I started with a mid level 35mm SLR film camera, and if I had known more it would have worked very well. I did overcome the necessity of shooting in natural light by purchasing two light stands with tungsten lights and the appropriate color balanced film. Digital was just becoming commonplace in the market, when I became interested in building a web site, so I went that route. It eased the interface between the camera and computer and allowed more latitude with the white balance. I bought my first digital camera in January 2001; it was a 1.1 mega pixel point and shoot, hardly a state of the art camera, but it really didn’t do too badly and at least I could instantly see how the photo looked, as opposed to film camera, where I had to wait until the photos were processed. You can still see some of photos taken with that camera on the furniture side of this site (they should be replaced, but just a few days before I did a major overhaul of the site, where I planned to remove them, a person expressed interest in clock, whose photo was going to the recycle bin; I guess a poor picture is better than no picture).  This camera still did poorly when trying to take construction photos, and resulted in my first submission to the SAPFM being rejected due to the image quality.  Next I went to a “prosumer” 3.3 mega pixel model. This and the addition of a proper background made a world of difference, I got excellent finished photos and the more controls afforded by this camera made construction photos possible. I still used the film camera because at this time many juried shows would not accept digital files (I bet many still won’t). Another turning point came when I had the chance to use a digital SLR (DSLR). I took one picture with it, and knew I’d have to have one, because by this time, photography had become not only part of woodworking, it had developed (pardon the pun) into a hobby. That was five years ago, and things have changed rapidly. My first DSLR cost $2000.00 for the body alone, a significant sum. Today a fully functioning digital SLR equal to or better than that $2000.00 model of 2003 can be had for not much more than I paid for that first digital camera in 2001 ($450.00 and that’s including the lens).

Not surprisingly, photos start with a camera and lens. While preparing for this article I looked for cameras in the range of the prosumer version I had, and found few that have the features necessary for good results (see sidebar at right); it seems the lowering of the price on entry level DSLR’s has crowded out the market for these.   

One major drawback to that second digital camera I bought was its lens, which at the extremes of its focal length showed considerable distortion. This distortion was not noticeable when taking people or nature photos, but the straight lines of furniture made it readily apparent. Distortion like this is to be expected of many lenses with a large zoom range, as they represent a compromise. Keep that in mind, when selecting a lens; look for a fixed focal length or one with a narrow zoom range.I’m told that many photography classes start students with a 50mm or so called normal lens. I look at a camera/lens combination like a tablesaw/blade combination; a cheap blade on a good saw doesn’t make any sense, and a poor lens on a good camera doesn’t either. In fact a case could be made that the reverse would make more sense.

  A quick look at a lens catalog will show a huge range in the price of seemingly similar lenses. I’ve bought lenses both from the maker of my camera and quality third party makers. Oddly, despite being looked down on by some professionals, these third party lenses have given me excellent results, and the only dud I’ve had, was a fairly expensive lens by the maker of my camera. I will admit I knew none of this when I bought my camera and lens. I purchased a 24-70mm lens and it has served me well; giving a decent wide angle setting despite the crop factor, plenty of zoom for tight shots, yet the zoom range is limited so it is distortion free (or nearly so).

    Some photographers swear by fixed focal length lenses, and with good reason, as they are optimized for that focal length, giving tack sharpness from edge to edge. Despite the slightly better sharpness (in some cases only very slightly better) of the fixed lens, I like the convenience of the zoom lens.

The next consideration is the maximum aperture or f stop. My lens is an f 2.8, which is considered fast, but since my furniture doesn't’t move and I control the lighting, that fast lens isn’t a benefit. In fact, I don’t think I have ever used it at its largest aperture, while taking furniture related photos. Smaller apertures increase the depth of field (DOF). The longer the focal length, the lower the depth of field at a given f stop. The depth of field on the 17mm fixed lens I have, is much greater than that on my 300mm fixed, when both have the same aperture setting . That is important to know, if you want to isolate a particular feature, that is have one area in focus and the background out of focus. I like the look of a photo where the entire piece of furniture is in focus. With a straight on shot, of say a highboy, even the largest aperture will have the entire piece in adequate focus, but take a shot of a piece that has been placed at an angle and you’ll need a greater DOF. At one time, I used a very small aperture, thinking this would look great, but it didn’t.  Photos taken with very small apertures tend to suffer from diffraction
Each camera/lens combination is a law unto itself and you’ll have to experiment to find an aperture setting that gives good results.
Hand in hand with f stop, is shutter speed. The higher the f stop, the slower the shutter speed must be to allow enough light in to “expose” the photo. With furniture this can be quite slow. As with the aperture settings you’ll have to experiment with your equipment to find settings that give good results. On my set up, a shutter speed of 1.3 to 1.6 and an aperture of about f 6.3- f 11, gives excellent sharpness and DOF. Oddly, a shutter speed of 1 second (which is faster), invariably results in mirror slap, and ruins the pictures. With a longer shutter speed, I get unacceptable noise.

A few other pieces of equipment are needed to achieve good photos. A good quality tripod is essential; at the shutter speeds necessary, hand holding just isn’t an option. A cheap tripod might be worse than none at all. My first tripod was purchased at a big name variety  store and it worked well enough with the light weight cameras I was using, but it would pan down under the weight of the DSLR, and no amount of tightening would hold it in place.

Essential camera features

The following are essential features for cameras used in photographing   finished furniture and construction techniques.

Hot shoe for an auxiliary flash or a flash sync terminal.

Threaded lens face to accept screw in filters.

Control over the aperture settings and shutter speeds.

The ability to release the shutter with a timer, remote or cable release.

Other features that are useful but not essential are:

The ability to set a custom white balance.

Control over the color saturation and contrast.

The ability to sync the flash to slow shutter speeds.