What do I need to do tabletop Photography

[lilmsmaggie]

OK - I'm way out of my league here. A friend of mine contacted me recently, saying he knew of someone that was opening a bar. Specifically, I think its a Tequila Bar & Grill.

My friend has seen some of my photography and I guess he feels I might be able to bring a different photographic sense to what the owner of this new establishment may want to see in advertising promotional images.

Did I mention that this was way out of my league?

Anyway, I thought it might be kind of fun as well as a learning experience. I have a teenie-weenie bit of tabletop exposure but with a lot of guidance and hand-holding. This time around, it will be all me.

I'd be shooting with a 4 x 5 Chamonix 45n-2. Probably shooting some B&W although I'm sure the owner will want some color images as well. I'm thinking I can use a Rodenstock APO-Sironar-S 210mm for sure, and perhaps a Schneider 350mm APO-Tele-Xenar compact but the 210mm may be all I need.

If interior shots are required, I have Rodenstock Grandagon-N 90mm & APO-Sironar-S 135mm but that's it.

I don't have any lighting equipment, and at the bare minimum not sure what type of equipment I should have to help with lighting.

Is there a basic lighting kit setup I should consider that would help.

Did I mention that this was way out of my league?

[Henry Ambrose]

You're probably gonna spend a lot of money for new gear and not get paid anything for the pictures. If that's OK, then proceed. Just go shoot something and hand it over. They might like it. Since you already have "a different photographic sense" now is the time to use it. If you can't do that then this is truly over your head.

BTW, the camera and gear does not matter here.
Its the pictures you make that matter.

[Brian C. Miller]

Tabletop photography is when you are photographing something on a table top, not when the camera is sitting on a table top. I think that what you mean is that you are going to be doing interior photography.

Don't buy any new gear, don't spend a dime. If you do buy lighting, buy it from the hardware store, like cheap halogen work lights. Maybe these can be rented from an equipment rental place.

See what you can do with available lighting. Go there initially with a point-and-shoot, turn off the flash, and snap a lot of photos. Bring your light meter! Take lots of readings. Back home, go back over the photos and see what is interesting, and what you'd do differently. Do some test exposures with your camera and film under similar lighting conditions, and see how it handles reciprocity.

Then finally go and do your final shoot.

[lilmsmaggie]

Tabletop photography is when you are photographing something on a table top, not when the camera is sitting on a table top. I think that what you mean is that you are going to be doing interior photography.

I have done this before but I was with a Pro -- he did refer to it as "Tabletop" because all of the objects in the scene were setup on a table, using a softbox and a strobe. I've also seen references to product photography as "Tabletop." Most Tequila Bar's do serve food, so the assumption is I may do some food shots as well as food and drink.

Don't buy any new gear, don't spend a dime. If you do buy lighting, buy it from the hardware store, like cheap halogen work lights. Maybe these can be rented from an equipment rental place.

See what you can do with available lighting. Go there initially with a point-and-shoot, turn off the flash, and snap a lot of photos. Bring your light meter! Take lots of readings. Back home, go back over the photos and see what is interesting, and what you'd do differently. Do some test exposures with your camera and film under similar lighting conditions, and see how it handles reciprocity.

Then finally go and do your final shoot.

Good idea. I'll probably do this as you suggest to get an idea of the space, lighting, time of day kinda stuff and take along a Canon Powershot S90 and my Sekonic L-358 the first time.

Thanks!

Dwain

[Frank Petronio]

When you mention "tabletop" to professional photographers it means studio still-life product photographs, usually for trade, collateral, or catalog use. It literally means photographing objects that will fit onto a table -- from something like a Dell PC to a toaster oven to a box of Pampers.

Jewelry, food, and liquor are more specialized categories with dedicated specialists (at least in the old days, there are still a few left, I am sure there is someone in St. Louis who photographs Budweiser bottles well, just like there are a few in Atlanta who can make a can of Pepsi sing.)

Restaurant interiors are usually done by architectural photographers. In smaller markets for smaller clients the same photographer might do a range from food to architecture, and skillful, bright ones can make it all look contemporary and professional.

But most photographers can't, it's a big range.

In which case, given the pay and obligation, just wing it and be artsy as Hell!

If the client wants the expected commercial shots then you'd probably be well ahead to be using a decent digital SLR and not wasting all that time and money on 4x5 film that will probably look awful. I rather have a wider range of RAW digital files to edit than a limited (by cost) number of marginal 4x5 negs in this situation. And I rather see long exposures made with ambient light, bracketed, from a tripod, rather than rough-shod attempts at lighting.

[Don Dudenbostel]

43 years as a commercial photographer tells me you're flirting with disaster. To shoot something like this on LF is a major job even for a seasoned pro.