# Advice, Small in-house studio (for menswear store)



## Columba (Feb 8, 2012)

Hey Guys, I'm a complete newbie to this forum, so I am kinda hoping some of you good people will throw some advice my way. I work as an in house designer at an independent menswear store in the UK, so as you can imagine the whole shop/office is busy when the new seasons stock begins to arrive for example. 

What takes most of the time is getting one of the guys up to model the clothes, then the images have to be edited because they basically look awful. At the minute we just crop around the guy wearing the garments. 

What I feel would be a far better solution is to maybe use a male torso mannequin on a stand, and shoot the new items on that, but in a space that is lit properly for example. A little like the example below, to me it just makes the photograph much more pleasing to the eye, and if shot properly would save us loads of time, enabling us to get new arrivals up on the site much quicker.







Now for the advice, I do have an ND in photography, but I am lacking knowledge of such things like setting up a studio, and knowing what equipment I need.

Ideally this will be done on a very tight budget, we do have 2 basic studio lights, and I believe my boss has a set of soft boxes, and a Sony A230 along with a tripod. 

If possible could someone offer some support in terms of the minimum space I would need to set such a space up (we are quite limited, maybe only having 3 meters of wall space), and listing the necessary equipment? Kinda like a how to, and you will need kind of thing is possible.

Thanks Guys.

Columba


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## 2WheelPhoto (Feb 8, 2012)

Home Studio & Lighting | DIYPhotography.net


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## ababysean (Feb 8, 2012)

are these for an online catelog?  

to SELL in your store? 

I do believe you would get better results and happier customers if you hired someone to do this.  That way they could make sure the colors are correct and the garmets look GREAT, the pic above looks home shot, unprofessional and if I saw that on a website I would NOT trust to buy from you....

If you do not want to invest in someone to do the photos for you, hire someone to show you how....


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## tirediron (Feb 8, 2012)

^^That^^  This isn't hard to do, BUT it's far more than can be related in a few forum posts.  At the very least head down to your local library and grab some books on lighting and product photography.


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## gsgary (Feb 8, 2012)

Why not do what i do rent a small village hall, the one i rent is about 10m x 5m and only £6 per hour


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## The_Traveler (Feb 8, 2012)

If you have a continuing need for simple shots, 3 meters isn't much space. (wide angles to get the entire length in will make for distorted shots.
Consider a non-dedicated space where you can set up screens, etc as needed. 
Perhaps you can have display space set up as a 'studio' minus any breakables and just move in your tripod, etc. 
This might end up as a draw to watch the 'photographer' shoot.


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## KmH (Feb 8, 2012)

> I do have an ND in photography...


What is an ND in photography?


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## o hey tyler (Feb 8, 2012)

KmH said:


> > I do have an ND in photography...
> 
> 
> What is an ND in photography?



I think an ND in photography is a Neutral Density filter... But I am sure you knew that Keith. :lmao:


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## MLeeK (Feb 8, 2012)

I was wondering about the ND in photography too?

You are going to need at least 3 lights and if you are wanting to use a white background probably 4 to light this project properly. 
I think male models look better, but the mannequin is uniform and will work-it's a matter of opinion.

You REALLY need to give us a budget here. 

3M isn't too bad to work with for wall space. You don't say how much space you have from the wall to the camera placement? What are the studio lights you already have? Strobes? what is the output WPS of them?


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## gsgary (Feb 8, 2012)

KmH said:


> > I do have an ND in photography...
> 
> 
> What is an ND in photography?



National Diploma


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## Columba (Feb 13, 2012)

This is all great guys, and yeah the ND does stand for National Diploma (should of thought about that before typing). The Diploma ran along side my main course of Graphic Design, but regrettably I did not really have much of an interest in Photography at the time, at least in terms of acquiring it as a skill anyway. 

So my know-how is very low despite the diploma, the little I did pick up has dwindled away over the last 5 years. So in terms of asking me about lighting etc, I have no idea in all honesty, the lights are an old pair, and were already here when I arrived (also not branded) I could maybe take a photo to give you guys an idea as to what they are?

The space that could be made available from the wall is maybe as little as 4.5 metres give or take, and looking at the wall again the actual space is most likely 2.5 metres, but I don't think I would be confided to setting up within this space, the lights could be spaced wider I would think, the 2.5 would be made by removing to shelving units the stockroom, so if you can imagine this space in a much bigger space, but ultimately the backdrop would only be 2.5 (hope that makes sense).

When it comes to talking about slightly more technical stuff, I will not be offended if you word it as if spoken to a complete photography amateur, some of it I will actually understand, but a lot of it I expect I will not.

Thanks again for the advice people, greatly appreciated.


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## Columba (Feb 13, 2012)

ababysean said:


> are these for an online catelog?
> 
> to SELL in your store?
> 
> ...




I kind of disagree, the whole concept is to create an image that makes the garments feel more real, not looking for a completely polished image.

We are only a small business, yes we do deal with items that can cost up to £300, but most of our stock varies from £30 up to £200, with the odd expensive product.

So again it comes down to opinion, maybe something like this would not be acceptable for a large commercial store, as they have to connect with a much wider audience, but I feel the smaller businesses have more of a creative licence, the idea that everything is getting done in house has so much more draw in my eyes.

I appreciate your opinion though, its all input at the end of the day


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## KmH (Feb 13, 2012)

o hey tyler said:


> KmH said:
> 
> 
> > > I do have an ND in photography...
> ...


Then you'd be wrong. :lmao:



gsgary said:


> KmH said:
> 
> 
> > > I do have an ND in photography...
> ...


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## gsgary (Feb 13, 2012)

The space you have is way too small light would be bouncing all over the place


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## Columba (Feb 14, 2012)

Ok, so what is the minimum amount of space you would recommend? I mean it could be possible to manufacture more room elsewhere in the building, not sure just how much, but this is something we do really want setting up. So sacrificing space for other purposes could be a route we look at.

Also, the image above is not the only kind of image we would shoot, maybe at some point an all white background would be ideal, and table top shots etc.


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## kundalini (Feb 14, 2012)

Columba said:


> I kind of disagree, the whole concept is to create an image that makes the garments feel more real, not looking for a completely polished image.


Well, there is always location shoots as a possibility, but then again you would still need additional lighting.

Do you have room in your retail floor space where you could setup for shoots after hours?  It might be a PITA in the short term until you can find a dedicated space, but it is a thought.


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## Columba (Apr 26, 2012)

Ok guys, sorry to revive a bit of an old thread, but I have been busy and not really had time to dedicate. There has been a slight change in terms of how we would like our images to look like now anyways.

Pullover Shirt - You Must Create (YMC)

If any of you people could point us in the right direction in order to achieve something similar to this I would be very grateful, and please remember we have very limited space, and only the very basic equipment right now, as well as not having the best knowledge or ability. The ideal aim is to be able to shoot an image that will need little, if not any touching up when we come to upload it to our site, saving us valuable time.


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## gsgary (Apr 26, 2012)

Columba said:


> Ok guys, sorry to revive a bit of an old thread, but I have been busy and not really had time to dedicate. There has been a slight change in terms of how we would like our images to look like now anyways.
> 
> Pullover Shirt - You Must Create (YMC)
> 
> If any of you people could point us in the right direction in order to achieve something similar to this I would be very grateful, and please remember we have very limited space, and only the very basic equipment right now, as well as not having the best knowledge or ability. The ideal aim is to be able to shoot an image that will need little, if not any touching up when we come to upload it to our site, saving us valuable time.




Where about's are you based ? is your store YMC


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## Tony S (Apr 26, 2012)

There are so many different ways of doing this. I sincerly hope you are looking for better quality than the example link you just posted, that's just a nasty brownish look to everything that's not pleasing at all, the result of poor lighting and no effort put into it. The image needs to pop to help sell your product.

YouTube is your friend....... type in "product photography lighting" and get lots of ideas that you can see on which way to go. Finding a spot on a wall to hang a paper backdrop roll and then work from there would be good, then you can re-roll the paper and change the colors if you want without much expense.


 Lots of good tips here too....   http://www.prophotolife.com/video-library/


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## Columba (Apr 27, 2012)

I couldn't really disagree with you more, its fine if the smooth brown look isnt to your taste, but I myself feel it actually adds. I fear you would have my product images looking like every other catalogue/high-street store, and YMC would also disagree seeing as they are one of the most successful brands that sit on that fine edge of being commercial whilst also attracting the non-conformers.

I also like the way its lit, could just be me though 

I basically just want some tips on the space I will need, for example we have maybe a 4 x 5M space right now which could be adapted (which I gather is probably way to small, but I think we could get something from it). We do have two very basic stand alone adjustable lights, is this workable guys? and what else would I need.


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## Tony S (Apr 27, 2012)

Everyone has their own tastes. I will say at least their color and presentation is consistent across their line up.

It seems pretty hard though to tell what colors things reall are when they are all tinted, it could result in unexpected returns because the item they receive is not what they thought it would look like. But then I'm a photographer, not a clothing marketer.


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