Overhead shots in studio without camera stand...

TSSPro · Nov 21, 2016

I've been working on a project for some time now in which I plan to photograph a series of "made-up" products in the studio. The first shot, and the one that has taken the longest to put together is an overhead shot looking down onto the product below on a Sinar f2 4x5. This is proving difficult because I don't have a camera stand in my apartment studio (aka living room) and am struggling to get the desired angle to the subject using a tripod. What I think might help: I'm thinking that a geared head would be able to crane the monorail camera enough to get the right angle given a higher pivot point/fulcrum, currently I've using a self leveling column on my mammoth gitzo legs. Otherwise I have been contemplating the layout to make it vertically oriented so I wont have to do an overhead shot, but that's a whole other kettle of fish, too because I would need to find appropriate hardware to secure the hero prop vertically instead of laying horizontally.

Any thoughts on an easier way to get this shot. It has been bugging me and I've been putting this shot off for a LONG time waiting on a magic solution for this overhead shot problem.

Any thought APUGers? Has anyone run across these issues when photographing tabletop/product images? How did you mitigate them?

DWThomas · Nov 21, 2016

In smaller formats one can find horizontal columns (sometimes part of the tripod system) to hang a camera off to the side, but I'm not sure there is such a rig up to handling a 4x5 monorail! The first thought that popped into what's left of my mind was 'use a mirror' but you would still need a way to hold it, and especially if it's a normal 2nd surface mirror, there might be some optical compromises.

How about a super clamp gizmo on the side of a stepladder?

(OK, I'll go back to my coffee) Good luck!

TheFlyingCamera · Nov 21, 2016

I'd recommend a horizontal cross-bar (https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/554331-REG/Manfrotto_131DB_131D_Lateral_Side_Arm.html) and then hang a bag off the other end of the arm with enough weight to counter-balance the camera. It's still precarious though.

TSSPro · Nov 21, 2016

I'll call my Manfrotto rep and see if I can get that product through him! I think that be a solution! Thanks a bunch!!

choiliefan · Nov 21, 2016

Have you considered a mirror mounted overhead at a comfortable angle?

xya · Nov 21, 2016

I bought a bunk bed, left out the lower bed and screwed the camera to the upper bed. there are beds from ikea which can be set up in a few minutes and fold to nearly nothing. I'm collecting rugs from central asia, and I was tired to hang them to a wall and then try to rid of the clamps on the photo. now the rugs are on the floor, as they should, and I'm comfortably on the upper bed with my camera clamped to the side of bed.

John Koehrer · Nov 21, 2016

Reverse the center column?
If it's the crank column there's a head screw at the bottom of the column.
If you go the lateral column, some of the older ones were just a tube in a tripod mount
and they were touchy getting them level. The newer ones were keyed so they wouldn't rotate.

Alan Gales · Nov 22, 2016

I used to shoot overhead views of Pinball machine play fields with a 35mm camera. A friend of mine (pinball collector) and I designed/built an inexpensive camera stand out of 2x4's and it worked great. Of course that was lightweight 35mm. You will may have to counter weight it for 4x5. It all depends upon your design needs.

TSSPro · Nov 22, 2016

No center column, the self leveling head was installed in lieu of a center column. I think that the cross arm mounted and counterweighted with a bag might be the solution for me in this instance. If not some super clamps and a trip to home depot to get some 2x4s will be coming up soon! Thanks all for the replies!

wiltw · Nov 22, 2016

Here is the Manfrotto horizontal arm mounted on the top of my Gitzo 25xx only for illustration. Center of column to top of Linhof baseplate in this photo is 21". You need to be sure that you have a VERY heavy tripod, so that the entire thing does not tilt due to the weight of a monorail camera + lens!!! I have a Bogen 3036 tripod which weighs about 15 lbs. so it is just enough to counterbalance that weight of my Horseman 45LS mainframe, but I would hang more weight on the tripod itself to make for a safer configuration!

TSSPro · Nov 23, 2016

A bit of an update- After yesterday's posts I left Job 1 and stopped by a local camera shop that sells used gear to kill time before Job 2. Found a great SB26 Nikon flash that replaces the one I previously had which died a horrible and painful death, lol. While there I mentioned the Manfrotto/Bogen double camera arm. Used equipment/intake tech comes from the back saying "I thought we had something like that around here...is this is?!?" BOOM- exactly as described in the post, what I looked up on B&H, and what I was wanting to order through the Manfrotto rep was now before me and available for a song- $30 out the door. I'm setting up in the studio this weekend and will FINALLY get this series started. (it's been on the books for over a year, I've just gotten stuck due to the aforementioned tech issues for this particular shot....)

Ian Leake · Nov 23, 2016

I use a geared head on a tripod. It won't quite get to vertically down, but I can make up the difference using front and rear tilt plus some rear 'rise' to center the film over the lens again.

bdial · Nov 23, 2016

The Manfrotto arm works pretty well

TSSPro · Dec 5, 2016

Here is an approximation of what things will eventually look like. This is a cell phone snap of the set using just the modeling lights. Its an ok approximation, but I am unsure about the exact crop as the film has not come back from the lab yet. I've torn this one down and will be building another soon with a different lay out, not as tableaux like, but still using the black tile board in the background.

Thank you all, again for the advice and insight.

All the best-

removed account4 · Dec 5, 2016

bogan sells a horizontal boom you can attach to a door frame.
if your format is small enough you can just hand-hold on a ladder.
best of luck !

TSSPro · Dec 5, 2016

jnanian said:
bogan sells a horizontal boom you can attach to a door frame.
if your format is small enough you can just hand-hold on a ladder.
best of luck !

Issue has been resolved. Thank you for the input, though!

TSSPro said:
A bit of an update- After yesterday's posts I left Job 1 and stopped by a local camera shop that sells used gear to kill time before Job 2. Found a great SB26 Nikon flash that replaces the one I previously had which died a horrible and painful death, lol. While there I mentioned the Manfrotto/Bogen double camera arm. Used equipment/intake tech comes from the back saying "I thought we had something like that around here...is this is?!?" BOOM- exactly as described in the post, what I looked up on B&H, and what I was wanting to order through the Manfrotto rep was now before me and available for a song- $30 out the door. I'm setting up in the studio this weekend and will FINALLY get this series started. (it's been on the books for over a year, I've just gotten stuck due to the aforementioned tech issues for this particular shot....)

TSSPro said:
Here is an approximation of what things will eventually look like. This is a cell phone snap of the set using just the modeling lights. Its an ok approximation, but I am unsure about the exact crop as the film has not come back from the lab yet. I've torn this one down and will be building another soon with a different lay out, not as tableaux like, but still using the black tile board in the background.

Thank you all, again for the advice and insight.

All the best-

Overhead shots in studio without camera stand...

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