What camera should I get for professional looking photography of furniture?
January 21st, 2012 | by admin |pcase13 asked:
I have limited experience with photography, and I am applying for architecture school. I need to photograph the furniture that I have made for my portfolio and am looking to purchase a camera to take those pictures. I have been looking at cameras like the NIkon D3000 and the Canon Rebel. Anybody have any insight?
Goodman Heat Pumps
I have limited experience with photography, and I am applying for architecture school. I need to photograph the furniture that I have made for my portfolio and am looking to purchase a camera to take those pictures. I have been looking at cameras like the NIkon D3000 and the Canon Rebel. Anybody have any insight?
Goodman Heat Pumps
4 Responses to “What camera should I get for professional looking photography of furniture?”
By Steve P on Jan 24, 2012 | Reply
Well, those are both good cameras, and certainly better than a point and shoot, but they are better only in the sense that they have the CAPABILITY to take better photos. They will not do it by themselves. Your question reads as so many other’s on here in that it appears you think good photography is just a matter of using a good camera. Sorry, no. It also requires skill and knowledge on the part of the person using the camera. You say you have limited experience with photography. If you just put the camera in Automatic and use the pop up flash, you will get results little better than a cheap point and shoot camera. You need to have an understanding of aperture and how it relates to depth of field, or you are going to have shots with half your furniture out of focus. You need to understand shutter speed and when / why you will need a tripod. You need to understand lighting to compliment your furniture, and that means NOT using any on camera flash. You need to understand white balance and how your furniture is going to have horrid, incorrect color casts if you do not know how to set an in-camera white balance or use a white balance tool in RAW format.
If you put your tools you use to build furniture in anyone’s hands, do you feel they can equal what YOU build? Same with a camera. Just putting a good camera in your hands is NOT going to give you professional looking photos.
I doubt you are wanting to begin studying photography also, so I suggest you find someone who is skilled with photography with the equipment to do it correctly to take the photos for you.
steve
By fhotoace on Jan 26, 2012 | Reply
When I use to shoot furniture for a manufacturer, we used medium format cameras (Hasselblad)
Now, in the world of digital photography, we use the Nikon D3x, about the best dSLR for shooting studio product shots without spending $35,000 for a Hasselblad H3D or H4D camera.
That said, the same lenses we use on the D3x can be used on a Nikon D3000. That lens is the NIkkor 24-70 mm f/2.8. If your budget is being stretched, you can use the nice Nikkor 24-85 mm f/2.8~4 lens
By Mckayla shea Photo on Jan 27, 2012 | Reply
*Sigh* It is not completely the camera that takes the pictures. To take ‘proffesional looking photography’ you have to put some work at it. Honestly, if you are not going to be using manual and the capability to change lenses, as on a DSLR, such as the cameras you have listed in this, I would just get a point and shoot with nice image quality. There is no sense spending a couple hundred more dollars if you are just going to be taking snapshots of furniture.
Having said that, you want to have soft lighting, have your furniture in focus, and balance every color and detail. Like in the first comment~you may want to consider hiring someone. I know I wouldn’t charge much to take pictures of furniture. It might be worth it in the long run.
By Curious on Jan 29, 2012 | Reply
Pcase 13,
Because you are not applying to a photography program, but rather architecture and you want the portfolio of your furniture to look professional, why not hire someone to take the photos for you.
You really need someone who knows how to take successful photos. A camera can’t do that in untrained hands… Besides, lighting will be key to creating depth and dimension to your furniture. A skilled photog will be able to use off-camera lights to avoid making your funiture look flat and can use highlights to emphasize vital details.
It would likely be a lot less expensive than buying a camera and then getting frustrated with the quality of photos you might produce. Which would only add stress to the prep of your portfolio.
If there’s a college nearby that has a photography curriculum, contact the chair of the dept. to find out who some of the talented students are. You could likely hire them for less than a commercial photographer. And it would provide some work for their portfolio too. Win-win.
Good luck with your architecture program! It’s something I thought I might like to do when I was younger. Didn’t pursue it, but did do some drafting and set design for theatre…