Information needed

hudstar · 19th June 2009

Hey, Im new to this and pretty much dumbed down to all things photographic and would like some information about setting up a home studio to take pictures of historical garments, armour ect for an upcoming website. I have read all about backdrops, soft boxes, how to make soft boxes, the use two soft boxes vs the use three soft boxes........ it kind of gets confusing. I have access to a quality digcam and have my pentax mz 50 which served me well in close up archaeological shots but not sure how it would go taking pics inside. I want to set up a portable space as my stock grows constantly with my travels and I would want to be able to add to the site at any given moment so this would have to be portable. My idea so far is to make a collapsable box to accomadate the size of the stands I have and paint the inside white.....after that I get totally lost with lighting .....so could anyone give me some direction as to what I should be looking for. I tried a white sheet backdrop on an item and took it under natural light. It looked crap and lost all detail...albiet my camera was also crap. Looking forward to hearing from some experts
Lincoln
Australia

ortega · 19th June 2009

some sample of the kind of thing that you want to take would be helpful

lighting for a suit of armour is vastly different from historic garments
also what is the size of the biggest item?

Reportage · 19th June 2009

Originally Posted by hudstar

Hey, Im new to this and pretty much dumbed down to all things photographic and would like some information about setting up a home studio to take pictures of historical garments, armour ect for an upcoming website. I have read all about backdrops, soft boxes, how to make soft boxes, the use two soft boxes vs the use three soft boxes........ it kind of gets confusing. I have access to a quality digcam and have my pentax mz 50 which served me well in close up archaeological shots but not sure how it would go taking pics inside. I want to set up a portable space as my stock grows constantly with my travels and I would want to be able to add to the site at any given moment so this would have to be portable. My idea so far is to make a collapsable box to accomadate the size of the stands I have and paint the inside white.....after that I get totally lost with lighting .....so could anyone give me some direction as to what I should be looking for. I tried a white sheet backdrop on an item and took it under natural light. It looked crap and lost all detail...albiet my camera was also crap. Looking forward to hearing from some experts
Lincoln
Australia

how good are you in photoshop digital re-touching?

catchlights · 19th June 2009

to bring out details on a fabric texture surface, you need the lighting come from more side angle, so it create highlight and shadow on that surface, hence you see texture.
to capture metallic surface, you still need some highlight and shadow, since it is more reflective then other type of surface, it is easy to get blown highlight and pitch dark shadow, so you need to keep it within the range with the sensor able to capture.

to do a good product shot, all these need knowledge, skills, time and patient, just throw everything inside a light tent, that don't cut it, maybe that is only good for eBay.

Check out studio lighting tutorial by the late Dean Collin

19th June 2009	#1
hudstar New Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 1	Information needed Hey, Im new to this and pretty much dumbed down to all things photographic and would like some information about setting up a home studio to take pictures of historical garments, armour ect for an upcoming website. I have read all about backdrops, soft boxes, how to make soft boxes, the use two soft boxes vs the use three soft boxes........ it kind of gets confusing. I have access to a quality digcam and have my pentax mz 50 which served me well in close up archaeological shots but not sure how it would go taking pics inside. I want to set up a portable space as my stock grows constantly with my travels and I would want to be able to add to the site at any given moment so this would have to be portable. My idea so far is to make a collapsable box to accomadate the size of the stands I have and paint the inside white.....after that I get totally lost with lighting .....so could anyone give me some direction as to what I should be looking for. I tried a white sheet backdrop on an item and took it under natural light. It looked crap and lost all detail...albiet my camera was also crap. Looking forward to hearing from some experts Lincoln Australia

19th June 2009	#2
ortega Moderator Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: NorthEast Posts: 16,508	Re: Information needed some sample of the kind of thing that you want to take would be helpful lighting for a suit of armour is vastly different from historic garments also what is the size of the biggest item? __________________ The Law

19th June 2009	#4
catchlights Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Punggol Posts: 10,799	Re: Information needed to bring out details on a fabric texture surface, you need the lighting come from more side angle, so it create highlight and shadow on that surface, hence you see texture. to capture metallic surface, you still need some highlight and shadow, since it is more reflective then other type of surface, it is easy to get blown highlight and pitch dark shadow, so you need to keep it within the range with the sensor able to capture. to do a good product shot, all these need knowledge, skills, time and patient, just throw everything inside a light tent, that don't cut it, maybe that is only good for eBay. Check out studio lighting tutorial by the late Dean Collin __________________ Shoot to Live, Live to Shoot www.foto-u.com \| www.benjaminloo.com \| email