include a gray card in the picture. Then create a custom whitebalance from the gray card, save it and use it with the RAW converter to apply to all images.<br>

All you should need to do now is shoot and shoot and shoot and apply the white balance you created to all the shoots. Of course experiment a bit before and check that things are "right" but once you got things right you should be able to get through a high volume of shoots pretty quickly<br>

You are in the lucky situation that you can control all aspects of the scene so make use of that as much as you can.</p>

<p>P.S. About your last shot - to me the white balance still looks a bit yellow-ish, but maybe I am tricked by the floor on the edges, which I would expect to be white. Again, here balancing with a gray card should do the trick.<br>

<br />Finally, the last shot shows one more problem - lens distortion. You have some pretty strong barrel distortion there and that makes the carpet look crooked. Here RAW should come to the rescue again - particularly Canon's DPP converter should be able to correct the lens distortion and make the edges look straight.</p>