Product photography...clothing in particular...techniques?

[budawg]

I'm goign to be doing this for someone soon and just wanted to get feedback from people on how images like this (http://www.abercrombie.com/anf/onlinestore/collection/14309_02_f.jpg) are taken. I just want the clean white background. My only lighting equipment right now is a Canon 430EX and an umbrella setup. It's also my understanding that I'd have access to some continuous ligths as well. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

[René Damkot]

Probabely shot on a white background, which was removed in photoshop...
Do a search on 'path' ;)

[budawg]

isn't that rather vague? what do you mean by path? I'm moreso interested in how many lights you suppose were used and where they were positioned.

[René Damkot]

The lighting can be pretty simple. In this case probabely a softbox from top-right, and some kind of fill.
I use something like this (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showpost.php?p=1810658&postcount=9).
Yahoo found this (http://www.graphic-design.com/Photoshop/Seminars/paths/default.html) about paths ;)

[BaliHai]

Shot was done on a white bkg. so that a strong edge could is created that makes it easy to strip out of the bkg in Photoshop. It can be shot straight down if you have the high ceilings needed it also can be pinned to a wall and shot from there. Styling on a laydown is definitely easier but not everyone has ceilings high enough to allow this. More than one light was probablely used in all likely hood two strobe and bounce cards where needed. I was a photo director for 27 years and have seen many of these stills produced, are you using a still life stylist, if not I'd look for one as they can save your sanity as they know what tricks will get the look you want. You'd be surprised how much stuffing and pinning goes into a still.

[PhotosGuy]

If you can get the clothes away from the bg, use the umbrella with the continuous lights to light them & the 430EX to blow out the bg. You'll need to put a warming filter (85B) on the flash to match the color balance of the continuous lights . These are about the right size:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=45189&is=REG&addedTroughType=search

Easier would be to get a cheap flash just for the bg work. See the flash On the stool in "1S"?
Simple 2 Light Portrait Set-up (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=128857)

A 2nd flash is useful in other ways, too:
Simple "every-day-emergency" location lighting (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=66358)

[budawg]

The lighting can be pretty simple. In this case probabely a softbox from top-right, and some kind of fill.
I use something like this (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showpost.php?p=1810658&postcount=9).
Yahoo found this (http://www.graphic-design.com/Photoshop/Seminars/paths/default.html) about paths ;)


That's what I thought you meant by paths...how would they be useful in this situation? To get rid of the background?

[BaliHai]

A lot of catalogs use the path to create silos to show their merchandise. This allows them to 1. reuse the image many times with other merch 2. adjust size and rotation without having a bkg to contend with 3. keep a cleaner page just add a drop shadow and with the white of the paper as your bkg copy is easily placed.

[budawg]

I'm not sure i follow...could you explain further? Sorry if I'm not cathing this stuff as quickly as I should be...:(

[BaliHai]

The shot you used as an example, if you look very closely at it the pant it is a little to perfectly outlined also there is no shadow not even a very narrow one. It looks like a paper doll. This is done after the photo is shot by the catalog production staff using the pen tool and another layer in Photoshop they create a path by tracing the outline of the garment in some cases after doing this they make there own drop shadow, that is why the background needs not be perfect as in the final art there is no background. This image is then brought into a graphic program such as InDesign where it is placed on the page as a silo.