Photographing Your Shades

[dr.chop]

I figure it may be cool to start a thread for people to post up about what they use, how they setup, and so on for taking pix of your Oakleys and display stuff...I have learned a lot recently about shooting my pix, and what I thought was cool, well, it still is, but isn't for trying to show all the details. From Photoshop tips to balance out colors in the background, to making a full photo cage as I call it...This is the place for everyone to post up...Need help, that's what we are all here for...Have a tip..Share it, by all means.

 

[oakleyandi]

I use the bottom shelf of my mega 3.0, I'm thinking on covering it with Oakley paper from the bags to create a darker and more contrasting effect

 

[Cargo]

I've noticed that with a white background the lenses lose most of the color in photos, so I like a darker background.

P.S. I'm looking forward to reading others input on this subject.

 

[QLR1]

I'm still learning how to take photos. I am merely using a smartphone though. I just try to take advantage of the outdoor settings. In my apartment, the lighting is horrible so I rarely take photos indoors.

 

[qtrain23]

So idk much about cameras, but the one on my Nokia lumia 920 is absolutely crazy.

One of these days I'm gonna build a light box thing like they had at red

 

[Rustpot]

Light boxes aren't too tricky. Their main purpose is to diffuse or reflect light so the subject is indirectly lit from more angles. This removes shadows and creates more even surface lighting. Using a small clear or minimal pedestal can help enhance the effectiveness, anything that gets the bulk of the body of the subject up off the bottom surface.

Taking the lessons from the light box/white box, getting diffused or indirect light onto your subject with any background is more desirable. You'll see professional photographers with lights with little umbrellas behind them? The lights are pointed into the umbrella from their foci and the metallic undercoating reflects the light back as an equal intensity, but from a much larger source without a concentrated epicenter so there's less chance of glare or hotspotting on the subject.

I don't do it much anymore, and haven't yet with sunglasses (so I can't comment on their effectiveness), but in college I had a few different lamps and diffusing lenses or reflectors that were makeshift from creatively sourced materials. Tall lamps with inverse cones are cheap, I got 3 for $10 at a thrift store, rewired the sockets for bigger bulbs, blacked out half of the cones, and set the lamps equidistant from my subject (adjusting for walls) with the black side facing it. They'd light the white ceiling and walls brilliantly and it would create GREAT lighting for photographs. Add a couple white sheets to cover darker walls and windows and you can create a whole-room white box for $30.

 

[EditReject]

For those with a DSLR, ideally you want to shoot at least a 100mm focal length. A good macro lens in that range would be ideal to cut down on distortion. You then want to shoot at f/22 at the least to get good depth of field from front to back. To do this you need 1) to be using a tripod and 2) have some type of external off camera light source like strobes or speedlights diffused through umbrellas or a light box setup as qtrain mentions. This would allow you to shoot at a shutter speed of 1/200 or 1/250 depending on your camera's max flash sync speed when using such a small aperture. As far as background goes, white is probably best. You can also put the glasses on a piece of glass too as it helps to lessen shadows. Also, for those who like to tweak in post production, take at least one shot of each pair with a gray card as it helps to easily set the white balance (I rarely trust auto WB) especially if you work in camera raw. A lot of product photography is experimentation as it really depends on the subject but these are just some general rules of thumb.

 

[Oakley-olic]

Much depends on how much ambient light you want or have available to use and how much flash. Here is one with a 100mm macro, at ISO 200, F18 with .8sec shutter. DOF was as desired to get a fuzzy background. I used 2 speedlights in a 24" and 16" softbox only for a fill light. Assuming the same ISO this is almost 8 more stops of light difference from the above recommendations. I am still experimenting, very little time. The hardest part for me is the fisheye reflections off the lenses. If only the wife would let me board up the windows and paint my office black.