Photographing your gear - tips, tricks and questions

[Matty123]

bitchin thread

[Jett129]

@Sam I have nothing but respect and admiration for the fantastic job you do photographing the IH gear on a regular basis. Thanks for the tips.

[Jett129]

@marlin:

@Jett129, may I ask what you are using and your workflow is?

I'm using a Canon 5D Mark-3 The software I use is called DXO.

[JDelage]

@Sam:

Can't beat the sun for light… even if it's cloudy.

In fact, cloudy is better. Generally, diffuse light is better than single-direction light.

[Sam]

Correction, Can't beat the sun… Especially when it's cloudy. 

Or if it is bright you can defuse the light with net curtains... if you have net curtains in your house.

And thank you @Jett129 That's very kind and encouraging 

[neph93]

^ Thanks @Sam  this kind of small, practical adjustment is really useful.

[marlin]

@Jett129, did you try a grey card? With your gear, shooting in RAW, using a grey card, along with a neutral and diffuse light…accurate colours should be possible.

[nizzel55]

Thanks for mentioning me @neph93 and @marlin
I do not see myself as a good photographer at all.
I tend to go for quantity for quality. If I take enough photos at least one of them is bound to turn out ok.

Taking photos of denim is tricky. Especially if you want the photos to be "true" to the denim and show them as they are.

Here are a list of things I do find important.

Background:

• Make sure you have a background that "works".
  Light:
• Make sure you have a good source of light. I prefer sunny and cloudy weather where the clouds dampen the light a bit. Direct sunlight can sometimes be hard to work with and can create weird shadows and overly bright areas.
  Equipment:
• Use a camera and not your phone.
• Get a decent camera lens.
• Use a tripod (I do not own one) or use something to put your camera on ie wall, chair, postbox or similar.
• Use a ladder or a chair to stand on when taking photo of your jeans laying on the ground.
• If you take photos indoor use a flash. Preferably a flash that you can turn around so that it is pointed to the ceiling so that the flash light can bounce from the ceiling and down to the floor and jeans. If you have the flash pointed directly at the jeans and floor the result is alot "harder" and can create some weird shadows.
  Editing:
• Get Lightroom or something similar to edit the photos afterwards.
  Depending on what is on the photo the jeans may tend to be more blue or green or red in its tint then reality is. Therfore I always try to get the white balance right. I do suck at lightroom and most often then not I press the auto edit button. Then I have to drag down the brightness and contrast and sometimes the other options a little. As the pictures most often then not becomes overly bright when I press the "auto" button. Then I change the colour balance to make sure that the white is actually white and not white with a blue tint or yellow tint.

A sufu member cmboland wrote a good guide a couple of years ago that I really liked.

https://www.reddit.com/r/rawdenim/comments/2vm1ps/denim_white_balance_tutorial/
https://imgur.com/a/1kwUJ

Last note.
Try to experiment with different backgrounds and light settings and for that matter camera settings.

My Equipment:

• Canon EOS 50D
• Canon EF-S 15-85mm f/3,5-5,6 IS USM (My main lens)
• Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L IS USM
• Canon EF 100mm f/2,8L IS USM Macro
• Canon Speedlite 430EX II

[AdamJ]

For someone who does not consider himself a good photographer, that is a very well written guide on how to snap denim! Thanks! @nizzel55

[neph93]

@Adam:

For someone who does not consider himself a good photographer, that is a very well written guide on how to snap denim! Thanks! @nizzel55

This^ [emoji1]

Thanks very much for taking the time @nizzel55. That is good stuff.