Product photography

photogmomma

Hi, all. Don't know if this is in the right place, but who knows!

Anyway, I'm shooting some photos for my sister-in-law who owns a women's undergarment company. She had some disastrous results from her last photographer and wanted to see what I could do. Unfortunately, this type of photography is SO different, I'm not really sure where to start.

She is looking for basic underwear shots. Here are some of the shots she sent as examples:

One
Two
Three

They all look relatively easy. But my biggest questions are about backdrop - can you recommend something cheap and easy? Or does it need to be something really high quality to get that look?

And lighting - I have two speedlights and an umbrella and can easily set up some nice natural lighting with some fill. But I don't know what the best way to do it is.... Any suggestions?

I can shoot people no problem, but not so sure about products.... And I don't know if i'll want to. It just depends on the answers I get back, I guess!

Thanks in advance!

Ken Lapp

photogmomma wrote:

Hi, all. Don't know if this is in the right place, but who knows!

Anyway, I'm shooting some photos for my sister-in-law who owns a women's undergarment company. She had some disastrous results from her last photographer and wanted to see what I could do. Unfortunately, this type of photography is SO different, I'm not really sure where to start.

She is looking for basic underwear shots. Here are some of the shots she sent as examples:

One
Two
Three

They all look relatively easy. But my biggest questions are about backdrop - can you recommend something cheap and easy? Or does it need to be something really high quality to get that look?

And lighting - I have two speedlights and an umbrella and can easily set up some nice natural lighting with some fill. But I don't know what the best way to do it is.... Any suggestions?

I can shoot people no problem, but not so sure about products.... And I don't know if i'll want to. It just depends on the answers I get back, I guess!

Thanks in advance!

You may consider using a light tent similar to this:
http://www.adorama.com/SVLB28.html?searchinfo=light+tent

Sam

Andi,

I have shot some clothing and found it to be more work than you would think.

The lighting is pretty easy for this type of image. I did have some difficulty with getting the clothing properly exposed and the back ground pure white. I finally simply exposed for the clothing and adjusted the background in post.

The other issue is staging the clothing. Making sure the wrinkles are gone and the garment lays flat.

After my brief experience I said the next time I have a request for clothing I would price in a clothing stylist.

I would highly recommend you hire a stylist so you can spend your time photographing and not ironing, arranging, smoothing, taping, etc the clothing.

Also I noticed on one of the model shots the the tank top had horizontal folds across her mid section. If you are going to shoot with models have a woman there to smooth out and arrange the model and clothing.

Sam

Art Scott

go to a used clothing store : goodwill...etc etc, get 2-4 FLAT white sheets and make a small light tent using 1" pvc pipe (do not glue any connections so you can dismantle when done).....i sheet on a table for background and the others to make the tent shoot from the front (ofcourse) position one light above to the right and one above to the left take test shots and move lights to achieve desired effect........since this is you SIL make sure you find outr evrything that previous photog did wrong or did to loose the future jobs and make sure to not make those mistakes....

background do not need to be fancy smancy....with cotton sheets the more the thread cound the smoooother the cloth.......do not shoot with very small aperture (f11 on) rahter shoot with largest possible andstill keep product in sharp focus (f3.5-6.3 should do it ( that way the back ground will not show the threads ...........

Actually you could also use one of those HUGE clear plastic storeage boxes from WAL-MART....remove the blue flap lids and stand it up and hang sheet over the top and sides.....using double sided white or clear tape ....tape a piece of white into the bottom and end of the box....that when done you caould store everyting in the box and be ready for next small product shoot.........if you need more room for bra's and such then my first suggestion would be the way to go......

My product tent is larges enuff to walk into....approx 6x6x6' all done with sheets and pvc pipe and I use card tables and folding white plactic tables to shoot off of......

hth at least a little................

Khristen

I agree, light tent would work well and they came ba make for cheap and i think we all like cheap!

Art Scott

Khristen wrote:

I agree, light tent would work well and they came ba make for cheap and i think we all like cheap!

NOT ME.....I LIKE INEXPENSIVE NOT CHEAProflrofl

Inexpensive is good value for money.....cheap is well just cheap and will crap out without warninghuhD:D:Drofl

Khristen

good point, but you know what i mean, lol
When talking to me you have to speak Hahiran

Art Scott

Khristen wrote:

good point, but you know what i mean, lol
When talking to me you have to speak Hahiran

Did they ever get BUBBA out of the swimmin pool wit his Harley????roflroflrofl

Cygnus Studios

Welcome to my world. I shoot products each and every day, and it can be quite the headache.
Start by picking up two 3x2 foot piece of white posterboard. (around $5 at Walmart).

Place one flat on a table the other one behind it angle down towards the first board. Set two flashes pointed at the rear board so that your light will bounce down onto the product. Meter your camera for the white, and then adjust the EV in photoshop. Usually for white or light pink 2 steps will work beautifully.

For bra's and underwear, get some light cardboard to stretch the product. A large bag of gel works great for underwear also. Mold to give the right appearance.

In your third link scroll to the bottom two rows to see what I mean with the underwear.

Shooting clothing is all about the set up. Once you get it, you can roll through a few sessions pretty quickly.

One other really nice tool for clothing is the pieces of mannequins. They are about $8 at storesupply.com Simply get the blast white and it will never show in the shots if you are metering correctly.

ChatKat

Not so easy
I did a series of product shots for an eyeglasses company and I can tell you it is a lot of work. Some of the fabric could have shine to them so you must be careful with any kinds of reflection. Exposure is very important so that you do not lose the detail of the lace. You may also want to have some clear fishing line to hang pieces up so they feel suspended. I also think that strobes or hot lights work much better than flash.