Photographing carpet samples

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Mark Allen

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Hi guys,

I have only just registered on here, looks like a great and helpful forum.

I was wondering if I could rattle some of your brains..

I have a photography project on Friday to photograph 70 square samples of carpet for a clients website. They want the carpet to look like the real thing displaying the correct colour shade and texture.

I currently have a Nikon D7200 camera with a 35mm lens.

I am just wondering what is the best equipment for this project? Will I need additional lights(flash or other), refectors, tripod etc?

Any advice from people who have done similar project would be highly appreciated.

Many thanks

Mark
 
I would suggest this is a beginners section question myself it is hardly macro
 
Maybe Talk Lighting & Studio?
 
This is not being funny but if you have 70 samples to shoot on Friday , today being Wednesday and from your post it would seem you have never done anything like this before and have no equipment then don't even contemplate it.
Try and subcontract it or at the very least try and find a helpful studio with lighting and advice you can use
 
Welcome to TP :)

Easy job if you have some lighting knowledge, a studio flash, and a studio (or at least a darkened room with no brightly coloured walls or furnishings). You could do it with speedlites, but setting up would be more difficult. Plus an accurate white balance reference like a Macbeth-type colour checker. Accurate and consistent colour is vital.

Basic lighting, with a bit of side/back light to show texture. Not difficult, but the right balance of front and side light will need careful adjustment.

Then shoot them all the same, and process them the same using the WB reference for colour :thumbs:
 
Well thanks for the advice guys, sorry if I posted in wrong section.
I have the camera and the lens, but not sure if I need lighting, if I do then I can rent it out.
I am a graphic designer so post production on photoshop will be OK for me, I just want to get the closest shade on the raw shot as possible.
 
HoppyUK said:
Welcome to TP :)

Easy job if you have some lighting knowledge, a studio flash, and a studio (or at least a darkened room with no brightly coloured walls or furnishings). You could do it with speedlites, but setting up would be more difficult. Plus an accurate white balance reference like a Macbeth-type colour checker. Accurate and consistent colour is vital.

Basic lighting, with a bit of side/back light to show texture. Not difficult, but the right balance of front and side light will need careful adjustment.

Then shoot them all the same, and process them the same using the WB reference for colour (y)
Click to expand...
As above.
To expand on that, the way that I've always done it is with a very large overhead softbox mounted on a boom arm, just above the camera, and with the camera on a studio stand so that it can point straight downwards, and with a second softbox (fitted with a honeycomb) at an acute angle to highlight the texture of the tiles.

Finding that equipment for hire, and learning how to use it in the time you have available, is... optimistic.
You can of course do it without any lighting equipment at all, but even assuming that you have great PP skills, the results will be mediocre compared to a pro job.
 
Mark Allen said:
Well thanks for the advice guys, sorry if I posted in wrong section.
I have the camera and the lens, but not sure if I need lighting, if I do then I can rent it out.
I am a graphic designer so post production on photoshop will be OK for me, I just want to get the closest shade on the raw shot as possible.
Click to expand...
RAW is independent of colour balance. It gives you the maximum flexibility in getting colour balance right in post processing. That requires measuring the exact lighting conditions at the time to use as a colour balancing reference. Ideally that requires as Hoppy has said something like a Macbeth-type colour reference along with you knowing how to use it along with whatever your RAW editor is. If as I suspect all this is new to you then you probably don't have time to learn it. The much simpler and less accurate method is to use a specially calibrated white balancing card. If you're going to use natural light and shoot dozens of items then the light can change quite a lot while you're shooting, so including a white reference in each image, to be cropped off in post processing, is a good idea.
 
If it was just a handful of samples, I'd agree that you could do it with natural daylight and maybe a reflector (though personally, I would want more control than that).

The bigger problem with daylight is consistency, and it will change over the considerable time you'll need to shoot 70 - probably a lot!
 
juggler said:
The most affordable way of reliably getting accurate colours is to use one of these:
http://spyder.datacolor.com/portfolio-view/spydercheckr-24/
Click to expand...

Yes, that's a Macbeth-type colour card, though all you need for white balance is the neutral white or grey reference patches. If it comes to it, just use a neutral piece of white paper - not blue-white with artificial brighteners, and not creamy-white. That'll get it very close (at least as close as some grey cards sold for the purpose!) and consistent.
 
Garry Edwards said:
You can of course do it without any lighting equipment at all, but even assuming that you have great PP skills, the results will be mediocre compared to a pro job.
Click to expand...
I'm guessing the requirements aren't very high...

As long as the lighting in the room is consistent and full spectrum (i.e. not LED, and not sunlight) then proper exposure/color should be achievable with what exists. I would expect rather "flat" results with little texture, unless you have/can create a secondary off axis light source (as Gary described; perhaps just a reflector would do... but not likely). But if you do add a secondary light source you will have to ensure it color matches with what exists.

You will definitely need a tall tripod and decent long exposure techniques... especially if the lighting is fluorescent.
 
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