Photographing the impossible: an aircraft leather chair!

[Artifex007]

Okay, newbie here. But that aside, I have a very perplexing situation. Looking for help (please!) I am photographing (Canon 7D) a series of before and afters of leather refurbishment on aircraft chairs for a presentation. I am having the hardest time getting a successful shot of the chair for several reasons. First the lighting; the chair shows hot spots, areas that are shiny. I can't reveal the detail I am looking for. Which is a dramatic transformation of dirty ugly disgusting seats transformed into beautiful refurbished masterpieces! I have three soft boxes, ad hoc led 800 lumen LED spots, and a couple of tungsten RPS cheapies. Also shooting against a green screen with a canon 7D using the 28-135 and a 50 MM 1.8. Any suggestions?

 

[tirediron]

Two things come to mind: (1) lack of diffusion; and (2) the lights are two far from the subject. Get your lights as close to the chair as possible; the closer the light, the softer the light and the less intense the specular highlights. A diagram of your current lighting set-up and an example shot would help greatly.

 

[Artifex007]

Thanks for the quick reply. The iChat's are very close. Check it out.

 

[cgipson1]

BIG softboxes... or even better a really large scrim. Those softboxes too small to shoot anything with.

 

[Gavjenks]

I wouldn't say those are too small to shoot "anything" with. But they're certainly too small to do what you want to do. Ones that size would be used for things like adding a medium-narrow "kicker" highlight on a model or something, but less harshly than with a snoot or a beauty dish (like making their head broadly a little brighter on top of the main lighting).

The softboxes you want if you just want super diffuse directional lighting with no specular highlights would be more on the order of the same size of the chair, though.

 

[Artifex007]

The other issue I am facing is maintaining clear and in-focus detail on the complete chair. I am getting some parts in-focus but others not so clear. Any suggestions on settings and lenses?


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[amolitor]

Smaller apertures. Renting a tilt-shift lens might help you.. a little bit. Not a lot, but it looks like it would help. Research how these things work in some detail before renting one, though, they're pretty technical.

Focus stacking could help. Again, research it. It's a method for combining multiple pictures with software, that takes the sharpest parts from each one.

Also, get further away from the chair and crop! It turns out that this help, up to the point that you have too few pixels to crop and retain sharpness.

Note also you're getting a violent green cast from light bouncing off your background, so shoot a grey card and set a custom white balance or whatever. At a minimum.

 

[cgipson1]

You need to maximize your DOF (Depth of Field). Since you have removed all metadata from these shots, I can't tell how you shot them. But I would suggest using a short to normal FL (35mm to 50mm) at a small aperture (F8 to F16) depending on what it takes. That will give you as much DOF as you will need. It looks like you are using continuous lighting, so just increase the shutter speed to compensate, at whatever ISO you consider acceptable.

Use good glass, and remove any and all filters from the lenses before shooting. Use a lens hood too, just because you can!

Personally I would be using flash, but I suspect that is beyond you right now? It would make for better color, with less tone shift on the chairs. You really need to set a custom white balance using a grey card.

I hope you aren't charging for this? If so, do we get a cut for teaching how to shoot it?

 

[tirediron]

Yep, what Charlie said: BIG modifiers! Looking at that, I would probably do a direct overhead with a 50" SB, and then a second at 45 degrees off of vertical to fill in the back/rear seat, and a smaller (36") to light the foot-rest area. I would use a couple of large strip boxes (18x48"), to light each side of the chair. When using a chroma-key background, save yourself a LOT of trouble and make sure it's smooth/flat and wrinkle-free. I would go with seamless paper rather than a cheap, light-weight fabric. Oh, and get the background BACK! Way back, like 10' back! You can see the nasty green cast in the leather as a result of it being so close and the leather being such a light colour.

 

[cgipson1]

I wouldn't say those are too small to shoot "anything" with.

Smallest softbox I have is 6"x8"... and I used that to shoot subjects that average 1" to 3" long / wide. Largest brolly / softbox I have is a 60" .... unless you count an 86" diffusion panel I can shoot flash through (makes a great scrim). I also have four 7' Umbrellas of different types. I like my modifiers to be at least as big as the subject, and preferably significantly larger. Of course I do have a bunch of smaller ones to... to do different things with.

I consider these continuous light softboxes WAY too small for the subject!

 

[amolitor]

It all depends on how much diffusion you want, doesn't it?

 

[cgipson1]

It all depends on how much diffusion you want, doesn't it?

Especially if you want enough to cover the entire subject and eliminate hotspots... but I wouldn't expect you to understand that!

Size of the modifier doesn't really control how much diffusion it provides... just the coverage. Other factors control the diffusion... basic beginner stuff! lol!

 

[amolitor]

Whatever makes ya feel good, charlie.

 

[Artifex007]

Are these soft boxes continuous lighting or for flash? Any suggestions on what brand to purchase for a amateur?
Took the picture outside under a white nylon pop up tent. Results much better. But I need to be able to take pic inside under controlled conditions.

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[tirediron]

A softbox doesn't care what light is inside it; the only thing that differentiates them between constant light and strobe is the mounting arrangement. While you can use continuous light for a job like this, strobe would make it a LOT easier.

An invest of less than $1000 for some four or five Flashpoint 320 lights & modifiers from Adorama and a second-hand flash meter will make your life much, much, MUCH easier after you spend a couple of hours watching YouTube and practicing.