"FORE!!!"

 

 

 

Shooting golf clubs…

Photography really doesn’t get much harder than this. Of course it depends on the kind of club and the finish – but you really have to think of the clubs as big round mirrors - because many of them are. If you have to photograph a large putter with a “chrome” type finish, be prepared for a major challenge. The only thing harder is a whole bag of them that point in every direction!!

Think BIG.

The key to good lighting here is large, soft light sources. So put those umbrellas away! And your 3-foot softbox is going to look like a little, hot dot. I could get into the inverse square law here, but just know that everything in the studio, from every angle, is going to be reflected in that club… you, your clothes, the exit sign, your tripod, and that coffee cup across the room. Get the idea? So the answer is large, soft sources that will “milk” out the entire surfaces of the club(s).

I usually get out my 6’ and 8’ silks (on frames, stretched tight) and bang large sources through them. Move them in really close to the clubs. And I try to use the smooth white walls of the studio cove as well. You will also notice my 55” EZ Cube light tent. That will work for a few things, but the client wanted everything shot against black!! So the white tent just won’t work for most of these shots.

Fix it in Photoshop???

If you have large curving surfaces to light, you need large curving light sources to reflect in the shiny metal clubs. This is often impossible to do without having seams and blank spots. So inevitably, a substantial amount of retouching is going to be required. But our job as good photographers is to produce the best product possible in-camera. I usually take several exposures of each club, lit from multiple angles and blend them in Photoshop with layer masks. But that’s a blog for another day. Stay tuned. Happy shootin.’