posted on May 30, 2001 05:58:31 AM new
Hi,
I am hoping to benefit from all of your wisdom here. I just bought over 1,000 pieces of antique linens from Europe - most of them are gorgeous and mint, so I want to make sure to show them off at their best!
My question is how to do a better job photographing them. I have put up about 100 right now (same user name as here), and I am not happy with the pictures, they are too dark! A lot of the embroidery is white on white, or very pale (like very pale pink) and there is damask in there as well with a woven tone-on-tone design. These are so hard to get right - how do I do this.
I have a good camera (Panasonic), but just need to know how to make the pictures be 'wow'!
posted on May 30, 2001 06:04:04 AM new
Hate to horn in on your question without any advice but I would like to know too. Also my white fabrics come out rather pinkish using a Sony Mavica (older model). So how do you get the red out? (without Visine!)
posted on May 30, 2001 06:06:35 AM new
Funny you should ask, I have a very pale pink damask tablecloth up now and the picture makes it look white! The opposite problem - sounds like we need schooling here!
posted on May 30, 2001 06:08:33 AM new
I don't sell too many old linens, but when I do have found the same problem. I looked through my material bin and found a black piece and used it as the background. That made the white stand out better. I also use burgundy material. I find it makes the linens look richer and more elegant. There are probably some photo tricks but being a 35mm point and click person, have to find other ways. Good luck with your linens, they sound wonderful.
[ edited by llama_lady on May 30, 2001 06:33 AM ]
posted on May 30, 2001 07:17:07 AM new
Mavica you need to either adjust brightness or stop using regular light bulb light try sunlight or spot light type photographers light.
Joe B
posted on May 30, 2001 07:30:10 AM new
Consider buying a large piece of black velvet material. Use this as backdrop for linens. It makes a great contrast. Not expensive.
posted on May 30, 2001 07:37:50 AM new
I have been using an antique table as backdrop, dark wood, so there is contrast. I photograph in my dining room which has a bay window, so lots of light, and I use 2 spotlights in addition, but I am obviously doing something wrong - but what?
I will buy a piece of black fabric and use the floor for larger pieces, from a ladder I think, but details still need work, the close-ups and the small detail work I need to catch too.
posted on May 30, 2001 09:08:39 AM newtouchofeurope: It's often tricky to get good linen images.
I've found good Northern daylight plus a touch of adjustable reading-lamp light beamed onto damask helps bring out the pattern. Relying on sunlight or flash alone "bleaches" out the contrasts. The reading lamp picks up the satiny contrasts of the damask with a little touch of golden light that ( I think) makes it ook appealing.
Pale pastels , e.g. pink, are very tricky. I also have an older Mavica, and have sometimes resorted to holding a light, very sheer fabric over the actual flash, to diffuse it , and sometimes will adjust colors on photosuite. Natural light seems to look dark or murky!
A black background does work best for most linens, and doesn't look so weird if you have to adjust colors. I use a very dense, dark, matt tightly-woven piece. Sometimes velvet and napped/shiny textures come out looking like a snowstorm in closeups, especially if you have to use flash.
Embroidery (white on white) and damask are very challenging, and I've found that to tilt or fold the pieces, e.g. napkins and tablecloth corners, brings out more of the different textures as opposed to " flat , from above". My best linen pics. have been taken from almost eye-level. If I can locate the discs , I'll put some up here later.
Right now , I'm off to view your auctions, I love linens , and seem to be aquiring more than I'm selling!
posted on May 30, 2001 09:10:48 AM new
For close up work, I would put the peice directly on a scanner and scan it from there - usually the details come out very crisp if you have the DPI set properly for your scanner.
posted on May 30, 2001 09:24:07 AM newAntiqueParrot What a great idea. I never thought of that. I will use my scanner next time. Sometimes I forget about the scanner since I have acquired a digital camera.
posted on May 30, 2001 09:28:39 AM new
Thanks for the great ideas - I need to get geared up. I am also looking for the best iron I can find, I bought a Rowenta last week-end and hated it, it didn't glide right, I wonder what I was doing wrong. Took it back and researching now.
I sold my scanner since I never used it, arghhh!
Any comments, critique, ideas, suggestions are so welcome, I need to learn a lot about this. I know a lot about linens, but little about photographing them!
[ edited by touchofeurope on May 30, 2001 09:29 AM ]
[ edited by touchofeurope on May 30, 2001 09:29 AM ]
posted on May 30, 2001 12:32:04 PM newIf you sold your scanner, go buy another one!!! Scanner prices are NOTHING now (my first one cost me almost $1000, and now they're as little as $40!!!)
For images of ANYTHING relatively small and flat (textiles, books, pictures, paper goods, plates, jewelry, etc.), any scanner (even the CHEAPEST ones) will give you better detail than digital cameras do. Take a camera photograph of the item if it's bigger than your scanner bed (and/or if you want something like a draped 'beauty shot' of the item), and take a scan to show close-up details.
It's usually best to set the scan for 'sharpen' or 'sharpen more'. Colors will usually (though not always) come out 'truer' than they do with digital cameras, so if the COLOR of the scan is more accurate than the color of your photograph (or the other way around), say so in your listing description.
I find scans much quicker and easier to take & process than camera photos for several reasons--- camera shots are taken, downloaded into the computer, then have to be cropped/sized/sharpened/color-adjusted in photo-editing software (unless you took the "perfect" photo). Scans are cropped, sized, and sharpened BEFORE you take the scan....meaning they can be saved IMMEDIATELY without working on them in photo-editing software, unless they need color adjustment or further 'tweaking'.
You might use your camera to take some 'beauty shots' of your linens---instead of photographing a flat pillowcase, why not put a pillow inside it and show it as it will be USED....and drape a tablecloth over a table, etc.? Then show scans for close-ups of damage, embroidery and details.
