Photographing Granite

William Petruzzo · May 18, 2009

I've been hired to shoot some kitchens for a local remodeling firm. They want to focus on their granite installations. Granite is a tricky, reflective surface. I'm wondering if anyone has specific experience with it and could give some advice that could make for better pictures and a smoother shoot.

Also, I'm a portrait guy. I was hired because they loved my portrait work and think I'll be able to do the kitchen things well. I'm used to charging buy the hour/event. When I spoke to the person who hired me, she was taken back with the hourly quote. I later realized that this is probably because in this industry they don't charge by the hour.

Would it be wiser to charge by the photo, since they'll need full licensing of it anyway? I would like to make things as easy as possible for the client. So, more information about the best way to charge them would really be helpful too.

Thanks!

JerryPH · May 18, 2009

Walk in the park. First, huge soft diffused light (which is obvious) and angle it in a direction so that it doesn't reflect into the lens (which is also obvious).

Smaller apertures of F/8-F/13 or the sweet spot of your lens are the apertures you want. Use a tripod.

The rest sorts itself out.

smn_xps · May 18, 2009

the only though i have is that kitchens often have windows so be prepared to shade them or whatever to manage reflections from them. perhaps shoot after dark so you control all the light?

jerry

craig · May 18, 2009

One of my biggest clients is a granite and stone finisher. Basically shot the whole deal with foamcore and tungsten lights. It is not as tricky as it seems. I was working with an art director as well and that really helped. I charged a day rate. Per shot can get a little intimidating for commercial clients.

Love & Bass

250Gimp · May 19, 2009

This is a shot in the dark, but you may want to try a polarizer to see if it will help cut the reflections a bit.

William Petruzzo · May 19, 2009

Thanks for the tips. I think that's mostly stuff I'd come up with under some critical thought. But being that it's not my expertise, there's something reassuring in hearing people say it, you know? Anyway, hopefully it goes well. They have a lot of kitchens to photograph, provided this one goes well.

Mike_E · May 19, 2009

If you have the time, buy and read Light: Science and Magic.

Everything you'll need to know is in there, that or you'll have enough information to surmise the requirements of any other lighting needs.

JerryPH · May 20, 2009

Have the coffee pot filled and ready.. LSM is good, but it is also the driest read I have ever done in my life!

Mike_E · May 20, 2009

LOL Yea, what he said!!

William Petruzzo · May 26, 2009

Thanks for the tips folks. The shoot was today and it went great. I and the client are very happy with the results. So, I thought I would share a few of them:

Mike_E · May 26, 2009

Nice! Congrats on a happy customer.

manaheim · May 26, 2009

Nice! A couple of them seem a little darker than I would like, but still very nice, rich shots that really show off the granite. Congrats!

JerryPH · May 26, 2009

Not just nice, but very nice! A few comments if I may...

- you are showing a product... deep depth of fields look better here (Nothing under F/13, if it was me). Look at the pro shots of the competitors, very few will show a shallow DOF. The reason is that customers are not interested in art... they want to know what the product looks like UNblurred.

- you look to be about a 1/2 to 3/4 of a stop underexposed to my eyes (calibrated monitor).

Besides that, nicely done.

kundalini · May 26, 2009

I hate it when this happens..... but I agree with Jerry :lol:

Really, I think a greater DoF is needed to show off the product, granite counter tops. You only have it in #1. The only other question I have is if you used a CP filter to help knock down the reflection as seen in the last two. IMO, a bit distracting.

Whether it's f/8, f/13, f/16... whatever, find the sharpest focus with full DoF for your lens for the distance to get everything within the scene and then build the rest of the exposure triangle around that.

My monitor is calibrated also and they do seems a tad underexposed. (dammit jerry :biggrin:

)

William Petruzzo · May 26, 2009

kundalini said:
I hate it when this happens..... but I agree with Jerry

Really, I think a greater DoF is needed to show off the product, granite counter tops. You only have it in #1. The only other question I have is if you used a CP filter to help knock down the reflection as seen in the last two. IMO, a bit distracting.

Whether it's f/8, f/13, f/16... whatever, find the sharpest focus with full DoF for your lens for the distance to get everything within the scene and then build the rest of the exposure triangle around that.

My monitor is calibrated also and they do seems a tad underexposed. (dammit jerry )

JerryPH said:
Not just nice, but very nice! A few comments if I may...

- you are showing a product... deep depth of fields look better here (Nothing under F/13, if it was me). Look at the pro shots of the competitors, very few will show a shallow DOF. The reason is that customers are not interested in art... they want to know what the product looks like UNblurred.

- you look to be about a 1/2 to 3/4 of a stop underexposed to my eyes (calibrated monitor).

Besides that, nicely done.

Thanks for the feedback, folks.

I took a lot of shots. Nearly all of them I doubled over at around f/4 and then again at f/22, understanding that in most circumstances product photography ought to be sharp through and through. But the customer tended to like the ones with shallow DOF more because it maintained the kitchens beauty but allowed what wasn't really her product to fall gracefully into the background. Also, the photographs aren't really "product" photography, per se. I don't think they'll be going in a catalogue or anything. It's more like a portfolio for the company. Which may have been what drew her to a more artistic flare.

You're right about the exposure. They are technically just underexposed. I exposed correctly in the camera, but upon closer inspection, I really needed to underexpose a bit, otherwise the finer details of the granite were lost for the sake of greater detail in the cabinets, which simply weren't as important. Plus, I think for her purposes, a darker exposure might communicate the warmth she's looking for.

Thanks for the feedback!