Product Shots: Clothing

[ksp]

Hello,

 

I'm shooting a clothing line (anything from winter coats to blouses, to shoes)

for a company's website and need some advice as to what the best way to go

about 'prepping' the garments in such a way to make them 'pop' a bit? All

required backgrounds should be white. I've heard of 3 possibilities but am not

sure which way to go or in some cases, which type of background to use. Here

are the 3 I've been told about:

 

1. Pin the garments (shoes exempt) to white foamboard and shoot against a wall

with light coming from either one side or from both sides evenly.

 

2. Lay the garments on a white surface (any bright, white surface?) and shoot

down onto them with lighting coming from one side and possibly bouncing some

light back as fill.

 

3. Use fishing line to hang the garments about 5 feet from a white paper

background which is washed out with two lights on either side. Expose for the

garments with a side light (& possibly a fill light on the otherside). My

problem with this one is the weight of a winter coat and/or a pair of jeans

being too much for the 'fishing line' and the fact that if you run the line

through the sleeves it does not look natural.

 

Please help - need to figure this out in the next 24 hours or less! Yikes!

 

Ken

[James G. Dainis]

Anything that you do you are going to need at least two lights or one light and a reflector for main and fill lighting. Otherwise you are going to have too dark shadows on the clothing.

 

With 2. you are going to have background shadows touching the garment, that won't look very professional.

 

With 1. I assume the foamboard is for rigidity, in lieu of a mannekin, and is not showing. You would need main and fill on the garment and a third light or flash slave on the background to render it white. With the inverse light law, if the lights are 3 or 4 feet from the garment and the white wall is 3 or 4 feet behind it, the wall will receive 2 stops less light than the garment and appear gray. If the foamboard mounted garment is laying against the wall, then again you will have background shadows showing giving an amateur look.

 

For 3. 10 or 20 pund test line should be strong enough. I don't know how you intend to use it by "run the line through the sleeves". It seems like just pinning the lines to the shoulders should do it, and then clone the line out later in photoshop. Again you would need main and fill and a backlight for the background.

 

The clothing should be "posed" the same way that you would pose people - turned slightly sideways so it is not "staring" straight at the camera.

 

Best would be a mannekin, either live or artificial but I suppose you don't have that option.

[garry edwards]

Ken,

 

Welcome to Photo.net.

 

I assume that the photos are required to help sell the products. If so, then really this is a job for a pro photographer who specialises in commercial work. If you don't want to hire a pro then my best suggestion is that you learn how to produce pro standards of work, or at least something very close to it.

 

It isn't rocket science but you will need to spend some money on equipment, and learn how to use it.

 

Start off by working your way through the various lighting themes on this forum. Here is a list. http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00BjHh&tag=

 

They will help you to get a grasp of basic studio photography.

 

There are various types of background you can use and various ways of fixing clothes in position - rigid supports are usually better than 'fishing line' because they retain their shape better, and can easily be removed on computer later.

 

But real people are usually the best product supports, because clothes are about sex appeal.

 

Hope this helps

[ksp]

Thank-you so much! One last question that I forgot to ask...is there a particular focal length / lens that is ideal to use for this type of photography? I'm planning to use a Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8.

[garry edwards]

That lens will be fine, used at the 55mm end, or thereabouts.

 

If you were to use it at the 17mm end you would be shooting from too close, which would cause perspective distortion

[leicaglow]

Also, the wider you shoot, the larger the background is going to have to be. Also, have a look at websites like Josbanks.com, and paulfrederick.com. Clothing can be tricky, especially getting the color right.

[steven_barall]

Don't use fishing line if for no other reason that it will just take too long. You aren't making the battle scene from Star Wars here. It's clothing.

 

You should be able to do at least three shots an hour. Stuff sweathers items with fill material or something similar to make them look a little puffy and experiment with using boards folded into the clothing as well along with the fill material.

 

Lay the items on white paper or whatever really as long as it's really white and really clean. Light as evenly as possible and then if it's too boring for you add another light to give a little dimension and highlight. Think simple. Putting the background on a slant is a good idea and then if things slide, pin them so you can't see the pins. This is easier than being totaly vertical.