Urban Sewciety (aka, “US”), a clever name if you ask me, is a sewing school and brick-and-mortar supply store located in Westfield, New Jersey. A friend of mine, the business’s marketing director, asked me if I would be interested in photographing US’s products worn by some of the kids who create these products while in sewing class and/or camp. The photographs would be used for social media, catalogs, posters in the store, etc, and although I didn’t have much of a current portfolio to show off my skills, co-owners Megan and Meg took a chance and selected me to be their photographer. Here’s a sample of the photos from the two separate shoots we did, one in July and the most recent one in September.
Camera and lighting setup were very straightforward. The only change I made between the two shoots was to use a wider seamless background. Although the end product from both shoots was the same after editing, I did feel the proofs that were shared with the client during the first shoot captured too much of the light stands, sandbags, and other gear, which may have been distracting. Although all of that noise would be edited out, it made sense to show up with a wider seamless background that would help create a consistent white background to all of the proofs.
Camera:
For both shoots, I used the Sony A7iii with Sony’s 85mm 1.8 lens. It’s just long enough and fast enough for the room and for the lighting. Most photos were captured at 1/80s, F7.1, ISO250 with no color profile selected.
Lighting:
As I mentioned, lighting was pretty straightforward. I had one main key light with a modifier, a fill light with a modifier, one hair light, and one light for the background. All lights were video-scentric lighting, and although I do have strobe equipment, it’s much easier to work with video lights for a shoot like this.
