Online clothing inventory photography

[patrick_mason3]

Hi guys, I am going to be applying for a job as a website photographer for a clothing store. The job description says

that the job will require the shooting of clothing, accessories and homewares (all clothing would be shot on

mannequins). Duties will also include colour correcting, cropping and re-sizing the images in Photoshop ready to be

uploaded on to the website. I have shot a catalogue before however for that I shot the clothing flat lay on a piece of

white foam core.

 

For this job I was thinking of lighting the mannequin with either two strobes (with softboxes) either side or one strobe

and reflector for fill and then lighting the bg to blow it out as white as possible than removing in photoshop. Not quite

sure how would be best to go about shooting accessories such as handbags with straps as this would be harder to

remove bg due to more intricate edges. Any suggestions? Or different ideas on how to best light and remove

background?

 

Also as far as colour correction go’s so far I’m thinking of using a test shot with gray card or whibal and than

applying these settings to all images in photoshop as it is for the web and not everyones monitors will be calibrated

etc I know this will not make too much of a difference but would like to get as close as possible, what do you think?

 

In concern with resizing and preparation for web what would you recommend as a suitable image quality?

 

I have provided some examples from the website to help illustrate my goal.

P.S. the business will be providing studio and lighting equipment.

 

Cheers.<div></div>

[monika_epsefass]

<p>For really tricky things, I suggest you use a background in really awkward colours, to be able to sample them quickly and just remove them easily - especially for the little details in handbags and such. Try a colour that's opposite - white is iffy as it shows in the highlights, but if you have red on turquoise or so... but blowing out your BG is a good idea, too.<br>

Are you being asked to really cropcrop anything, or just crop photos in size? If it's only that, a neutral-colour BG will suffice for you to work quickly and efficiently.<br>

If the webspace provided is large enough, go for good quality to avoid aberration and artefacts. Still, most catalogue sites provide only limited size photos, so the overall kB size of one pic shouldn't get too high.</p>

[patrick_mason3]

<p>Sorry here are the other examples<br>

<a href="http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b183/daft_bugga/WC100349.jpg">http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b183/daft_bugga/WC100349.jpg</a><br>

<a href="http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b183/daft_bugga/WA450075.jpg">http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b183/daft_bugga/WA450075.jpg</a><br>

<a href="http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b183/daft_bugga/WA100592.jpg">http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b183/daft_bugga/WA100592.jpg</a></p>

[lex_jenkins]

<p>Besides careful lighting and backgrounds, if you want to isolate the product from the background you might check into digital editing tools for this specific purpose. I'm not sure whether Corel KnockOut is still considered the best for this purpose but the last time I checked it offered some advanced capabilities for this type of use.</p>

 

[aimee_pieters]

<p>2 things:<br>

First, if you blow out the background too much, you'll develop a halo that will wrap around the edges of the clothing.<br>

Second, try a free demo of Vertus Fluid Mask -it's much better, quicker and easier than PhotoShop for what you're trying to accomplish....-Aimee</p>

[steve_mareno]

<p>Make sure you get all the wrinkles out of the garments, or light it to de-emphasize them, or it will look like a catalog for the Salvation Army Thrift Stores.</p>