# Apparel Photography For A Website?



## StaySea1974 (Jan 21, 2016)

I'm just new to this & was wondering if anyone could help me figure out settings & lighting for apparel photographs for a t-shirt company's website. I have florescent box lighting, a white background, a tripod & a lil Canon Rebel T5 right now. I have googled & tried some of the settings that have been recommended but the pictures aren't crisp & clear or show a lot of detail. PLEASE HELP!


----------



## tirediron (Jan 21, 2016)

It's very difficult, nae, impossible to recommend useful "settings" when we don't know anything about the actual situation.  Posting an example of one (or more) of the images with which you're not satisfied and an image of your set-up would help greatly.  

What I will suggest is that before you do anything else, you buy and read (and re-read) the lighting bible, which will take you from neophyte to expert in only a couple of hundred pages.


----------



## Designer (Jan 22, 2016)

StaySea1974 said:


> I'm just new to this & was wondering if anyone could help me figure out settings & lighting for apparel photographs for a t-shirt company's website. I have florescent box lighting, a white background, a tripod & a lil Canon Rebel T5 right now. I have googled & tried some of the settings that have been recommended but the pictures aren't crisp & clear or show a lot of detail. PLEASE HELP!


Hi, StaySea1974, and welcome!

Yes, an example of what you're getting would help with the diagnosis, and be sure to not strip the EXIF when you attach your example.  Attaching a photo straight off your computer will leave the EXIF on the image.  Resize to no larger than 1024 pixels on the longest side, and click "full size" in the option selection.

Several, nae, many factors are in play here, namely; will your camera make sharp photographs in other conditions?  Does your camera or computer software indicate where the exact point of focus is?  Your fluorescent lighting might not be optimum for colored clothing.  Do you capture the RAW file, or only a JPG?  Is there some kind of filter on the front of your lens?  When you actuate the shutter, do you touch the camera with your hands or do you use a cable release?


----------



## astroNikon (Jan 22, 2016)

I did some shots for a t-shirt company before.  Both static and on a model.

As mentioned above we need more information but I'll give you my brief part of it.

1 - I stayed away from your low end flourescent bulbs.  You can buy them in a variety of of colors which can make your WhiteBalance go bonkers.  Since I have enough speedlights I simply used speedlights (of the same make to confirm correct WB).

2 - I now always grey card a few shots here and there to make sure my white balance is good.

3 - normally a white background at a few feet behind the shirt for web use, or 18% grey BG.  The BG is also lighted.

If you are taking shots of a layout of shirts, etc on a table make sure there not much in the background of the shot, and use the appropriate aperture to blur out the background with just enough DOF to get the depth of your shot. Lighting a table takes many lights in order to not have weird shadows where you don't want them.

though, I'm not a pro.  I did this as kinda a favor.
and the place I did them for looks now OOB ... out of business.  They had a poor business model too anyways which is what I was initially helping them with as their "in house photographer" just stunk.

But it's best to post your photos so we can help your with your existing equipment to improve it as much as possible.


----------



## Dave442 (Jan 22, 2016)

When you say Crisp and Clear I think I have an idea of what you are looking for, but it is not really enough information to know why the shots are not Crisp and Clear. It makes it sound like focus or blur, but I expect it is more related to exposure. 

Is the T-Shirt against the white background or is there separation? Is your background white in the photo you take?


----------



## KmH (Jan 22, 2016)

Understanding Camera Exposure: Aperture, ISO & Shutter Speed
Understanding Camera Metering
Understanding Depth of Field
Most digital cameras have an anti-aliasing filter in front of the image sensor to control moiré.
That filter diminishes image sharpness.
Consequently, most digital photographs need to be sharpened post process.
The best results are obtained by sharpening in a 3 stage process:
Light global sharpening of a Raw file - global meaning the entire image file is sharpened equally.
Local sharpening - local meaning only sharpening areas of a photo, like just the t-shirt in the photo and not the background.
And lastly output sharpening according to how the photo will be used. Photos for online display cannot be sharpened as much as photos that will be printed.

The worst place to do that sharpening is in the camera because the in the camera sharpening controls are very crude and are global.
If you are recording the t-shirt photos as JPEG files the camera is applying sharpening to the entire photograph.
The JPEG file type was designed to be a final ready-to-print file type that won't be edited any further.
Consequently JPEG files are limited to being 8-bit depth files. 8-bit depth files have little editing headroom, and many 8-bit depth files have no editing headroom.

Most DSLR cameras today make Raw files that have a 12-bit or 14-bit depth.
The additional bit depth provides lots more editing headroom.
Once the editing is done, then the image file can be converted to the JPEG file type.
Photo Editing Tutorials

Note that the ins-and-outs of digital photograph sharpening is a book length subject:
Real World Image Sharpening with Adobe Photoshop, Camera Raw, and Lightroom (2nd Edition)


----------



## Ihatemymoney (Jan 23, 2016)

StaySea1974 said:


> I'm just new to this & was wondering if anyone could help me figure out settings & lighting for apparel photographs for a t-shirt company's website. I have florescent box lighting, a white background, a tripod & a lil Canon Rebel T5 right now. I have googled & tried some of the settings that have been recommended but the pictures aren't crisp & clear or show a lot of detail. PLEASE HELP!



Big shot in the dark without you posting a picture so we know where or how to help you !


----------

