Digital Photography and Chairs

[Tturbo]

Following on from the thread on car photography I was wondering if anyone could give me a bit of advice as to what kit would be best for my needs.

I'm basically looking for a digital set up suitable for photographing furniture - exciting eh?!

I work for a contract furniture company which does a lot of bespoke work. I'm looking to set up some kind of room set in the factory where we can photograph the pieces before they get delivered.

The camera will be used to photograph individual pieces (chairs, tables and cabinets) as well as wider shots of complete rooms so I suppose an SLR with interchangeable lenses would be best.

We will be looking to use the images to compile portfolios for the sales staff and possibly in our catalogue (depending on the quality of the results).

I've been thinking about this for a while but not had the confidence to take the plunge yet so any advice at all (even if you don't think it's a good idea) would be very much appreciated - I'm looking at around £1000 for the camera and one lens initially and to add extra lenses and lights etc later.

Many thanks

[ehasler]

There's a good magazine out which has had articles on what you want to do. Digital Photographer I think it's called, and you'll find it in WH Smiths. I'll try to dig out some back issues, and see what they say.

[Alien]

Are you looking at a digital camera or film-and-scanner?

Friend of mine does this exact sort of thing and he's been using an Olympus digicam of three point something megapixels with good success. A C3040 I think?

Something you will want to consider is controlling lighting. You'll probably need a softbox or two. And then you'll want to make sure your camera can control them.

[Tturbo]

Cheers for the replies

Was thinking digital for ease and convenience.

We use a Nikon Coolpix at the moment mainly for site pictures (as reminders of where pipe boxings etc are situated in rooms). I have produced some decent images of individual items from this camera on its highest resolution but have had to do this outdoors because of lighting issues and then removed the background on the PC.

I would envisage the room set we create being about 5 x 4 metres, anyone got any ideas on equipment required and likely costs to light this area?

[simpo two]

Unless you're really picky, you can turn out decent A4 prints from 3.2Mp. It'll be fine for sales presenters though I admit not for the cover of Vogue. To be on the safe side go for 4Mp. From what you say I don't think you need an SLR - a compact with 3x optical zoom will suffice.

I know there are pros on this forum who may shoot me down, but I really don't think you need to spend £1K+ on an SLR.

[te51cle]

Digital is fine for up to A3 if you've got 6 Megapixels, but how bespoke is the furniture and what's your target market ? If it's high-end stuff then your customers are going to expect best quality rather than just good quality.

If you want to make large prints for promotional displays then you ought to think about old-fashioned medium format (say a second hand Mamiya RB67 with 90mm lens), you can always get the negs/trannies scanned for about £4 each.

[Bacardi]

simpo two said:

I know there are pros on this forum who may shoot me down, but I really don't think you need to spend £1K+ on an SLR.

Consider it done.

A few thoughts.

You say 'bespoke', which implies 'high quality. If your company cares about the presentation of it's business it might be an idea to employ a professional. OK it may cost you money but it will be money well spent as you will have high quality images suitable for any purpose.

Alternatively you can have ago yourself, assuming the company will allow you the time to play and you won't be missed from your usual duties. If you want to use the pictures as large as A4 in a catalogue the results from a Mickey mouse digital compact will not be up to the job. The quality from something like a Canon 10D is what you should be looking at as a starting point. Inkjet prints are much more forgiving than four colour printing and you might end up having to get the pro in anyway. In other words, what may seem like saving money might turn out to be a false economy after you've spent all the money on cameras, lighting, not to mention time and still have to pay someone else to get the quality you require.

Another analogy is when I need some furniture I go to someone who knows how to make it rather than having a go myself and ending up with a chair with one leg shorter than the other three.

OK, That's me speaking on behalf of the 'Photographers Freedom Front of Judea'.

If, however, you have the time, money and enthusiasm to have ago and you want a quality result, a few more thoughts. As already mentioned, I would look at the Canon 10D £1500 with lens and cards etc. or maybe the 300D (not sure what's missing from this camera but it's cheap). Assuming you want your roomset to be in focus from front to back (Depends on the angle you shoot your set from, straight on, no problem; 3/4 on, possible problem) you need to be able to adjust your f stops manually, often not possible with compacts.

As for lighting, if you went for flash heads, (beware, some cheaper cameras don't have PC sockets so you can't plug a sync lead in) I would suggest looking at something like Bowens compacts, about four if you want to end up with fairly evenly lit roomset. 2 heads in a kit start at about £600 IIRC. Trouble is no power in them, might not give you enough light to stop down enough to get it all sharp. You could spend more on more powerful units or you could buy tungsten lighting and just have long exposures to compensate for your small appeture. Trouble is they are limited in how you can modify the light i.e. using umbrellas, soft-boxes, snoots, grids etc. Wood can be tricky stuff to photograph especially if it's shiny. Boxes or umbrellas give even illumination but small spot lights increase contrast and bring out the grain of the wood. If you are shooting down onto table tops you might also want to consider a polarising filter to cut the reflection.

At the end of the day it comes down to what is exceptable quality to you and the company. Maybe you can hire or borrow some kit an do some tests before you spend the money? Food for thought, I hope.

Cheers and good luck

[simpo two]

Yep, don't you just hate it when clients start doing things for themselves?

[Tturbo]

Thanks a lot guys.

I take on board the comments about getting professionals in to do it and we probably will still use them for the main room sets in the catalogue.

What we are missing though is the ability to record 'one-offs' and specials which we make - it wouldn't be possible to get them to a studio or to get someone to come in at such short notice as they are often straight out to the customer when they are made.

We manufacture for the contract market (hotels, bars and clubs, healthcare) and our 'niche' is being able to manufacture a bespoke product in relatively small quantities (around 20 items and upwards) so we have new designs going through most weeks which we may never make again.

[simpo two]

OK, how about this. Why not borrow a 'normal' digital compact of 3-4Mp from a friend and see how it goes? If you are satisfied with the results, get one for the company; if not, you know you have to move up to an SLR or a wallet-lightening Bacardi-type! But there are two different things at play here - basic quality and lighting.

[ehasler]

One of the photgraphy mags out this month has an article on setting up a studio for various purposes - I think it's Photography Monthly, and I spotted it in WH Smiths earlier today.