Furniture Photography Question

[Athena]

I've had a company approach me to photograph furniture. They are planning a two day trip to my town to source various pieces and would like me to shoot what they buy. I assume they need the photos to offer these pieces on their website (although I am not sure).

Can you help me with my response questions? Obviously I need to ask:
1. Where will the furniture need to be photographed (in a warehouse, showroom, side of the road etc)? I don't have a studio big enough to bring it here to shoot it, so if that is required, I can't do it.
2. What do they need the photos for (print, web...)
3. ??

Also, do I need a tilt/shift lens for this type of work? I don't want to offer poor quality work, nor do I want to spend hours correcting lens distortion in PS.

Any suggestions are warmly welcomed - thanks guys!

[jfrancho]

what kind of furniture, how big, is really only going to be "eBay size" images, Do they want high key background, or low key... I think you get the idea. A tilt-shift would be nice, but I don't think it's necessary. If some of the pieces are larger, you'll be using a wide angle, and DOF won't be as much of an issue. If you are concerned about distortion, you could correct it in Photoshop, or use something like PTLens.

[Athena]

Thanks John - I was hoping you'd answer.

I am going to email them a list of questions in the morning (its late here).

Assuming they want these done on site, what gear would you take?

[jfrancho]

I'd bring as much as I could, just be prepared for the worst, and make the best of it. I'd bring some black or white sheets as well as something to support them for backgrounds.

[Brooks]

Use a slight telephoto, 35mm equivalent of a 105mm. This will require more working distance from the camera to the subject but if you use a wide angle lens you will get distortion that will be impossible to correct. You can alway correct converging lines, a longer lens and greater shooting distance will help with that, but the size distortion from near to far, that a wide angle lens produces, is not something you can "fix" later in PhotoShop.

As for a background, you'll have to ask the client. If they want to strip out the piece of furniture then you'll have to use white or light grey. Seamless is the easiest background to use because it doesn't wrinkle. And if you're shooting wooden, marble, corian or formica tables you will get a white bounce from the background onto the table's top surface so you'll need to suspend a black cloth or paper on the white bkgd behind the table so that it reflects in the table top. Lower it only far enough to block the reflection but not so far that it goes behind the table itself.

If the client doesn't need to strip out the images perhaps you can shot it inside in front of an empty wall if that wall has an atractive color, good floor molding and a nice carpet. Maybe use the corner of a room as a set and style it with some plants, floor lamps, include part of a window, etc.

For equipment, I'd use strobes, a couple of softboxes, perhaps a boom, a grid spot or two and large 4'x8' foamcore reflectors for fill. If you're shooting digitally, tethering your camera to a laptop for image review and editing is a wonderful thing.

[Athena]

Excellent response Brooks - thank you.

I have a feeling the reality of this project is that they want these photos done on site and the likelihood that it's conducive to nice photos is low. If this is going to be a complete nightmare I'd really rather avoid it. KWIM? I think the "where will the furniture be photographed" question will be pivotal.

[Brooks]

Athena,

Don't give up on this shoot yet. If you own or can rent/borrow some studio strobes, stands, softboxes, grids etc. this kind of shoot isn't that difficult. A lot depends on how comfortable you are with creating the lighting, the location of the shoot, and perhaps most importantly the expectations of the client. You might even be able to shoot with available light and large foam-core reflectors if you have a large window or open warehouse door available at the location.

Try to find out what the clients expectations are. Understand that the price of a moderate to high-end commercial shoot of these type of large-scale products done in a studio will range anywhere from $1200 to $2500 per day plus film/polaroids or digital captures. Plus usage rights. I'll bet your client will want to pay a lot less and will expect a lot less. Check out the specs , location facilities and budget and you might be the one to do the job.

[Athena]

I've sent them a reply asking where the furniture will be photographed and how large it is. The company deals largely with real estate, so it is possible they have a lovely model home to photograph it in (which will create different issues...).

As for equipment, I have two strobes with 3' softboxes and stands. I tend to shoot things much smaller than furniture, so thus far this is really all I've needed. I don't know of anyplace here that rents equipment...

[Brooks]

By strobes do you mean studio strobes or on camera flashes ? If you have 800ws or more in each strobe you can build large 4'x6' scrims out of rip-stop nylon and pvc frames for very little money. You do have to match the size of the lights to the size of the subject if you want a nice quality of light.

Maybe the job will pay enough that you can buy some needed equipment.

You can rent lighting equipment from KEH and Flash Clinic in NYC from anywhere in the country.

[LeeK]

Furniture photography encompasses a wide gamut of situations. Studio as in room settings, individual pieces in a room setting, individual pieces on cyc wall, room setting on location, and individual pieces in a room setting on location. The largest factor is being able to 'see' and light individual or room settings in a pleasing fashion. Normally require's quite a bit of controlled light. Room settings are done w/normal lenses, individual piece's are done w/moderate telephoto. Many studio's still use tungsten lighting for studio room sets. On location there are still those that use tungsten w/a vast majority using flash.
IF your client is tranporting the furniture to a location, will they set it up and style it like they want? My recommendation is that YOU show up before they get started to determine w/client the most attractive view of the room that will accenturate the furniture and place that furniture as you see it through the lens. I hope you have plenty of window light and pray that you have white ceilings in order to bounce your light in the direction of the room, place other light lower and shoot through diffusion panel or simply shoot into the ceiling w/a different power ration. Then determine how much shutter drag you want...do you want to see some of what's outside any windows or do you want to blow that out? During the shutter drag how much of the incandescent lighting do you want to pick up?
studio room set

location




Notice how on the sofa the far end is not diminishing? TS lens or LF can help in minimizing such distortions.
I've shot w/ts lenses and w/zooms...both are handy if you know what the client needs and expects.