Equipment/camera to buy for photo shoot for found object picture book?

[inkygirl]

<p>Hi all,<br>

<br /> I'm a children's book writer & illustrator who is also a hobby photographer (I've had photos in some textbooks, magazines & newspapers but only sporadically, am not a career photographer).<br>

<br /> I own a (now ancient) Canon Rebel Xti & my favorite lens is a Sigma 30mm/1.4 and also a point-and-shoot Canon S100, but I do most of my casual photography these days with my iPhone 6s.<br>

<br /> I started doing some found object doodles for fun. You can see samples of my doodles here: http://debbieohi.com/lookagain<br>

Here's my current photo setup:

<br /> I've been approached by my publisher (Simon & Schuster) to do at least one found object picture book -- this will basically be a mixed media flat piece of art (probably ink & watercolor and pastel) with found objects laid on top. Some of these found objects will be perishable, like parsley or other plant/vegetable items.<br>

<br /> After I do the art, one option is to go to the publisher's office in NYC (I live in Toronto), buy any perishable items there, get the final pieces photographed at the S&S offices.<br>

<br /> BUT....I'm thinking it might be worth the investment of time and money to get updated photo equipment (camera, lighting etc.) and learn how to do the photography myself. I may also do a found object coffee table type of book and other found object books. I'm also thinking it's about time I updated my camera.<br>

<br /> <strong>The main challenge: I need to be able to photograph looking DOWN. And the final photo quality needs to be high enough that my publisher can use it for a book. I also have limited office space.</strong><br>

<br /> Any advice and suggestions much appreciated!<br>

<br /> Thanks,<br /> Debbie Ridpath Ohi<br /> (More about me and my work, for those curious: DebbieOhi.com)</p>

[inkygirl]

<p>Forgot to add: some of the pieces I will be photographing will be approximately 20" x 12".<br>

Thanks!</p>

<p>Debbie</p>

[machts gut]

<p>Nothing wrong about your lighting. For a photo book even your old Canon should do the job. 10MP are by todays standards not much, but good for your purpose. Maybe a macro lens, for example 50mm, would be a good investment.</p>

[CoryAmmerman]

<p>If you're going to be doing a lot of shooting straight down, you might want a copy stand, something similar to this one. <strong><a href="http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&sku=686878&gclid=CjwKEAiAnqWkBRCGm5uyu5r13jsSJACBZ4Wy2-8oJ6HkGZ4zewySlqR5cGbmNO7X8_Cpyohua5nuchoCXqzw_wcB&Q=&is=REG&A=details">(link)</a> </strong>If you search the web, there are several options out there. I've used my tripod with the head tilted straight down a couple of times, but the legs can get in the way if you're trying to shoot something larger.</p>

[SCL]

<p>Another thought - some of the mirrorless micro 4/3 cameras have articulating screens or accessory electronic viewfinders which move 90 degrees up and down which makes the type of photography you describe quite easy. FWIW I use a 2nd hand Olympus E-PL2 with the VF-2 viewfinder and find it quite easy to get the type of shots you describe.</p>

[JDMvW]

<p>You truly do not NEED a new camera (or lens), but if you want them, this is a good time to be able to rationalize the purchase to yourself and others sharing your budget. :)</p>

 

[inkygirl]

<p>Stefan: Thanks very much! I've always wanted a macro lens but I'm not sure if I'll be using it with my picture book illustration. An illustration spread would be about 12" high, 20" wide. Or think of two 8.5" x 11" sheets of printer paper lined up beside each other (probably bigger). The entire surface needs to be evenly lit, with no shadows. Color accuracy is vital; I'd basically be taking a photo of a painting plus the found object laid on top.<br>

<br /> Cory: I've tried searching the web but wasn't sure exactly what to search for. Thanks for the link. I'm not exactly sure how this copy stand is supposed to work with my Canon Rebel Xti? I saw in the comments that it doesn't seem appropriate for a heavier camera. Hey, but maybe this is a good excuse to get a lighter camera!<br>

<br /> Stephen: Wow, that sounds complicated (the first bit, I mean---I have no idea what an articulating screen is). Are you talking about a point-and-shoot? I assume you mean this model? http://www.getolympus.com/us/en/e-pl2.html (I did a Google search) Do you think this will take high enough quality photos for an illustrated book?<br>

<br /> JDM: Yes, that's part of the rationale. :-D<br>

<br /> Thanks for your help, everyone.</p>

[lex_jenkins]

<p>Debbie, I'd agree with the suggestions to get a macro lens and camera with articulating screen for two reasons:</p>

<ol>

<li>A macro lens isn't just for closeups. Macro lenses are well corrected for photographing flat surfaces without distortion. Straight edges will be straight and sharp.<br /><br />With other lenses some corrections may be needed to straighten slightly curved edges of flat artwork. This can be done in software. But it can save trouble by starting with a lens that's designed for minimum distortion for photographing flat surfaces such as you've described. Some kit zooms that run wide to short telephoto focal lengths tend to suffer from excessive barrel distortion (bowing outward) at the wide end, but are well corrected at the middle to longer focal range and may be good enough for copying some artwork, particularly if there is no critical detail at the edges. With your artwork, where most of the subject matter is away from the edges, you may not need critical edge sharpness as long as the primary subject appears sharp.<br /><br />The potential drawback to a macro lens is that the magnification of even a relatively short macro lens (around 50mm or so) may still demand a lot of distance between the artwork you've described and the camera. For an APS sensor camera the ideal document copying focal length would be around 28mm-35mm. In a pinch, the would allow handholding a camera, or using a very short camera support, above artwork measuring 8x10 to 8.5x11, resting on a table or desk.<br /><br />Your existing 30mm lens may be suitable if you don't crowd the edges and allow for cropping. This would minimize problems with edge distortion and softness/smearing of fine detail.<br /><br />With an APS sensor camera and 50mm lens, photographing a 16"x22" document requires a distance of around 5 feet. I don't have a proper copy stand for items of this size so I've been fastening items to the wall. This wouldn't be practical for your work, which involves three dimensional found object on the paper, with drawing incorporated - you really need a copy stand or adjustable height table.<br /><br /><br /></li>

<li>Tilting and/or fully articulating screens are commonly available now, even on very affordable cameras. My Fuji X-A1 with 16-50 kit zoom costs under $500 and has image quality that rivals any APS sensor dSLR. It has a tilt screen which makes it very handy for macro and copy work - no need for an eye level optical viewfinder. I rarely use an optical finder for copying papers, photos, albums, etc. It's less strain on the back and neck to use the tilt screen.<br /><br />And with an adapter it works with my Nikon 55mm f/3.5 macro lens. And while it's tempting to use the zoom at the wider end for copying my family memorabilia (old albums that are deteriorating, etc.), the distortion is unacceptable and software correction causes noticeable softening and smearing of the edges. So I use the macro lens and get a little more distance between the camera and objects.<br /><br />But since you already have Canon gear you may wish to stay with that brand. The brand really doesn't matter though. There are lots of affordable cameras with APS sensors and with tilt or articulating screens, in both dSLR and mirrorless models. </li>

</ol>

 

[James G. Dainis]

If I understand correctly, the found objects will all be laid on the same background, a mixed media flat piece of art (probably ink & watercolor and pastel)? That is good. Slight differences in lighting on one side and slight shadows may not be as noticeable as on a plain white background. It would still be good to get the most accurate exposure as possible so the background lightness or darkness is the same on all the pages. With the same lighting set up used for all the pieces, the exposure setting should be the same for all the shots. Use a gray card to get an accurate exposure setting and then set the camera to manual and use the aperture and shutter speeds that you got from the gray card reading.

 

For consistency, the exposures all must be the same. If you use anything but manual, the camera meter in auto may be "fooled" by a large dark object in one shot and a large light object in another shot giving different exposure settings. That would change the lightness or darkness of the background.

 

And of course, you would set the correct white balance.

[James G. Dainis]

Lex brought up a point that you should check. Many lenses are subject to barrel distortion when shooting close ups. The edges of rectangles will appear rounded like this:<P>

 

<img src="http://jdainis.com/barreld.jpg"><P>

 

Try taking a few photos of rectangular objects, maybe two 8.5 x 11 inches sheets of paper to see if that would be a problem with your gear requiring post editing.

[EdStone]

<p>Debbie,<br>

James Dainis has a good point about testing your lens.<br>

If you can afford it Adobe Lightroom has a panel for lens correction that you may want to investigate.<br>

</p>

<div></div>

[inkygirl]

<p>Lex: Thank you sooooooo much for all that info! Good point re: distortion. Especially thanks for the info about the distance info; I was wondering about that. I'm going to research copy stands (I had never heard of these before) and adjustable height tables. Thanks also for the info about your camera equipment; I'm going to check that out as well as Canon equivalents.<br>

<br /> James: The found objects will be laid out on different backgrounds (each one will be a separate spread in the picture book), and some of the found objects are going to be perishable (leaves, etc.). I'm still figuring out what media to use, but probably a mix of watercolor and pastel and ink on paper. Thanks for the tip about a gray card; I'll have to research that technique and the other excellent advice you gave about exposure consistency plus checking for barrel distortion.<br>

<br /> Eddie: I've been thinking about buying Adobe Lightroom (or Aperture, which may have a similar feature for checking for lens distortion...I'll have to check) -- thanks so much for this tip!</p>

[James G. Dainis]

A copy stand would make life very easy. This is a copy stand that I bought many years ago from an outfit called Spiratone (Out of business but old timers have fond memories of it):<P>

 

<img src="http://jdainis.com/copystand.jpg"><P>

 

You mount the camera pointing straight down as I have done in the photo. Then you adjust the height to fill the camera frame with what you want to copy. Once you have the right height set and the right exposure set manually on the camera for the lights you are using, all you have to do is slide the art works onto the copy stand, position the art work and click the shutter. <P>

 

The support column on mine is about 6 inches from the center spot where the camera lens aims. That is no problem if the art work in not more than 12 inches wide. I just placed two sheets of computer paper end to end making an 8.5 x 22 inch size of paper. With a 28mm lens on a full frame camera I had no problem getting all that paper in the frame. <P>

 

Depending on how large your art work will be you would have to check to see that it will fit between the support column and the center of the board or lens axis. My copy stand came with those lights but you could use your own lights.

[User_6502147]

<p>Many recent DSLR's allow you to set up the camera and you can view the image that you'll be taking with your laptop or desktop monitor. However, make sure the viewfinder is properly blocked, so no light would seep into the image. This will permit you to adjust lighting or the object you're photographing.....and far less editing would need to be done. In some stubborn cases you may have to use pola filter to remove unwanted reflections. </p>

<p>Les</p>

[lex_jenkins]

<p>The rest of this rambling is based on the assumption that you might want to add to your existing studio equipment, rather than using the publisher's facilities for photographing your artwork.</p>

<p>Good point by Leszek - a <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=tethered+dSLR&rlz=1C1LENN_enUS490US490&oq=tethered+dSLR&aqs=chrome..69i57&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=122&ie=UTF-8">tethered dSLR</a> (USB cable from the camera to your computer) is an alternative to a camera with tilt/articulating rear screen. See some examples via Google image search <strong><a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=tethered+dSLR&safe=off&rlz=1C1LENN_enUS490US490&es_sm=122&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=I3aLVNS-PIWlgwSy3oDQDQ&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAg">here</a></strong>.</p>

<p>Regarding the copy stand, it may be difficult to find an affordable purpose-built copy stand tall enough for your needs in your area. If all else fails, many enlargers can be adapted to serve as copy stands. Darkroom enlargers are sometimes available cheap or free - especially if the head is missing parts or not working. You only need a functioning elevating column and platform on which the head originally would be mounted; and a baseboard to hold the column, or a rigid counter top for a more permanent installation. Most consumer grade copy stands like the one in James' photo were just modified from enlargers. The printing industry had much heavier duty purpose-made copy stands, but those aren't practical for most home use even if you can find one.</p>

<p>The tricky bit to adapting an enlarger to copy stand use is finding the step-down bushing. Enlargers with detachable heads used fairly heavy bolts (I forget the size). Most camera mounting tripod heads and macro rails need a 1/4" or 3/8" bolt.</p>

<p>Fortunately, Toronto and NYC are good locations to scout around for this sort of studio gear. In my area (Fort Worth, TX) I'd check some government agency auctions, schools, libraries and printing companies for surplused copy stands and lighting. There's probably a bunch of the stuff gathering dust in warehouses, but nobody has time to drag it out and sell it because there's very little demand and it's not worth much.</p>

[inkygirl]

<p>James: Thanks for posting that image! It helped give me more of an idea of how a copy stand works. I think, though, that I'd need to find a copy stand that was tall enough so I could get the entire spread into the image. A smaller copy stand would be fine for my smaller found object pieces, though. Do you still use yours? what kind of work do you photograph, out of curiosity?<br /> Leszek: Thanks for this tip!<br>

<br /> Lex: Yes, I'd like to add my own equipment rather than use the publisher's if at all possible since I live in Toronto and my publisher is in NYC. The latter would be ok if I know everything will be fine the first time, but that's probably wishful thinking. :-) And yes, I'm realizing as I read everyone's helpful comments and thinking about my own situation: I'm going to need a very TALL copy stand. I'm also not tech-savvy enough to ask the right questions when looking for this studio gear, nor do I have the tech know-how to modify equipment (my husband might, though).<br>

<br /> After the holidays (too crazy in stores right now), I think I will go into Toronto shops and describe my situation (armed with info from all of you --- THANK YOU!!!) and try to get the right gear. Not sure if I can afford a new camera AND all the proper supporting mounting poles/rails/lighting/etc, but we'll see.<br>

<br /> I'll let you know what happens. Thanks again for everyone's advice,<br>

<br /> Debbie</p>

<p> </p>

[lex_jenkins]

Glad we were able to offer some ideas

Best wishes for your project. I enjoyed browsing

the examples of your art on your website.

[James G. Dainis]

Debbie, I got that copy stand a long time ago before digital scanners and ink jet printers were invented. I did my own darkroom work and friends and co-workers would often bring me old family photos and ask if I could make copies for them. Taping the photos on a wall and trying to squarely line up the camera on a tripod got old rather fast as did hand holding the camera and wiggle waggling it to squarely line up the photo in the view finder. So, I bought the copy stand to make my life easier.

 

I am away from my home now so I can't measure how high the column post is but I think it was about two feet or less. My 28mm lens with the full frame camera at the top of the column could capture a paper 22 inches long and 12 inches wide. Your 30mm lens on an APS-C Canon Xti camera would have the narrower angle of view of a 48mm lens full frame so couldn't do it. To find out how high a column you need with a certain lens, just place a 22 inch wide paper on the ground and see how far the camera and lens has to be from the paper to get all the paper in the view finder or on the LCD panel.

 

I also enjoyed looking at your work.

[inkygirl]

<p>James: Sounds like your copy stand has been so useful to you!<br /> Lex & James: Thanks for the kind words about my work.<br /> <br /> So I've gone through everyone's comments, my own equipment and (sigh) also my own budget. I love the idea of a camera with that adjustable screen thingy, but I would still need to get up high enough to avoid distortion. I love the idea of a copy stand, but the object I need to photograph (a piece of art with found objects that is at least the size of two 8.5 x 11 sheets of paper side by side) would have to photographed from high enough to avoid distortion.<br /> <br /> I came across this photo: http://www.tabletopstudio.com/IMAGES/FAQ/plate_photosetup.jpg The setup looks great except my object would be too big.<br /> <br /> and I found this article: https://fstoppers.com/gear/shooting-overhead-save-your-back-tripod-arm-3607<br /> <br /> So now I'm looking at horizontal tripod arms like this one: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/554329-REG/Manfrotto_131D_131D_Side_Arm.html<br /> <br /> There's also this full horizontal tripod:<br /> http://www.amazon.ca/Manfrotto-Aluminium-Section-Tripod-Horizontal/dp/B00FZLBURG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1418561606&sr=8-1&keywords=Manfrotto+190+Aluminium+3+Section+Tripod+with+Horizontal+Column<br /> <br /> but it's much more pricey.<br /> <br /> Continuing my research a bit more before I buy, but wanted to update you all. Thanks again for your advice.<br /> <br /> Debbie<br /> <br /> p.s. One of my books was highlighted in the National Post yesterday!!! See the illustration on the right side of http://debbieohi.com/book-naked-blog/2014/12/13/thanks-to-the-national-post-for-including-naked-in-their-bes.html ?? That's MINE, woohoo!!!</p>

[inkygirl]

<p>Wanted to follow up. I ended up buying a Manfrotto MT055XPRO tripod & MHXPRO3W X-PRO 3-Way Head and am very happy. Here's a photo of my setup for a test picture: <a href="

Thanks again for everyone's advice!<br>

Debbie</p><div></div>

[lex_jenkins]

Looks like a good setup. The micro adjustments on

that head will make precise alignment easier.

Thanks for the update.