Furniture photography -- please a complete beginner

[Amberite]

Hi,

I am not a photographer in any respect, but I need to advise my father who has a furniture business and wants to put some pictures online for the purpose of sale. He wants to be able to take pictures of furniture which will be on a perfectly white background with (hopefully) no shadow.

Can anyone recommend what equipment he'd need? He already has a camera, and he just needs the lighting / backdrop. His budget is $1000. I know this isn't much to work with, but any ideas what he can buy which will produce respectable images? As I said, it's only for online purposes.

Thanks!

 

[Don Kondra]

AlienBees: Flash Units, the B400, B800 and B1600 Mono Lights

2 - B1600 and 1 - B800, two large and one small brolly.

Light gray paper backdrop, with the B800 from above the backdrop will virtually disappear.

Cheers, Don

 

[Amberite]

AlienBees: Flash Units, the B400, B800 and B1600 Mono Lights

2 - B1600 and 1 - B800, two large and one small brolly.

Light gray paper backdrop, with the B800 from above the backdrop will virtually disappear.

Cheers, Don

Hi Don!

Thanks for the reply. As I said, I'm completely new to this so this helps me tremendously. I have two questions about your suggestion:

1) I was under the impression that I needed "softboxes" to create even light on the furniture, but these lights look like spot lights.. Am I wrong here? Or would I need to buy some accessories for these lights?

2) You suggest a gray paper backdrop, but they want a completely smooth white background. Is there any reason why you recommended gray?

Thanks again Don!

 

[Don Kondra]

Brolly's are considered the poor man's softbox, at roughly a quarter of the cost of a small softbox. You did say you were on a budget

Basically they are an umbrella that will diffuse the light and they have a black fabric back to contain spill.

Gray for a background is my personal preference, if lit correctly it will give you the effect you want. A roll is relatively inexpensive, try the white first....

Cheers, Don

 

[Amberite]

Thanks again Don! One last question: do those lights you linked come with everything I need (ie, stands, etc)? Or do I need to buy any additional accessories? Thanks again!

 

[Don Kondra]

The lights, brolly's and stands are all sold seperately.... on a budget I'd probably buy the stands and brolly's here - Welcome to CowboyStudio! Photography Equipments| Camera Accessories

Cheers, Don

 

[Lynnzora]

Hey I'm looking for lighting too. #1. How do you figure out the wattage that you need? Is it a big deal. #2. Do these work with any digital camera. I have a Pentax K20d.

 

[Samanax]

Hey I'm looking for lighting too. #1. How do you figure out the wattage that you need? Is it a big deal. #2. Do these work with any digital camera. I have a Pentax K20d.

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