Startup Mantra: “Sure, I Can Do That”
My first attempt ever at making ghost product images
Sure, I can make product images
I had the shirt prototypes on hand, so I volunteered to get some product photos taken so we can iterate on the website design with some real fake product images.
It was clear after my first attempt to showcase the products that I needed to get some tips. The clothes on hangers simply don’t communicate the fit of the shirts. And black on black on black doesn’t help either.
I searched online for tips on how to take photos of clothing. I found some tutorials and quickly determined that we should get some ghosted product images.
While I could start with spending money to get better photos right off the bat, instead I figured I’d work with what I already have to start learning. That way I can make better decisions about what equipment is worth spending more money on.
I have a head start on the camera equipment since my fiancé and I are already into photography, and he’s recently gotten into video blogging about learning how to draw.
A white sheet draped over a cabinet, sprayed with water to get the wrinkles out, and lighting equipment borrowed from the garage and I was good to go!
What I learned
I learned many things that I’ll want to improve for the next time. Here’s the quick list:
- Dark Clothing + Live Model = Needs More Light!
- Obsess the Details: Check those hems and collars to look flawless
- Relax, but keep those hands away from the shirt for the ghosted shots
- Color balancing is needed for consistency across products
More Light
Black clothing is really hard to photograph. How do you get the details to show up while keeping the color and texture of the fabric true? You lower the ISO. How do you keep the camera shutter fast when using a live model to avoid blurring? You raise the ISO. Do you see the problem?
To keep the ISO low and the camera shutter fast, you need to add more light. This is something I’ll need to investigate more and possibly invest some money into more lighting equipment.
Get Comfortable Being Annoying toYour Model
It is much more effective to obsess over the details of how the clothing sits on your model before you take the photos than try to photoshop them later.
Check Those Hands
I didn’t realize when I started that I needed to be keeping track of the hands and making sure they don’t cover the bottom of the shirt. The first time I asked my model to keep his hands up it was a bit unnatural, which is reflected in the polo shirt. In the subsequent shirts the model was more relaxed while keeping his hands off to the sides, so the shirt flows more naturally off the shoulder.
Color Balance
Without doing any post-processing for this first round, you can see that there’s a drastic difference between the shirts even though they’re all made of the same material. I read a tip online about getting a gray card to help with color balancing across shots, so I think that’s a cheap investment to make for my future-self instead of wasting lots of time in photoshop trying to tweak levels manually.
The Good News
It’s actually really easy to photoshop the ghosted product images — and I’m not a photoshop master by any means. Way faster and easier than trying to photoshop the background out while keeping the model in the photo. (Trust me, I tried with one of the shots where I forgot to check the hands.)
If you are selling your own clothes, I recommend trying this method!
Hello! I’m a co-founder at Closet Minimal. We’re here to help you simplify your life, starting with your closet.
