Apparel Photography

[pxlsce]

I've been taking a few photos of clothes lying on the ground for some work stuff but I cannot get my photos to look crisp and detailed. I've attached a screenshot of my photo (the white shirt) and one that I'd like to emulate (the black). I know I'm doing something wrong but I've tried ever combination of settings and nothing seems to work. I'm using a canon 60D with a stock 18-55mm lens and considered buying a new better lens but again I don't know where to begin.

My current setup is two softboxes and a tripod. If anyone has any recommendations or lens suggestions that would be amazing.

Thanks!

 

[Overread15 3]

You should be able to get MUCH better results with what you've got; so rest assured the issue is operation not equipment at this stage.

How are you setting things up settings wise - manual mode, auto, how about the flashes are they manual power settings or auto as well.
Flash dominated lighting situations are an area where automatic modes tend to fail because they can't work out what the light is going to do until its there; thus the auto modes tend to end up closer to fillflash rather than flash dominated.

Were I shooting this I'd have hte camera on a tripod; I'd have the camera in manual mode and the flashes also in manual mode. Manual all the way because the scene is static and you've full control over everything. I'd set the camera to somewhere around ISO 100; f5.6 to f8 (mostly for sharpness and depth of field); 1/200sec or 1/250sec (whichever is the fastest that your camera will use with flashes). I'd then set the flashes to manual power and vary the settings to see what works. Maybe start at 1:1 (full power) and dial things down until I got a pleasing result. You might find that power settings don't give you exactly what you want so remember that you can move the lights further away or closer to also vary the power of the light source.

 

[pxlsce]

thanks for your reply

Yeah camera is on a tripod and shooting in Manual mode, ISO 100, aperture f8 and I usually have to have a longer shutter speed because the photos come out quite dark. Those are just constant lights, not flashes. I don't have any flashes apart from the one on the camera but I find the shadows are too harsh when using a flash. It's quite frustrating because I just can't figure it out

 

[photo1x1.com]

Hi and welcome to the forum.
Just what Overread said.
It seems these are continuous lights rather than flash, right (because of the on/off switch on the cable)?
I think the problem is comming from the lens. Kit lenses usually don´t have the best quality. But if you stop them down (use a higher f-number), they get much, much better. So don´t use f5.6 on that particular lens.
But then you need a tripod or something similar I´m afraid and this is sometimes difficult, because you need longer exposure times. Hand holding would result in blurred images due to camera shake.
You want to shoot from the top, so unless you want to buy one of the big tripods, like this beast, it is time for some DIY work.
If you are out of ideas, here is a possible option:

1. Get this: Raya Background Support Kit (Small) BGS-S10 B&H Photo Video
2. and this: Impact Super Clamp with Ratchet Handle CC-106R B&H Photo Video
3. mount the camera on the stud,
   
4. mount the stud to the super clamp
   
5. mount the super clamp to the horizontal bar of the background support.
   
6. adjust the height for framing (thats the most difficult part, but luckily your camera has a screen you can tilt)
   
7. Focus, then set the camera to manual focus (with canon you useally do that on the lens)
8. wait until the camera stops shaking
9. release the shutter with whatever trigger you have or can get - cable, wlan, infrared.
10. change the apperrel as often as you want and just release the trigger, but take care not to touch the background stands.

That´s how I started doing my first apparel shots years ago. Unfortunately back then we didn´t have tilting screens

I've been taking a few photos of clothes lying on the ground for some work stuff but I cannot get my photos to look crisp and detailed. I've attached a screenshot of my photo (the white shirt) and one that I'd like to emulate (the black). I know I'm doing something wrong but I've tried ever combination of settings and nothing seems to work. I'm using a canon 60D with a stock 18-55mm lens and considered buying a new better lens but again I don't know where to begin.

My current setup is two softboxes and a tripod. If anyone has any recommendations or lens suggestions that would be amazing.

Thanks!
View attachment 143364 View attachment 143360 View attachment 143361

 

[photo1x1.com]

OK, once again it took me too long to answer
Use f11, maybe even f16 - trial and error, see what works best.
Can you give us a full image sample? There is quite some chromatic aberration on that image, so I wonder if that crop comes from somewhere near the border area of your image.

thanks for your reply

Yeah camera is on a tripod and shooting in Manual mode, ISO 100, aperture f8 and I usually have to have a longer shutter speed because the photos come out quite dark. Those are just constant lights, not flashes. I don't have any flashes apart from the one on the camera but I find the shadows are too harsh when using a flash. It's quite frustrating because I just can't figure it out

 

[pxlsce]

I've tried just about every aperture setting and I can never really tell the difference. They still seem to lack the detail and clarity.

I don't have the original but I have this. This has been cropped so the width is smaller but other than that I think it's pretty much the original. Should I be taking the photo from further away so the shirt is further away from the edges of the shot?

 

[KmH]

The photo above is under exposed by 1.25 stops.
The t-shirt is gray, not white.
Using apertures as small as f/11 and f/16 may cause a loss of focus sharpness due to diffraction.

Since the item is on the background you can open the aperture without concern that depth-of-field gets somewhat shallower with a wider aperture like f/4 or f/5.6.

 

[table1349]

Shooting clothing isn't too terribly difficult, but to get professional looking results there are a few tricks to follow.
Camera - the 60D is more than capable of handling the job.

Lens - the kit lens is usable, I prefer primes but it should be usable.

Lighting - this is one of the downfalls you are facing. Photography is all about light, and you don't have enough. I have never been a fan of constant lighting for the reason you are experiencing. If you get a really acceptable amount of constant light then you get a good amount of heat.

First choice is to shoot with natural light if you have a big window that will provide you the necessary light. If not a monolight or two with a good large softbox(s) would make the task so much easier.

Setup - Flat lay for clothing is not a desirable way to display the product. The best way is to use a model. Models are expensive so the best and quite popular alternative is to use a mannequin. If you are just shooting shirts a half body mannequins can usually be found for under $50 and full body for under $100. There are also ghost mannequins that show the clothing but are invisible to the shot, or you can learn to create the ghost mannequin look in post processing. Ghost mannequins are more expensive. Using or creating ghost mannequin shots are a whole separate issue.

1. Prepare the clothing before you shoot it. A $50 clothes steamer is a must. The clothing needs to be completely wrinkle free. Also you need a quantity of clips, wooden clothes pins are an excellent. They are cheap and help fitting the clothing to the mannequin very simple.

2. Studio setup is relative simple. Back drop stand with either white or light gray seamless paper. It's cheap and when it gets dirty you cut off the dirty part and pull more down. Camera on a tripod set to mid level to the mannequin. Lighting behind the camera or slightly to the one side or the the other of the camera. The mannequin needs to be at least 6 feet from the background to reduce/eliminate shadows.

3. Aperture - f11 to f16. DOF is not an an issue here. If you get your aperture too small you will introduce more CA.

4. ISO - 100-200 is best no more than 600.

5. Shutter speed - determined by the ISO and aperture. The best way to do this is to get an inexpensive flash/light meter. If you are shooting with a monolight then your fastest speed will be the sync speed.

6. White balance - An important key in product shooting is white balance. You can get pretty close in camera if you know the lights you are shooting with. If you are using continuous lighting set the white balance to the kind of lighting you are using. With natural light or a monolight you can use auto. A gray card is however a great thing to have. Get everything set up. Stick the gray card in the shot and take an exposure of the gray card in the lighting at the location of the product. In post processing you can then adjust the white balance.

7. Shots - take 4 shots of each garment, Front, Back, 45 degree front and 45 degree back. If the clothing was fitted to the mannequin you will need to refit for the back shots, which is where the steamer will come in handy to take out the pinch marks from the cloths pins.

Shot Raw not .jpg. It makes post processing much easier.

One final thought that many people don't consider or realize when shooting in studio. Pay attention to what YOU are wearing. Light spill does and will hit you when you shoot. Depending on what you are wearing that light spill can give your shots a slight tint. I generally wear whites or light colors instead of bright colors.

 

[pxlsce]

Hey thanks. I have to shoot the clothes flat laid just for the type of project.

Ok I'll try natural light when I can. I would just prefer to use the lights as it means I don't have to work at a specific time. What's the difference between a monolight and what I have?

Shooting clothing isn't too terribly difficult, but to get professional looking results there are a few tricks to follow.
Camera - the 60D is more than capable of handling the job.

Lens - the kit lens is usable, I prefer primes but it should be usable.

Lighting - this is one of the downfalls you are facing. Photography is all about light, and you don't have enough. I have never been a fan of constant lighting for the reason you are experiencing. If you get a really acceptable amount of constant light then you get a good amount of heat.

First choice is to shoot with natural light if you have a big window that will provide you the necessary light. If not a monolight or two with a good large softbox(s) would make the task so much easier.

Setup - Flat lay for clothing is not a desirable way to display the product. The best way is to use a model. Models are expensive so the best and quite popular alternative is to use a mannequin. If you are just shooting shirts a half body mannequins can usually be found for under $50 and full body for under $100. There are also ghost mannequins that show the clothing but are invisible to the shot, or you can learn to create the ghost mannequin look in post processing. Ghost mannequins are more expensive. Using or creating ghost mannequin shots are a whole separate issue.

1. Prepare the clothing before you shoot it. A $50 clothes steamer is a must. The clothing needs to be completely wrinkle free. Also you need a quantity of clips, wooden clothes pins are an excellent. They are cheap and help fitting the clothing to the mannequin very simple.

2. Studio setup is relative simple. Back drop stand with either white or light gray seamless paper. It's cheap and when it gets dirty you cut off the dirty part and pull more down. Camera on a tripod set to mid level to the mannequin. Lighting behind the camera or slightly to the one side or the the other of the camera. The mannequin needs to be at least 6 feet from the background to reduce/eliminate shadows.

3. Aperture - f11 to f16. DOF is not an an issue here. If you get your aperture too small you will introduce more CA.

4. ISO - 100-200 is best no more than 600.

5. Shutter speed - determined by the ISO and aperture. The best way to do this is to get an inexpensive flash/light meter. If you are shooting with a monolight then your fastest speed will be the sync speed.

6. White balance - An important key in product shooting is white balance. You can get pretty close in camera if you know the lights you are shooting with. If you are using continuous lighting set the white balance to the kind of lighting you are using. With natural light or a monolight you can use auto. A gray card is however a great thing to have. Get everything set up. Stick the gray card in the shot and take an exposure of the gray card in the lighting at the location of the product. In post processing you can then adjust the white balance.

7. Shots - take 4 shots of each garment, Front, Back, 45 degree front and 45 degree back. If the clothing was fitted to the mannequin you will need to refit for the back shots, which is where the steamer will come in handy to take out the pinch marks from the cloths pins.

Shot Raw not .jpg. It makes post processing much easier.

One final thought that many people don't consider or realize when shooting in studio. Pay attention to what YOU are wearing. Light spill does and will hit you when you shoot. Depending on what you are wearing that light spill can give your shots a slight tint. I generally wear whites or light colors instead of bright colors.

 

[table1349]

Hey thanks. I have to shoot the clothes flat laid just for the type of project.

Ok I'll try natural light when I can. I would just prefer to use the lights as it means I don't have to work at a specific time. What's the difference between a monolight and what I have?

Monolights are strobe lights. They emit high powered very fast flashes of light. There are two types, monolights that have all of the working parts in the head and pack lights that have lighting heads connected to a power supply with cables.

 

[Derrel]

Look at some YouTube videos on this type of clothes work, or the many web articles...the lens you have looks junky...filled with bad CA...is it a Generation 1 Canon 18-55, the crappy one that the Asian market was not afflicted with, but the N. American market was flooded with in the early days? or has it been dropped a few times? The lens image quality is ABYSMAL!!! (I OWNED one of those Gen-1 18-55 basic Canon kit zooms with my XTi--they are awfull--VERY poor imagers, loads of uncorrected CA, just crap! The newer 2nd ,and 3rd gen models are vaaaaasatly improived!)

F/8 at 3,4,5 seconds with a remote release, or the mirror-pre-release and self-timer 10-second delay ought to produced FINE-quality pictures with any "decent" lens. What I see is a rubbish lens. The EOS 80D is a fine camera! You need a good lens though! Stay away from too short of a lens, and move the camera farther back rather th,an close with a short lens length, and keep the camera back plano-parallel with the flat clothes! Use a step ladder if needed, to get the camera up, and away, and plano-parallel with the shirts!

Clean the rear element of the lens...see if it gets better. if not, you NEED a decent lens. My iPhone, or YOUR phone, should do better than the sample you provided us with. Seriously...you can shoot fine product shots with a good smartphone and decent softboxes like you already own. Just need to brace the camera or put it on a mount and then on a 'pod.

 

[pxlsce]

It's the lens that came with the camera so yeah I'd say it would be the crappy one lol.

Do you have any suggestions for a new lens?

Look at some YouTube videos on this type of clothes work, or the many web articles...the lens you have looks junky...filled with bad CA...is it a Generation 1 Canon 18-55, the crappy one that the Asian market was not afflicted with, but the N. American market was flooded with in the early days? or has it been dropped a few times? The lens image quality is ABYSMAL!!! (I OWNED one of those Gen-1 18-55 basic Canon kit zooms with my XTi--they are awfull--VERY poor imagers, loads of uncorrected CA, just crap! The newer 2nd ,and 3rd gen models are vaaaaasatly improived!)

F/8 at 3,4,5 seconds with a remote release, or the mirror-pre-release and self-timer 10-second delay ought to produced FINE-quality pictures with any "decent" lens. What I see is a rubbish lens. The EOS 80D is a fine camera! You need a good lens though! Stay away from too short of a lens, and move the camera farther back rather th,an close with a short lens length, and keep the camera back plano-parallel with the flat clothes! Use a step ladder if needed, to get the camera up, and away, and plano-parallel with the shirts!

Clean the rear element of the lens...see if it gets better. if not, you NEED a decent lens. My iPhone, or YOUR phone, should do better than the sample you provided us with. Seriously...you can shoot fine product shots with a good smartphone and decent softboxes like you already own. Just need to brace the camera or put it on a mount and then on a 'pod.

 

[photo1x1.com]

I totally agree with everything except the lighting:
usually you want reapeatable conditions which you won´t get with natural light.
Flash is definitely by far the best solution, but with continuous lights and a solid tripod or similar you can extend the shutter speed almost infinitely. All you can´t do is photograph motion.

Shooting clothing isn't too terribly difficult, but to get professional looking results there are a few tricks to follow.
Camera - the 60D is more than capable of handling the job.

Lens - the kit lens is usable, I prefer primes but it should be usable.

Lighting - this is one of the downfalls you are facing. Photography is all about light, and you don't have enough. I have never been a fan of constant lighting for the reason you are experiencing. If you get a really acceptable amount of constant light then you get a good amount of heat.

First choice is to shoot with natural light if you have a big window that will provide you the necessary light. If not a monolight or two with a good large softbox(s) would make the task so much easier.

Setup - Flat lay for clothing is not a desirable way to display the product. The best way is to use a model. Models are expensive so the best and quite popular alternative is to use a mannequin. If you are just shooting shirts a half body mannequins can usually be found for under $50 and full body for under $100. There are also ghost mannequins that show the clothing but are invisible to the shot, or you can learn to create the ghost mannequin look in post processing. Ghost mannequins are more expensive. Using or creating ghost mannequin shots are a whole separate issue.

1. Prepare the clothing before you shoot it. A $50 clothes steamer is a must. The clothing needs to be completely wrinkle free. Also you need a quantity of clips, wooden clothes pins are an excellent. They are cheap and help fitting the clothing to the mannequin very simple.

2. Studio setup is relative simple. Back drop stand with either white or light gray seamless paper. It's cheap and when it gets dirty you cut off the dirty part and pull more down. Camera on a tripod set to mid level to the mannequin. Lighting behind the camera or slightly to the one side or the the other of the camera. The mannequin needs to be at least 6 feet from the background to reduce/eliminate shadows.

3. Aperture - f11 to f16. DOF is not an an issue here. If you get your aperture too small you will introduce more CA.

4. ISO - 100-200 is best no more than 600.

5. Shutter speed - determined by the ISO and aperture. The best way to do this is to get an inexpensive flash/light meter. If you are shooting with a monolight then your fastest speed will be the sync speed.

6. White balance - An important key in product shooting is white balance. You can get pretty close in camera if you know the lights you are shooting with. If you are using continuous lighting set the white balance to the kind of lighting you are using. With natural light or a monolight you can use auto. A gray card is however a great thing to have. Get everything set up. Stick the gray card in the shot and take an exposure of the gray card in the lighting at the location of the product. In post processing you can then adjust the white balance.

7. Shots - take 4 shots of each garment, Front, Back, 45 degree front and 45 degree back. If the clothing was fitted to the mannequin you will need to refit for the back shots, which is where the steamer will come in handy to take out the pinch marks from the cloths pins.

Shot Raw not .jpg. It makes post processing much easier.

One final thought that many people don't consider or realize when shooting in studio. Pay attention to what YOU are wearing. Light spill does and will hit you when you shoot. Depending on what you are wearing that light spill can give your shots a slight tint. I generally wear whites or light colors instead of bright colors.

 

[table1349]

I totally agree with everything except the lighting:
usually you want reapeatable conditions which you won´t get with natural light.
Flash is definitely by far the best solution, but with continuous lights and a solid tripod or similar you can extend the shutter speed almost infinitely. All you can´t do is photograph motion.

The sun shines daily at the same constant rate and is in a constant location with minor variations on a daily basis. Clouds can diminish the amount of light you get but the color temp is relatively the same. Sunlight is also FREE, to get and FREE to use. It provides what we consider to be the most "Natural" temp of light.

Strobes are convenient when needing to move or adjust them but color temp of flash tubes changes as they age. Color temp also changes with power settings. Monolights tend to have more color shift as the power is lowered than pack lights, but this is not an absolute. This is one of those cases where you get what you pay for.

Natural light is easy and simple to use and if one uses a constant gray card to set white balance adjustments in post are extremely simple and quick.

 

[photo1x1.com]

Your sample was shot with 18mm, so that is part of the problem. Can you try from higher up with a longer focal length (zoom in). The 18-55mm is bad compared to others, no doubt. But you could still create usable images using the longer end.
Choosing the right lens also has to do with your distance to the subject. The Canon 50mm 1.8 is the most affordable lens in Canons lineup (around US$ 100) and would be very suitable for your needs - as long as you can get high enough. Try with the 50mm setting of your kit lens and see whether you can frame your shots the way you need.

It's the lens that came with the camera so yeah I'd say it would be the crappy one lol.

Do you have any suggestions for a new lens?

Look at some YouTube videos on this type of clothes work, or the many web articles...the lens you have looks junky...filled with bad CA...is it a Generation 1 Canon 18-55, the crappy one that the Asian market was not afflicted with, but the N. American market was flooded with in the early days? or has it been dropped a few times? The lens image quality is ABYSMAL!!! (I OWNED one of those Gen-1 18-55 basic Canon kit zooms with my XTi--they are awfull--VERY poor imagers, loads of uncorrected CA, just crap! The newer 2nd ,and 3rd gen models are vaaaaasatly improived!)

F/8 at 3,4,5 seconds with a remote release, or the mirror-pre-release and self-timer 10-second delay ought to produced FINE-quality pictures with any "decent" lens. What I see is a rubbish lens. The EOS 80D is a fine camera! You need a good lens though! Stay away from too short of a lens, and move the camera farther back rather th,an close with a short lens length, and keep the camera back plano-parallel with the flat clothes! Use a step ladder if needed, to get the camera up, and away, and plano-parallel with the shirts!

Clean the rear element of the lens...see if it gets better. if not, you NEED a decent lens. My iPhone, or YOUR phone, should do better than the sample you provided us with. Seriously...you can shoot fine product shots with a good smartphone and decent softboxes like you already own. Just need to brace the camera or put it on a mount and then on a 'pod.