# How to take this photo? Suspended straps?



## ewsnb

Hello everyone,

Just wondering how the photos are taken of backpacks with suspended shoulder straps in the air. Here is an example of what I'm talking about:

*Please do not post images to which you do not hold rights.  You may post links.*

How does the backpack stand up like that?


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## Scatterbrained

One simple way to do it would be to lay the pack on a horizontal plank so the straps hung down.  Then just rotate the photo.


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## Scatterbrained

You could also attach fishing line to the strap to pull it into shape.


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## TrolleySwag

Hang it upside down. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


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## ewsnb

What is a good way to hang backpacks?


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## tirediron

ewsnb said:


> What is a good way to hang backpacks?


On the back of an attractive model!


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## waday

No one mentioned the use of a ghost?


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## ewsnb

I want it to look as if it is suspended by ghosts, so I do not want to use a model, so what is a good way of doing this? I just want to showcase the backpack, no models.


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## robbins.photo

ewsnb said:


> I want it to look as if it is suspended by ghosts, so I do not want to use a model, so what is a good way of doing this? I just want to showcase the backpack, no models.



A solid color plastic clothes hanger, something that is say green, purple, etc... a color that won't be something you'll see on the product or in the background.  Then you can select by color in photoshop, and use the content aware fill and touch it up a bit to remove the clothes hanger from the picture.

Either that or perhaps a high strength fishing line of some sort, less editing but more work setting up each shot.


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## zombiesniper

Fish a metal clothes hanger through the straps then shape as desired.


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## Scatterbrained

It's funny, the straps on my packs will hold that shape naturally.


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## ewsnb

*LAST WARNING!  Do not post images which are not yours!*

how is it possible your backpack holds this shape naturally? But this is the type of image I want to take for a backpack.


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## Advanced Photo

Looks eerilly similar to the photo on this page...

Nike Backpacks | Academy

By the way...my backpack straps also stay like that unless you push them down and lean them against something or lay it down. They are just naturally semi rigid.

If you need to, you can use strings, wires, etc. by just painting them bright neon green and using chroma key techniques to remove what you don't want.


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## Scatterbrained

You don't even need to chromakey it.  Removing support wires in Ps is pretty quick and straight forward.


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## Advanced Photo

True, but less fun.  Plus you get to learn something for your film making.


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## ewsnb

Advanced Photo said:


> Looks eerilly similar to the photo on this page...
> 
> Nike Backpacks | Academy
> 
> By the way...my backpack straps also stay like that unless you push them down and lean them against something or lay it down. They are just naturally semi rigid.
> 
> If you need to, you can use strings, wires, etc. by just painting them bright neon green and using chroma key techniques to remove what you don't want.




It looks similar, or identical because I got it from that page... I was trying to show an example of what kind of photo I wanted to take.


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## ewsnb

This is the backpack I am trying to photograph but as you can see the shoulder straps just hang down


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## Advanced Photo

Internal wire and shape it. BTW, if you don't own the copyrights you can't post it here but you can post a link to the picture, like this:  http://assets.academy.com/mgen/98/10589198.jpg?is=640,640


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## tirediron

ewsnb said:


> It looks similar, or identical because I got it from that page... I was trying to show an example of what kind of photo I wanted to take.


Really?  So you just take other photographers work when the mood strikes you?  I've removed two images that you've "got" without apparently bothering to ask for rights/permission.  If you want to post a link to the image/page, that's fine, but embedding images is a direct violation of TPF TOS.


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## Advanced Photo

Here's a favorite one of my photos that I took myself...


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## ewsnb

Sorry im new to this forum and i thought i was uploading the link because i put the url of the pic when adding it. I guess i need to put a physical link. Didnt realize that. And i never claimed any pics to be mine because they arent. Was just trying to show examples of what i was looking for. I give full credit to the photos that are not mine. If you wanted to look them up im sure u can by right clicking and properties and the url of the image is there.


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## ewsnb

Also i have about a hundred different types of backpacks i need to photograph. I don't think adding an internal wire for all the styles is an efficient way. I'm sure there is a very effective way that professional product photographers use to take backpack photos. I am new to photography/product photography. What is the secret to the suspended straps? When i google a lot of backpacks are photographed in that way. How do they do it?


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## Advanced Photo

They use any one of the methods described here. I personally didn't think you were stealing any photos, just thought you might not have noticed the moderator removed the first image and mentioned the rules pertaining to this forum so I called attention to it for you.


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## tirediron

Advanced Photo said:


> Here's a favorite one of my photos that I took myself...
> 
> View attachment 128892​


Really?  You want to poke that bear?


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## Advanced Photo




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## snowbear

Backpack straps?  Starch.  Lots of starch.


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## ewsnb

Can somebody tell me a step by step guide on how to do this? maybe the materials i need, the set up, HOW DO I DO THIS? Still so lost... a lot of information but nothing in detail for me to understand fully.


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## Advanced Photo

Google is your friend.


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## ewsnb

I looked on Google, there are no specific, I mean, ANY articles on this particular type of photography that's why I made an account here just to ask this question to Photographers.


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## robbins.photo

ewsnb said:


> I looked on Google, there are no specific, I mean, ANY articles on this particular type of photography that's why I made an account here just to ask this question to Photographers.



Guess I'm a little confused as to which part of the process your getting hung up on.

You can use something like fishing line to pull the straps into position and photograph.  Or you can hang them on a colored plastic clothes hanger and use photoshop to edit the hanger out of the photograph by selecting by color.

You could use a metal clothes hanger, cut and bend it to the desired shape, then attach it to the back side of the straps to give them the shape/form you want, then photograph.

Or you could realize that most people don't give two hoots about what the straps look like other than how wide and padded they are, what they are mostly interested in when buying a backpack is the interior - and concentrate your efforts there.


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## ewsnb

robbins.photo said:


> ewsnb said:
> 
> 
> 
> I looked on Google, there are no specific, I mean, ANY articles on this particular type of photography that's why I made an account here just to ask this question to Photographers.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Guess I'm a little confused as to which part of the process your getting hung up on.
> 
> You can use something like fishing line to pull the straps into position and photograph.  Or you can hang them on a colored plastic clothes hanger and use photoshop to edit the hanger out of the photograph by selecting by color.
> 
> You could use a metal clothes hanger, cut and bend it to the desired shape, then attach it to the back side of the straps to give them the shape/form you want, then photograph.
> 
> Or you could realize that most people don't give two hoots about what the straps look like other than how wide and padded they are, what they are mostly interested in when buying a backpack is the interior - and concentrate your efforts there.
Click to expand...


Maybe how i can use the fishing line? How will i hang the fishing lines? I am taking the photos on a white backdrop. Do I tape the fishing lines? I do not have sufficient wall space and the ceiling is far above. I just want to know the technical details. A step by step guide.


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## petrochemist

ewsnb said:


> Maybe how i can use the fishing line? How will i hang the fishing lines? I am taking the photos on a white backdrop. Do I tape the fishing lines? I do not have sufficient wall space and the ceiling is far above. I just want to know the technical details. A step by step guide.



If using fishing line you can just tape it to the walls ceiling with masking tape, or hold the end by hand or make a frame to fix it to or if your setting is suitable tie it to fixtures/furniture.... The options are endless & depend on your studio. You need to apply a little ingenuity as any step by step guide will be based on someone else's equipment.

Alternatively others suggested stiff wire to mold the straps to shape  masking tape or clothes pins could be used for that. A little experimentation will soon solve any problems.


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## tirediron

ewsnb said:


> ... I just want to know the technical details. A step by step guide.


That's all?  Only "a step by step guide"?  How can anyone who's not seen your studio tell you where to suspend the fishing line from?  If it were me I'd just set up a background stand or boom over the set and use that.  You can also use one of the dozen or so other methods suggested here...  you can even buy a clear plastic torso form and use that.


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## Scatterbrained

If I had dozens of packs with flappy straps (as opposed to hiking packs whose straps will hold their shape) and I needed to shoot them with the straps in a molded form; I'd make wire forms for the straps and use a cross bar to hold them together, then attach that to a grip arm.  It wouldn't take long in Ps to remove the apparatus and it would give the desired shape, consistently, from pack to pack.   That's the thing with still life product shooting, there is often set building involved.


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## robbins.photo

ewsnb said:


> Maybe how i can use the fishing line? How will i hang the fishing lines? I am taking the photos on a white backdrop. Do I tape the fishing lines? I do not have sufficient wall space and the ceiling is far above. I just want to know the technical details. A step by step guide.



Well with no idea how big the space is, what sort of material the wall is made out of, whether or not you can put a nail in the wall, etc, etc, etc.. ad infinitum.. there would be no way to write a step by step guide.

This is just one of those things you'll have to work out yourself by trial and error.  This is going to require at least a bit of effort on your part I'm afraid.


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## petrochemist

I don't see how support of the straps is really 'technical details'. IMO that would refer more to lens/aperture/lighting etc. 
If there was room I'd probably use my 50mm /1.7 shut down to around f8 on my DSLR using 2 diffused lights, one either side & Id have the camera mounted on a tripod as m lights aren't particularly powerful.... 
A large light tent could work very well too (that might also give somewhere to fix the fishing line) but I doubt the one I have available would be big enough.
If it came to it, out in the garden with the kit lens & a reflector would work OK too if the weather was agreeable. Even there finding things to support the lines wouldn't take too long!


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## NancyMoranG

[/QUOTE]
Really?  You want to poke that bear?[/QUOTE]
Yes John, haven't you heard the USA was emboldened on Tuesday night
I just love that saying...'poking the bear'.....


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## KmH

ewsnb said:


> I give full credit to the photos that are not mine.


Doing that is a common mistake many make because they think it makes unauthorized use (infringement) of someone else's copyrighted image OK, but it doesn't.
Another common mistake is thinking that if you don't make money from an unauthorized that also makes it OK, but it doesn't
U.S. Copyright Office
Copyright Law of the United States | U.S. Copyright Office
In particular, see section 107 of Copyright Law of the United States. Though you'll discover that determining if you can or can't use someone else's photo without permission is nowhere near being a cut and dried determination.
So the only truly safe option is to have written permission from the copyright owner.


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