Tips on taking good gear photos?

[ratherdashing]

I know a lot about many things, but photography isn't one of them.

What do you guys do to get good gear pics? Some of us are quite good at it, so I thought I'd start this thread so that photographically challenged people like myself can learn a thing or two.

Any tip is fair game here, including:

- lighting
- angles
- camera settings
- camera, lens, and lighting equipment
- post processing (i.e. Photoshop)
- dealing with bad lighting (dark stage, for example)
- getting good pics with budget equipment and/or phone cameras

What say you, shutterbugs?

[ImmortalSix]

Re: Tips on taking good gear photos?

I shoot with a Nikon D3100 - that's an entry-level Digital SLR camera.

In general, you want to stay away from direct flash. Direct meaning not bounced off of or passed through a diffusing source. Bounce flashes are common and affordable , which allow you to angle your flash to bounce it off a wall or the ceiling so that when the light reaches your subject, it has been diffused or softened a bit.

Here are two pictures taken in the same room of my house, on the same day. One with direct flash, one with a bounced flash: Note the color difference on the left picture - washed out and bluish. That's direct.

Also note that the left photo looks like a photograph, where the right photo looks much more natural.



When possible, use a tripod and no flash at all - only natural light. If your space is not well lit, no matter - simply leave your shutter open longer. Naturally lit tripod shots always look cool, have rich and full colors, and are generally great for guitar gear photos.



Note how natural the colors look. Very much like you'd see in real life - not like what you're used to seeing in a photograph. Note how clear and non-fuzzy all the lines and features are. That's what you get with a tripod.

TL;DR --- diffused light and a tripod.

[Chris of Arabia]

Re: Tips on taking good gear photos?

Lighting:

- The lighting on a dull overcast day will be better for photographing equipment than a bright sunny day, as contrast will be better controlled and you won't suffer as much from burnt out highlights.

- If you have a north facing window, the light from that will generally be easier to work with than one with light streaming through it, for the same reasons outlined above.

- If you can put a white sheet or piece of foam board on the opposite side of the gear from the light source, then you will throw additional light back onto the shadow side of it. This helps get a much or natural lighting effect than single-direction lighting alone (very similar to I6's bounced flash idea)

-If you don't have a tripod, get one. No need for anything expensive in that regard. Pretty much any tripod is better than no tripod. Failing that, a bag of rice/beans can be used to rest the camera on and keep it steady - there are very definite limits to what you can achieve that way though.

- Try to use backgrounds that don't distract from the guitar itself, as they will only compete for the viewers attention with the guitar itself.

- If you can set the camera aperture, using a wider one will give a shallower depth of field (how much of the image is actually in sharp focus), which will allow you to separate the equipment from its surroundings.

- Digital images are usually lacking in contrast. Most will look more dynamic and punchy if you add additional contrast in your photo processing tool (e.g. PS)

- On a compact camera with no direct control over the shutter speed or aperture, try putting it on the portrait setting (the image of a head), as this will be the equivalent of setting a wide aperture. Think of it as taking a portrait of the equipment instead of a person.

- On a camera that automatically pops up the flash when it thinks it's getting dark, find the setting in the menu that forces the thing 'Off'. Let the camera work out how to deal with the low lighting in other ways.

- If you are taking close ups, make a point of cleaning the guitar as best you can to remove fingerprints, dust etc. Any remaining blemishes can be 'spotted' out in PS later if they get missed, but it's much easier not to have them there in the first place.

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Tips on taking good gear photos?

All good advice.

[ImmortalSix]

Re: Tips on taking good gear photos?

Amen to Chris of Arabia's suggestions.

[CTN]

Re: Tips on taking good gear photos?

Amen to Chris of Arabia's suggestions.

+1

but a tripod and no flash is pretty much the most important, i've found.

Alas, I have no tripod, so I use the sport motion setting on my camera to eliminate the fuzziness my shaky hands tend to produce on photos. quite handy!

Having good lighting helps a lot. Sometimes even when you think there is adequate lighting, it might not be. Taking test photos helps adjusting this.

[ItsaBass]

Re: Tips on taking good gear photos?

That is a loaded damned question.

The short answer is that all photography is about quality of light.

I would search for a book on lighting for products and still lifes.

Artificial lighting is easy to get if you firmly base your understanding on one main thing: Pretty much all you are ever doing with artificial light is to replicate the sun and the weather. What effects does the sun have at different times of day? What does it do in different sorts of weather? What effects do these various natural lightings have on your mood? So, crafting good lighting comes not from knowing about flashes or other technical bits, but from paying close attention to natural lighting, and figuring out what details make it have the effects it has.

Here is a studio shot of my '68 SG. I shot it on 4x5 tungsten-balanced film and never scanned the neg, so I just took a quick snap of the matted print outside, hence the poor quality copy. But you get the gist. This is a single reflected ("bounced") light from a 2x2 foot reflector. Placed at a mid afternoon position to highlight the horn. The fact that it is a single light with no fill light or bounce back gives it a dramatic shadowy look. Do something as simple as holding a piece of white foam core facing the light (on the left side of the guitar), and those shadows fill and it becomes a simple catalog shot. If my intent was to show a basic picture of "this is what the guitar looks like" to potential buyers, or if I wanted to hide blemishes, that's how I would approach it. But if I simply wanted to make it look bad-ass for artistic purposes, I'd light it more like I did here.



This is the style of light I used. Mole-Richardson 1 KW Softlite. You don't need fancy Hollywood glamour lamps like this, but notice how the bare light is modified to change it's quality. The bulb itself points straight up, and all the light that goes toward the subject is actually reflected light from that big 2x2 curved reflector. It makes the light source bigger (hence softer), but not so big and soft that it loses it's drama. It gives the effect of reflected sunlight bouncing off of a wall or something to illuminate a subject in the shade, not the harsh effect of direct sunlight. The reflected light is soft, but still directional.

[xntrick]

Re: Tips on taking good gear photos?

i use a small light tent that is just tall enough for me to fit a guitar inside, i can then position the lights as needed to get a nice reflection. I do not use a flash at all when using the tent.

[ratherdashing]

Re: Tips on taking good gear photos?

Damn, ItsaBass and xntrick, those are fantastic pics!

[dominus]

Re: Tips on taking good gear photos?

If you're taking a picture of your guitar, trim the ends off the strings. Nothing looks sloppier than loose string ends.

[JOLLY]

Re: Tips on taking good gear photos?

If you're taking a picture of your guitar, trim the ends off the strings. Nothing looks sloppier than loose string ends.

That gets on my nerves everytime I see someone playing live, and their guitar is like that.

[DrNewcenstein]

Re: Tips on taking good gear photos?

Remove background clutter like potted plants and furniture that matches the guitar (I HATE that!) and never photograph a black guitar inside a black-lined case. That's just short-bus.

In the case of gear pics, the subject (i.e. guitar) should stand out clearly from the background (i.e. furniture and plants). You can always tell the Ebayers who have taken the photography class at the local Community College - they have "decorations" in the shot trying to be artistic when it's not needed.

If your camera has an attached flash (built-in or mounted) you can tape a piece of white paper over it to diffuse it, especially if it's like a small thermonuclear device. My Olympus D600L had a flip-up flash that would make ebony look like rosewood, and forget taking a pic of anything white. I took a small piece of printer paper and rubber-banded it over the bulb, and it diffused perfectly.

I do like the idea of the white sheet tent, though.

And don't forget natural lighting. You don't need direct sunlight (i.e. face down from the top at high noon), but indirect light coming in through a window or sliding glass door can do wonders.
Don't be afraid of those cloudy days, either. Clouds diffuse sunlight very well, though in glossy finishes you might come away with a "blue sky and clouds graphic" effect

[TheLivingDead]

Re: Tips on taking good gear photos?

If you're taking a picture of your guitar, trim the ends off the strings. Nothing looks sloppier than loose string ends.

God I hate that.

[DrNewcenstein]

Re: Tips on taking good gear photos?

It's not such a big deal. Really.

[MisterE]

Re: Tips on taking good gear photos?

Did anyone say boobies?