I work for a company who makes wood library furniture for many universities/schools in the US. In fact, I'm sure you have sat in our furniture if you've attended any major schools like the University of Miami or University of Wisconsin.
Anyways, I'm our IT manager, but word got out that I have my own photography business on the side. I was asked to start photographing our furniture, so I was wondering if anyone had some advice on how to shoot wood furniture. We have a white photosweep with lights, but I would probably add some monolights of my own.
Whats best for wood? Umbrellas? Softboxes? Any help is appreciated.
First piece of advice, Charge Handsomely for your services. All this time they have been paying somebody for this work, don't let them use you on the cheap, otherwise you are cheapening the industry for all of us.
You choice in lighting is going to be dictated by the color/tone of the wood. Do you have sample/links for the look you are looking for?
Didn't look very closely but those shadows look totally artifical ;-)
Chuck Gardner has advice for shooting furniture (as he does with most studio subjects), and I suggest following it at least in the beginning.
Buy the book "Light -- Science & Magic" it teaches how to light most everything inanimate.
Working by the hour might not be in your interest. It might be better for you to charge little for the sessions and more for the rights to use the pix. The tradeoff is to "work for hire" and make as much money per hour as possible. Remember that high end photographers often charge hundreds of dollars per hour. Don't sell yourself short.
Clean, simple lighting. You may want to note that the verticals are all corrected.....
Two or three lights with softboxes would get you by if you have adequate space. Get the lights back from the items so the light is even across the items.
If you plan to do these on a light sweep remember that it can reflect badly across the surfaces so a polarizer may be needed/helpful. Alternately, black paper over the reflecting bg.
Are these also used in print? Probably Adobe RGB 98 is better than srgb...
A word of caution: shooting furniture is a specific skill set most photographers are only vaguely aware of...................
I shoot hundreds of pieces of hardwood furniture per year. In order to capture the wood grain, the background needs to be black. White background will wash out the grain and give the photo a muddy look. Do several test shoots between a white and black background and you will see the difference.
Out of curiosity, does your company actually make the furniture or do you import it?
I am an aspiring woodworker and have made some fine heirloom quality pieces for the house.
It breaks my heart to see the crap that comes from China and is passed off as "Fine Furniture".
Some time ago I advised a furniture maker trying to light their stuff with a minimum of equipment. I suggested using small white room (or creating one with fabric drapes) and a bare bulb flash to duplicate the type of lighting you might get on an overcast day. I did these test shots to illustrate:
I´d definitely use a grey backdrop vs white. When shooting products of any size or type big pieces of black and white foamcore are invaluable. If you need them to be bigger, you can always tape them together and you have enormous pieces. The reason being is that you can create contrast and dark areas with black, and highlights with white. This works really well if you´re limited to the amount of light sources you can use, which seems to be your situation. Although my website doesn´t show it, I shoot about 3 to 4 catalogs a year to keep me rolling, from furniture to wine and delicatessen... It´s hard work doing a catalog, and that´s why people charge accordingly.
The shots you posted show very little of the woodgrain, and that´s something very important in these types of shots. (I grew up in a woodshop, my dad builds pieces for architects) Good luck with your adventure. You´re going to learn a ton for sure.
I shoot reproduction furniture and antiques for a living. Some of it goes into magazines for advertising and the rest goes onto our online catalogue.
The first thing I would say is that there is no one rule fits all, but a good shadow underneath a piece of furniture helps "anchor" it. I usually have an overhead softbox to illuminate the top of low pieces such as chests of drawers, cabinets. I will have the piece at an angle to show off the legs, thickness of top, and two lights on either side to have fairly even lighting, while at the same time popping any carvings.
bobrossi - Some of the most solid, elaborate pieces of furniture I've ever seen came from China. Some of the worse from Ikea (Sweden, and or chinese imports).. Italian design sometimes is crap, and my sofa is testament that they're not always finely crafted. I suppose it's not where it comes from, but the quality of the wood/crafting that counts.
I find as well when shooting wood, going for the grain is easier when it's shot in a dark room with no white surfaces to reflect. Incasing something in non reflective black then shooting it produces great results. I've recently done quite a bit of antique wood pieces for insurance purposes however, I can't provide images from some of my clients pieces.
But the odd large piece that couldn't be moved was shot as is in it's surroundings, and I tell you, not as nice and a lot of DI work to get it pretty..
