furniture shooting

I've been approached by a guy that has a furniture catalog; he wants me to take care of the white backgrounds items. I have two 1600ABs but need to get the background and support. I will appreciate any recommendations.

To even consider doing real furniture photography job with a just pair of alien bees would not be wise for you or your clients...

Furniture photography is another one of those very specialized areas of photography that usually requires much expense, space, gear, staff, and experience to do the right way - which is why it is so expensive to have done right.

In Detroit, we knew the guys who shot (all 8x10 chrome back then) in-house studio for major chair maker, and they had a simply massive operation with multiple room sets and "stages", set builders, stylists, and an army of workers.

Here in FL, dealt with some Carolina furninture specialists, and it was the same with them - really, really B-I-G operations with tens of thousands of square feet shooting space and more lights than an NFL stadium.

Here are a couple of links to let you see what I'm saying first hand...

http://www.qphoto.com/furniture.html

http://www.tribuzio-hilliard.com/index.cfm

http://www.tffarchitects.com/commercial/tribuzio.htm

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Eric in Florida

You did say "white background items," so I think this might be feasilble for you, as the shots wouldn't require massive environmental sets.

If you'll be shooting at the client's location, a pair of Bogen Autopoles with a chain drive for the background paper would be nice to have. And, you'll probably need a couple of more lights.

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Jim

White seamless paper supported by bogen heavy duty light stands and hardware. I would not use the auto-poles because if the ceiling is low enough to use them then the ceiling is to low for proper lighting.

You can make do with only two lights (three would be better). The first light is on a boom with either a large softbox or umbrella position this light high above and slightly behind the furniture. This top light will light the paper background and the top of the furniture.

The second light is your main light used with a large softbox or umbrella to light the front of the furniture. The third light would be used as a fill but a couple pieces of very large Foamcore (4’x 8’) supported by stands can work as well.

I did these shots using a total of 500ws split between 3 heads with a 4x5. So your 3200ws of power should be more than enough.

http://www.moore-photo.com/commercial/commercial.html scroll down to the bottom

http://www.moore-photo.com/tearsheets/pages/pacific_orient_traders.htm

To keep the paper clean use some Kraft paper or clean cardboard as a walkway when placing the furniture on the paper. Make sure your client has a couple of strong helpers to move the furniture so you don’t have to, or you should double your fee!

Hope this helps,

David L. Moore
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Professional Photographic Services
http://www.moore-photo.com

...it's not that simple...if you slap a couple of pieces of furniture on white seamless you will have all sorts of reflective problems arise...the various coatings applied to furniture will act as a mirror in some cases, the darker the finish the more problems you will encounter...I'm not saying it can't be done but it's not something you should go into without prior experience unless the client is aware...

...Davids second link illustrates the issues you will need to deal with...

I still like autopoles for in-factory or -warehouse work, because of the safety factor. When you fit them into place, they aren't likely to get knocked over.

The standard poles extend more than 12 feet. With a cheap pair of extenders you can go up more than 18 feet. Try to set up regular background poles anywhere near as high and you are in real jeopardy.

I've done quite a bit of in-factory work on large products, but not furniture. Still, I think this is a feasible project. You will probably also want to have some big diffusers, and I think Westcott Scrim Jims are good for such work. With the right materials, you can use them as reflectors, shoot-throughs or flags. I picked up some of these from the bankruptcy auction of a rental outfit (5th & Sunset). They really come in handy for big stuff.

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Jim

If you mean that he wants you to cut out the furniture from the white background, or just have a piece of furniture on a white background you have 2 choices

1. Have enough lights to evenly light the background so it is white and be careful not to mar the floor when changing or adjusting furniture
2. don't worry about the background and cut out the furniture in P-shop

It depends a lot on the kind and quantity of furniture and the time/fee you can charge for meticulously cutting out the furniture from the backdrop.

I recently shot some computer workstations that had lots of curves and angles. The client only wanted the furniture against a transparent or white background.

I buit a stufio in his warehouse by using white seamless paper on the floor and sheets of 4'x8' foamcore to make the back wall and sides. I was only interested in making sure the floor and background gave me enough contrast to later be able to use paths and/ or the magic wand to cut the furniture out. I wasn't too concerned about keeping the floor clean (footprints, etc.) since I was going to cut it out anyway. I used to 2 strobes in umbrellas and cross lit the background and side wall foamcore (didn't worry about seeing the stands in the set because I was going to cut it out anyway. and two monolights in umbrellas to light the furniture. It was pretty flat lighting, but the furniture had a lot of aluminum tubing on it so I need flat light to get soft reflections anyway.

Point is, you can spend a lot of time and extra lights to light the white perfectly as if you were shooting a film transparency that had to be perfect "in camera", or you can spend less time lighting the set, more time concentrating on getting the right kind of light and reflections in the furniture and cut out the furniture in P-shop, then leave the backgroung transparent, or add a white layer... and maybe a few painted in shadow to "lock" the furniture to the artificial floor.

This was my solution, but I don't know what kind of furniture you will be shooting.

Robert Strom

I can post photos of the furniture if you are interested

Robert Strom said:

I can post photos of the furniture if you are interested

Click to expand...

Link to examples:
http://www.eisys-inc.com/pacs/features/

Robert Strom

Thanks guys, Sorry but I forgot to say they will be small pieces of furniture, the larger size will be an office chair, there is always a first time and the client is well aware of that.

Carlos Dagnesses

Did you click on any of the other links on the site I listed? I shot everything from a 8' long table to a mini desk lamp using the technique I described?

Robert Strom

Rob,

Thank you very much for your help, they look great, I'm going to do the shooting in his warehouse and will be staring next week.... wish me look!!!

Carlos