How Do You Photograph Belts And Guitar Straps?

[somewhereinusa]

I think your question is how to photograph something long and still show detail. This is how I handled the last one, but it relys on photoshop proficiency or some other photo program. This was actually taken

laying on a blanket that I changed to a different background. If I remember correctly the lighting for this was just all of the lights I could turn on in the living room.

I've also been playing with placing item on a turntable, taking a number of shots and making that into an animated gif.

[UKRay]

The technical stuff is very useful so many thanks for that. I also found the way people present their leather goods both interesting and useful. The idea of using two pictures in one is a great idea but I'll leave animated gifs to the experts for now!

Ray

[verus22]

I currently do my photography with a softbox at about a 45 degree angle, light coming in from the top right (think artificial sun). My backdrop is a natural colored canvas cloth (bought a yard of it for edgework). The best advice I can give, is to find pictures that appeal to you, and ask 'how did they set it up'? What angle is the light coming from? Are they using more than one light source? Is the light hard or soft? (the light in your sample pics is hard...well defined shadows with crisp edges indicates hard lighting). Here's a great website with a LOT of tutorials: http://www.digitalcameraworld.com/category/tutorials/photography-tutorials/

You don't have to have a pro/semi-pro setup to get great pictures (I used to use a point-and-shoot camera for everything...learned product photography that way, but now I use mostly the top end of the semi-pro dslr range). However, it does help once you have the basics down, especially composition. Hope this helps!

[Aika]

I always photograph my belts outside at day light, and use burlap as background. I am not a pro-photographer but I think my photos are okay. Most of times I use my iPhone 5s

[tossik]

One of most important parts of taking photos of products is to never use flash directly onto the product. Try to bounce the flash off your wall or ceiling if possible. Image below was taken on the floor of my house. I used a flash that I pointed at my ceiling. Set my exposure and took the shot. This allowed for even lighting with no hotspots on your product.

[fks1]

My advice would be to lay the belt in a way that will emphasize the detail. A burlap is nice background for a leather belt. Take the pic outdoors in the morning when the lighting is more overcast or softened by the clouds, yet will cast soft shadows that aren't too contrasty. The idea is to try to emphasize the area that you are most proud of. It may be the stamping, or the burnished edges, or just the thickness etc. Lastly and probably most important is to shoot the pic in manual mode at the widest aperture possible (2.8-3.5). This will blur the background and put the point of focus on the beautiful work that you are proud of.

[CraftyNick]

No fancy photography here, but as I just photographed a belt not an hour ago, I thought I would post this to show a way that looks natural to me.  35 to 50 mm focal length at f 5.6 works well to isolate the subject while not making the depth of focus too narrow.  

Edited September 9, 2016 by CraftyNick

[Kristy]

I struggle with this as well, but have found coiling the belt to be the most attractive option:

 

Took that on my phone, no editing apart from cropping. Just a sheet of white cardboard on the bed with some morning light. Turned out well enough for my purposes. I do have a light tent, flashes, DSLR, etc however when it is just to upload to a site where my photo will be compressed and resized anyway, I have found it is not worth the trouble.

When taking reference photos for myself, yes, I go to the extra effort.

Updating my social media, which is done often and needs to be quick, phone and cardboard suffices.

Edited November 8, 2016 by Kristy

[Tacblades]

Light is the key (not to be confused with a key light lol)

 i just use my conservatory, nice soft lighting, or hang a white sheet over a window.

Also on an android phone the app snapseed is really great for post processing.

.

 

[IngleGunLeather]