Photographing Shoes on a White Background...

[dhenshawuk]

Dear DPS Members,

Could you please offer me some advice and tips for taking pictures of shoes on a white background please?

Thank you in advance for any advice.

Regards,

Dave

[BuddhaPi]

I have a client that owns a shoe store, he supplies me with images he takes of his shoes for his site..mind you he's like 80 something years old, and uses a really old digital P&S, but his images actually come out half way decent all things considered..

What he does is he uses a white styrofoam cooler to set the shoes in, takes it in the back alley in full sun and snaps away, no muss no fuss..

[dhenshawuk]

Hi BuddhaPi,

Thank you for your response. I've taken a look at his pics and you're right, they do come out well. I just wish I could rely on the sunshine here in the UK, so its lighting techniques for me. I have bought a miniature lighting studio and taken a couple of samples, which I am pleased with, but I need to play around with them a little first I think.

I really appreciate your help.

Take care.

Dave

[JBK617]

Perhaps you can use a Lightbox as shown here:

Do it yourself - Project Lightbox | DIYPhotography.net

I made a similar one out cardboard box, worked well for what I needed it for

HTH

Rick

[dhenshawuk]

Hi Rick,

Thank you for this, it certainly does help. I was thinking along these lines, so at least I'm on the right track. I just ordered a shutter release cable to, which I'm hoping will help with any focussing issues and camera movement.

Really appreciate all your advice, take care.

Dave

[prkelly]

I have been experimenting lately as I work for a shoe store in IT and have been wrangled into doing product photography as well having been a professional photographer for several years. My focus was on weddings and such but now I have changed focus to work on product photography specifically shoes.

I have created a white box using a large cardboard box and non reflective poster board to line the inside. For the actual shooting surface and background I curved the paper up the back wall of the box so there are no harsh lines. I have also experimented with a raised piece of glass over the shooting surface and have found this creates a very nice effect of the shoe "floating" in space as well as providing a slight reflection of the shoe in the glass. Very professional looking indeed!

I have ordered one of the prviously mentioned soft boxes from Amazon with a pair of can lights and a tripod for the camera, I think that using the glass surface along with this box is going to provide me with the tools to create excellent photographs. Respond to this post and I will post pictures when I have them made.

-PK