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11/13/2007 10:45:51 AM · #1 |
Hi
I'm looking for any advice or tips on how to photograph pinstripe clothing. I'm struggling to get good results.
I am a new to photography and trying to learn fast through books and tutorials so your help and patience is much appreciated.
My setup is a NikonD80 with AF-S Nikkor 18-135 lens and tripod, two falcon eyes flash units, a white paper background and a mannequin with clothing item.
Editing is through CS3.
The mannequin is facing a large window that offers a little natural light, other than that the room is lit by fluorescent tubes.
I have the mannequin setup with the two flash units each side aiming directly at the dummy, they are slightly angled. The camera is setup directly in front.
The pinstripe I am looking to shoot is black material with a grey or dark purple very thin stripe.
At the moment I cannot seem to get a good sharp contrast between the black material and pinstripe. The purple looks grey and I can't capture the colour well.
Would it be possible to get good results using the lighting I have or would it be better to use a permanent source of light from metal halides instead flash units.
I've tried much manual editing of my camera but just can't capture what I need.
Any help or advice especially on camera settings would be very welcome.
regards,
bub
Message edited by author 2007-11-13 10:47:17. |
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11/13/2007 11:06:21 AM · #2 |
I think you have two separate issues: photographing thin stripes, and color-shifting.
For the latter, you should probably set a custom white balance using a gray/white card under the lighting you'll be using for the shoot.
Thin stripes are always a problem, as they can lead to jaggies. Probably the best advice is to use the highest resolution available, and try and not have the stripes on the diagonal. |
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11/13/2007 11:18:18 AM · #3 |
Thanks GeneralE,
I think I'm experiencing jaggies, I seem to have a replicated a sort of moire effect.
Will look into the grey card you mention. I don't have this at the moment.
regards,
bub |
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11/13/2007 11:42:54 AM · #4 |
You should turn off the flourescent lights and do a custom WB, then edit on a color corrected monitor - if you want accurate colors it's the only way.
Flourescent lights change colors at a rate of 60hz (assuming you're in the US) so you should shoot at twice that for shutter speed (1/125) if you must shoot under flourescent lights, or else you'll get color shifts from shot to shot.
If you leave them on then take an ambient reading and set your strobes at leat 2 1/2 stops above that or you'll get mixed lighting and it's a PITA to get that color balance correctly.
Daylight isn't always daylight either - sunny, cloudy, shady all have different WB points, and even flash units can vary and as you add modifiers (diffusers mainly) or bounce the light (what color are the walls in the room?) color can change - so custom WB is the only way to go. Use a gray card or one of the numerous digital targets out there and shoot RAW and WB afterwards.
The issue with the stripes is an exposure issue. Do you have a flash meter? What does it tell you? Black is black. If you want to see any detail in that (expecially in a print) you may have to overexpose it a bit - try 1/2 and 1 stop and see if that looks any better. If the RGB color of the black is below 20 it will print as pure black with no detail. Get it much above 40 and it starts to lose it's "blackness".
As to the jaggies - where do you see them? If it's on your monitor look at the image at 100% and see what it looks like- any other view will show jaggies. Make sure you are shooting at max resolution and min compression.
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11/13/2007 12:17:43 PM · #5 |
Hi Prof_Fate
Looking through your points, very informative thank you.
Firstly I'll try without the flourescent lights in the morning. A little dark in here at the moment. Will setup a custom white balance. Going to pick up a grey card from the store later.
My monitor is an lcd, I used to use adobe gamma but I hear you cannot calibrate lcd correctly with software only. Just looking through posts for advice.
I don't have a flash meter so this is also on my shopping list. Seems essential so I will get back to you once I have this.
With regards to the jaggies, yes they appear on my monitor, if I zoom in they disapear.
Just setting up my camera to shoot RAW and jpg, this may give me better results, was in jpg mode only.
Thank you for your advice, going to read up further on the points you have made.
regards,
bub
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