Photographing your Own Quilts December 16
Robin Ferrier suggested that I write about what to buy to photograph one’s own quilts. The problems you need to solve are pretty simple:
- Hang the quilt in a flat manner — you probably already have this if you have a design wall.
- Light the quilt reasonably evenly and maybe show some texture.
- Photograph the quilt so it looks as square as the quilt is, and maybe as sharp and detailed as possible.
I’m going to present a few options, none of them particularly cheap.
What I use
My rig consists of two lights, a camera, and a really really sharp lens. Here’s the bill of materials:
- Camera: I shoot a Nikon D70s, but buying it now it’d be a D80: $780
- Lens: Nikon 60mm f/2.8: $400
- Lights & Stands (2 Alienbees B800 + Stands): $660
- Accessories: $140
The accessories include an SD card, a tripod, and a bubble level that fits into the hotshoe of the camera to make sure the camera is level. The downside of this rig is that it requires a long runout. I’m lucky enough to have a 25′ long studio– at that length I can shoot only a 6.5′x9.5′ quilt. If it’s bigger than that, I have to switch to a different (and not as sharp) lens. If you’re trying to shoot a 4′x4′ quilt with this, you’ll need to be 15 feet away. Total damage, about $2000.
Downgrading the Rig
Keeping within the Nikon line, we can base this around a Nikon D40x, with quartz worklights instead of the high end flashes:
- Nikon D40x Kit with Lens: $610
- Accessories: $140
- (2) 500w Quartz Worklights: $60
The 60mm lens in the first kit won’t work on this camera (the D40x doesn’t have a built in focus motor, so you have to buy lenses with motors). However, the kit lens should work pretty well — I haven’t tested it for distortion. It’ll be better than a point & shoot camera’s lens. I would use as long of a focal length as you can– the longer the lens the flatter the quilt will look. 30-40mm is a good range to use. At 30mm, you can shoot a 4′x4′ quilt at around 8′ away. You’ll definitely want a tripod here– the worklights will take a longer exposure than the Alienbee flashes, but it’ll be a lot cheaper. Total damage: $810
Canon Equivalents
The Alienbees and Quartz lights will work for either, so you’re switching out the camera body and lenses. D40x kit could be replaced by a Canon 350D (8MP) or 400D (10MP). In the US, these are known as the EOS Digital Rebel XT and EOS Digital Rebel XTi. I’ve got prices at $470 and $590 from B&H. The higher-end would be an EOS 30D ($899) with a Canon EF 50mm f/2.5 Macro lens ($250).
Point and shoot options
You can, of course, use the quartz worklights with any ol’ point and shoot camera. You’ll want to mount it on a tripod, and use a time-delay to fire the shutter. The problem with the optics in a point & shoot camera is that the lenses are very small. The sensors are very small. If you’re serious about the quality of your image, you’re going to need to light the quilt AND upsize your camera.
Where to buy
There’s a lot of “camera deals” on the internet, many of them scams. The way I deal with this is to buy from only a few select retailers: BH Photo Video, Adorama, or Midwest Photo Exchange. Always always always buy from these folks, and you will never be ripped off. Anyone else, and it’s a roll of the dice.
And of course
For $2000, you could have 40 quilts photographed by yours truly. For $800, you could have 16 of your quilts shot. This doesn’t help you if you’re just trying to document your process, but if you want to guarantee quality results you can hire a professional.