My furniture shoot...

[Don Kondra]

Greetings,

Finally made some time to reshoot some of my work with a proper backdrop..... Alien Bees and "focus gray" paper backdrop.

Lacquered side table...

Air dried walnut coffee table...

Hall table, walnut plank top and maple base...

Cherry wood entrance bench and black leather seat....

I only had room to hang a 6' backdrop, the shop is choked with an order of custom sprayed work. In hindsight I should have waited till it was delivered. Then I could have hung a 9' backdrop, moved the pieces forward and not blown the background in a couple of the shots, sigh...

Let's call it a work in progress or a test of my strobe set up

Cheers, Don

 

[adamwilliamking]

Hey Don

In my opinion you did a pretty good job of lighting the subject.
I do however think that lighting your backdrop would have been a good way of getting rid of alot of the shadows that distract from the image. It would allow for you to more easily balance the exposure of the background like you were talking about in your post.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[Don Kondra]

I understand what you are saying but...

When I was working with continuous lights I took great pains to eliminate the shadows completely.

In hingsight I now feel that produced boring pictures. The focus Was on the object itself which is a good thing for product photography but the image had no life.

I'm now leaning towards using shadows to introduce some character.

As is everything in life, it's a work in progress :mrgreen:

Cheers, Don

 

[manaheim]

Agree with some comments, but looks like you're coming along in this regardless.

Beautiful furniture, btw.

 

[craig]

I remember your earlier work. These are much stronger and what I had envisioned for your beautiful furniture.

I would throw a torpedo level on you camera to straighten things out. I would like to see the background neutral like in the first frame. The colour balance will be a challenge because you will need perfect colour in your wood. What was your toning process?

Love & Bass

 

[Don Kondra]

I remember your earlier work. These are much stronger and what I had envisioned for your beautiful furniture.

Thanks Craig,

This is what I would consider my first serious attempt now that I have acquired enough strobes, softboxes, etc.

I was still constrained by only having room to set up a 6' backdrop, the shop was clogged with a custom spray finishing order to be delivered, sigh...

I would throw a torpedo level on you camera to straighten things out.

The black and white table is indeed off by ~ 1 1/2 degrees...

I would like to see the background neutral like in the first frame. The colour balance will be a challenge because you will need perfect colour in your wood. What was your toning process?

I think the first shot works the best because of the size of the piece. The rest could have used a larger backdrop, more room to position the lights and get the pieces farther forward of the backdrop.

For now, the shots are OOC except for basic sharpening, etc. and a very messy clone of the sides where the backdrop wasn't wide enough

I do plan to reshoot with a larger set up, I'll take this opportunity to play with a trial version of Adobe Elements 7 and clean up the shadows. Posting the shots "as is" hopefully is more helpful than perfectly photoshopped versions and "we" can see where the lighting can be improved.

The auto white balance did an excellent job on the color of the wood but I did screw up the color of the cherry bench. That is the color the wood is when it is "new", after some time in the daylight it darkens. Can't remember now what exactly I did but I think I had tunnel vision on the shine on the front of the seat and didn't realize I'd changed the color of the wood too much....

Cheers, Don

 

[HoustonFurniture]

hi

Really awesome photography.

 

[icassell]

Don, I just have to stick in my 2 cents. I'm not a product photographer, so I can't begin to critique that, but I LOVE your furniture design. The cherry bench is awesome. Is that seat brown or black?

 

[Don Kondra]

Thanks for the comments..

Ian, Good catch on the color

The seat on the cherry entrance bench is indeed brown leather, this was the only one I did in brown and I kept it for myself. Unconsciously I must be programed to say black, that is the most popular choice....

May as well add my last shoot to this post, a tall case clock in cherry. The clients supplied the clock works and asked me to make a case.

A real challenge with all the shiny brass and glass

Cheers, Don

 

[margadigi27]

Wow those furniture are sweet! I really like that lacquered side table, so classy!!!:er:

 

[mfurniture]

nice furniture.Very nice wood work.

 

[ZEPHYR]

Shoot those same subject again using WHITE paper backdrop. Try it and put the pix side by side comparison... you will dig the white better. I would add one more fill light.

 

[Don Kondra]

Shoot those same subject again using WHITE paper backdrop. Try it and put the pix side by side comparison... you will dig the white better. I would add one more fill light.

Thank you for your suggestion but I think you need to consider the eventual use of the image to determin what "background" is appropriate.

A white background with the "floating in space" look is best for web work where text may be added.

As a craft juror I prefer to see a colored background with or without shadows.

For a portfolio piece I prefer a colored background with shadows, it gives the piece some dimension.

As for the fill light, I assume you mean on the background ?

The only way I found to shoot this piece without multiple bands of reflections on the weights was to bounce the strobes off the ceiling. Another light on the backdrop would have reduced the shadows but that was not the look I was after.

Cheers, Don

 

[Don Kondra]

Thank you Chuck,

A seamless backdrop is one of the easiest ways to improve product shots

Cheers, Don

 

[EvaEtheldred]

I am allowed to move the furniture. couches and chairs anywhere i need to get a good shot. What is suggested as far as moving furniture away from walls for lighting purposes. The floors are wooden. The furniture is victorian.