# How to take product photos of leather jackets?



## SitaraPhotos (Mar 18, 2013)

Hey guys.

I have looked through this forum and read up on a few techniques and it's all great advice but the only issue is that I don't have studio equipment available at the moment. How can I make these leather jackets stand out and look acceptable? I have luckily got a few colleagues from my previous jobs to lend me a male a female mannequin that I can use for presentation but now the question is where do I place the mannequins. What makes a good background?

I'm taking these photos at home, I was thinking of using a natural background that could look good through my Canon 50L. These jackets are different styles some are biker matte and others are suedey effect baseball style leather jackets in a different range of colours from black, camel to dark red.

I have taken product photos using a lightbox before but because this is on a larger scale I have no idea how to make them look professional, I have continuous lighting and softboxes if that helps? 2 medium sized soft boxes and 2 continuous bulbs plus my Canon 580ex II.

Your advice would be highly appreciated.

Salma.


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## cgipson1 (Mar 18, 2013)

Where do you have to shoot (lighting, how much room, what backgrounds are there?) What are the jackets (shiny, matte, colors?) What equipment DO you have? What experience do you have? 

Need more basic information....


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## SitaraPhotos (Mar 18, 2013)

cgipson1 said:


> Where do you have to shoot (lighting, how much room, what backgrounds are there?) What are the jackets (shiny, matte, colors?) What equipment DO you have? What experience do you have?
> 
> Need more basic information....


I'm taking these photos at home. Regarding backgrounds that's what i'm asking,I was thinking of using a natural background that could look good through my Canon 50L. These jackets are different styles some are biker matte and others are suedey effect baseball style leather jackets in a different range of colours from black, camel to dark red.

I have taken product photos using a lightbox before but because this is on a larger scale I have no idea how to make them look professional, I have continuous lighting and softboxes if that helps? 2 medium sized soft boxes and 2 continuous bulbs plus my Canon 580ex II.


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## imagemaker46 (Mar 18, 2013)

I wouldn't say I'm a photographer, or pretend to be a professional until I knew how to pose a mannequin, oh wait, it's a mannequin, it's pre-posed for you.  Stand the "model" against a nice stone wall, of faded barn board wall outdoors in a well lit but not direct sunlight, don't want the mannequin squinting.  That should work.


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## Light Guru (Mar 18, 2013)

SitaraPhotos said:


> What makes a good background?



All sorts of things could make a good back ground but I think you should be asking your client what kind of background they want.  



SitaraPhotos said:


> I was thinking of using a natural background



What do you mean by "natural" background"?


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## SitaraPhotos (Mar 18, 2013)

Light Guru said:


> SitaraPhotos said:
> 
> 
> > What makes a good background?
> ...


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## Light Guru (Mar 18, 2013)

SitaraPhotos said:


> Client? I would never take photos for a 'client' if I was unsure about something. This is just a favour i'm doing for my brother



Then is this case your brother is your client. What kind of background would your brother like?



SitaraPhotos said:


> I have luckily got a few colleagues from my previous jobs to lend me a male a female mannequin that I can use for presentation but now the question is where do I place the mannequins.





SitaraPhotos said:


> By natural background I meant somewhere outside, excluding studio backdrops.



Why would you place clothing on a mannequin and then place it out side.  That would just look awkward. 

If you want to use the mannequin then shoot the jackets against a plain white background.  If you want to shoot them out side then use a model.


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## SitaraPhotos (Mar 18, 2013)

Ok i've sorted it out now. I've decided to use studio strobes and a muslin backdrop I bought a while back, the only reason I couldn't do that before is because i had misplaced it but i've managed to find all my equipment in the garage.

The Mannequins are NOT full length, they are only busts and would not look awkward infronf of maybe a brick wall with a creamy/bokeh background.


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## Light Guru (Mar 18, 2013)

SitaraPhotos said:


> The Mannequins are NOT full length, they are only busts and would not look awkward infronf of maybe a brick wall with a creamy/bokeh background.



Because you would not descriptive explanation of what you met by "natural" background like asked that option never came to mind.  To me a brick wall would hardly be a natural background"  I would consider things like trees, plants or landscape to be natural, a brick wall is vary much man made.


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## JC46 (Mar 19, 2013)

Have you considered using Depth-of-field to blur the background? Effective use of DoF would be dependent on several factors, including the distance from the mannequin to the background, focal length of the lens and framing.


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## SitaraPhotos (Mar 19, 2013)

JC46 said:


> Have you considered using Depth-of-field to blur the background? Effective use of DoF would be dependent on several factors, including the distance from the mannequin to the background, focal length of the lens and framing.


Hi. Yes I did consider DoF and it worked quite well, even though some of the jackets looked slightly soft i used the sharpen tool in PS and shot in RAW so it all turned out ok. I will post samples shortly.


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