Photographing T-shirts

[Stitch Up]

Not really off topic but just thought I'd open this up for discussion.

Because of constraints on space, one of the biggest problems we have is photographing the finished t-shirt for advertising/website use.

I think a well arranged and good picture helps sell your product. I have the equipment but not the skill or more alarmingly the ideas in placement of the shirt - this goes for other products too.

I have thought of using chroma photography where you place your product against a green background and instantly remove that backgound in software, like Photokey. Again, I have most of the equipment - some ideas on lighting wouldn't go amiss, but we don't have the space!

Mannequins are another idea, but which are the best? Are they a good idea? Which are the best - so many to choose from.

I've purchased Go Media's Arsenal t-shirt templates and added all the colours of the brands of shirts we use. These are great when I have a computer artwork image on a transparent background but no good for things like the sequin and rhinestone designs we produce.

Any thoughts or ideas out there?

Regards

John

[arthur.daley]

it would help if you listed the equipment you have available .

do you want to be able to photograph 'real' jobs that you have done or samples printed specifically to use for promotion?

If the former - problem is they will be a variety of sizes and both male and female which means that you'd need a variety of mannequins which take up loads of space. This means you'd probably have to photograph them flat.

If the latter then you can print them all to fit the mannequin or better still use a couple of human mannequins to model the t shirts - you have to make sure they are a really good fit! Print up a couple of dozen t shirts, sort out a simple background and light it and away you go.

as I said at the top - really need to know what equipment you have - and an idea of what photographic experience you have.

If you weren't 150 miles away I'd drop in!



Arthur

[Paul]

i would photograph on white background instead chroma key. easier.

[Stitch Up]

Thanks guys

My equipment.

Canon EOS 5D MkIII
Canon Speedlite 580EX II + a couple more!
Canon EF 24 to 70mm F2.8 L USM Zoom Lens
Canon EF 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 L IS USM Zoom Lens
Canon EF 28-135mm F3.5 - 5.6 IS USM Zoom Lens

A couple of star filters to enhance the 'blingy' stuff.

A photo tent - big enough for me to get in it

I have some lights and tripods - but I'm lacking in the lighting equipment. I quite fancy some LED lights but not sure if this would be good enoug

John

[soulclaimed]

Wilkinson's sell some high wattage lights at a day cent to price get 3 for a low budget 3 point lighting setup

[Paul]

if planing to do shots on white then forget about standard lights or LED. use your excelent flash! one on shirt and one on background and job done!
one on background need to be about one stop more then the flash on tshirt this will creat lovely white

[kevdsn]

As Paul has said forget tungsten or LED lights, if you've got 3 x 580's you've got all the light you need. Chromakey is ok but you do need a bit of space and some practice in correctly lighting the background and subject, you will also have to mask any green/blue in your t-shirts to stop the software removing it and this can be time consuming if there is a lot in your designs. The biggest issue with chromakey is setting up so that you don't get green reflected light falling on your subject and creating a green halo effect.

White is easy enough but you mention space is an issue... when shooting on white you will need to light the white at least 1 stop over your subject (otherwise you will get grey) again your subject needs to have some distance between them and the lit background to prevent reflected light causing a halo or fogging effect around the edges of your subject.

The easiest option for you would probably be to use natural light with some fill flash. If you were to shoot with a very shallow DOF outside and pick a background that was not too busy (row of hedges or trees etc) this would just become a total blur.. eg. set lens to f2.8 at the maximum obtainable zoom (the 24-70 is a good lens for this) place t shirt so that the background is 20ft or so away, ideally not harsh sun, if it is, find some shade or pick a cloudy day and set speedlight to approx -2/3 to -1 stop. A little bit of trial and error with the position of the sun (best off to the side, certainly not straight on) and I think you may be surprised how good this can look.

If you do shoot outside why not use real people to model the shirts instead of manaquins.

[arthur.daley]

available light is all well and good for a one off but its unrepeatable (reliably)

If you have the 580s you are in business. Get a Stofen or similar diffuse to stick on the front of the key and fill 580s to get a nice soft light and the one on the background can be a bare flash head. As previously mentioned you will need to overlight a white background to get it to be white. The trick is not to overlight it too much as you will then get light bleeding around the edges of your model and blow out any hair detail. You have a flash meter?

You say you have some lights and tripods - do you mean studio flash or maybe tungsten bulbs on light stands?


Arthur

[Stitch Up]

I took a snap earlier, here's the result.



The camera was on fully automatic everything, with the flash pointing directly at the bling and 8 star filter fitted.

Problems - awful moire - much of the colours from the sequins has gone.

Any setup suggestions?

Cheers

John

[Dave271069]

im watching this thread closely too as im finding it difficult to get the perfect picture of t-shirts that i have printed for customers up onto website and Facebook looking professional. ive been offered by a photographer to come and do it but he wants about £50 per hour and im not sure how much work i will get out of him for that rate to take a chance..
maybe stitchup when you work it out ill hire you out