How does one go about photographing wall finishes?

12 years 5 months ago #169400 by J Blake
A friend of mine is in the business of "Ja Decor" wall finishes, and would like me to take some pictures of the finished product for him to use on his site. This is heavily textured, and very attractive wall finish.

The part that I would need help with would be capturing the deep physical texture of the finished product. It seems that most of the photos I see on the web aren't able to capture that, and I would like to know what I can do to get a good shot.


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12 years 5 months ago #169404 by Po0S
The texture of the finish will be accentuated if you get a bit close and light it with a raking light. The idea is to shadows of the texture itself to illustrate the three dimensional aspect of the surface. Be careful here, too much and it will start to look like an abstract. Get your flash off of the camera and soften it a bit. A few different trial exposures should get you onto the right track.


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12 years 5 months ago #169406 by J Blake
Thanks, from the sounds of it, it's all about the right lighting. If I can get the lighting just right, it will show the texture.


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12 years 5 months ago #169407 by Po0S

J Blake wrote: Thanks, from the sounds of it, it's all about the right lighting. If I can get the lighting just right, it will show the texture.


:thumbsup: Photography is always about lighting.


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12 years 5 months ago #169412 by Henry Peach
Hard light from the side emphasizes texture. Hard light is created by keeping the light source small relative to the subject. For instance a bare flash is harder than a flash with a softbox or umbrella.

A polarizing filter may help with glossy surfaces, although you may also have to polarize the light source if using artificial lighting. You can get sheets and rolls of polarizing film in a variety of sizes from something that will just cover the flash head to a sheet that would cover a medium size softbox.
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12 years 5 months ago #169422 by J Blake

Henry Peach wrote: Hard light from the side emphasizes texture. Hard light is created by keeping the light source small relative to the subject. For instance a bare flash is harder than a flash with a softbox or umbrella.

A polarizing filter may help with glossy surfaces, although you may also have to polarize the light source if using artificial lighting. You can get sheets and rolls of polarizing film in a variety of sizes from something that will just cover the flash head to a sheet that would cover a medium size softbox.



Didn't know about the hard light vs soft light. Thanks. I do have a pl filter, but thought of not using it. I didn't think it would come in handy.


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