Garry Edwards
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Right, back from the first shoot, which went brilliantly. Light rain, lots of mud, impossibly steep slopes, excellent models and we finished just as it got dark. Tomorrow, with the shoot in studio and with total control over the lighting, should be a breeze...Oh I know there's more to it Garryhence the \/
Anything I said on this subject needs to be taken with a large pinch of salt
Matt
That's why I have a lot of equipment. I need to be able to light literally any subject creatively in any environment.
You can safely ignore everything I said at the TP Convention, what I did there was to explain and demonstrate what lighting should actually be about - showing the features and qualities of the subject to their best advantage, that's why I used a single light in the place that did the job best, I am 100% opposed to the flat, multi-light arrangements that so many people use (and teach) that just produces bland results. Today, we used a total of 4 lights. A key light on each of our two subjects, a rim light on one of them, and a bloody big soft light overhead (the grey sky). Those photos are embargoed for now, but will be shown later. Frankly, the levels of knowledge and skills involved in this kind of lighting require a lot of understanding of the physics of light and a lot of practice. But none of this is needed for a simple, single task like photographing T shirts, because basically they're all the same.
Looking back, I haven't really got much to add to this earlier post.
Basically if the T shirts are on an unlit background it's just a light each side, fitted with a softbox. Have each of them at a really acute angle if it's important to show the weave. Otherwise, have them at a more obtruse angle.
If the light needs to be hard, move the lights further away. If it needs to be soft, move them closer.
Soft light/obtruse angles will provide very forgiving, flat lighting. Harder light/acute angles will make them really pop but will also show every tiny wrinkle.
If a fairly small number of shots need to be taken against a white background, pay someone to cut them out for you.
If a large number of shots need to be taken against a white background, buy 2 extra lights and underlight the product base, preferably with distance separation (underlight a sheet of frosted perspex, have the subjects sat on a thick glass "shelf" placed well above it). This will avoid the dreaded "wrap" and the dreaded edge degradation, and will speed up the production process.
Your suggested method would sort of work if the T shirts were on hangers against a white background, but the uneven lighting from just a single light on the subject would produce very amateurish results - and they don't look good on hangers anyway...
Training? None needed for a subject as simple as this, just a bit of practice.
