# How to Photograph a T-Shirt Flat for Website and Brochure?



## Dontfear2bwrong

Hi all - What is the best way to take a picture of a t-shirt flat? I'm looking on PacSun.com and AfflictionClothing.com and would like to know how to take pictures of flat t-shirts like that. I don't like the looks of a t-shirt on a person or mannequin. Thanks for your help.


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## jkruse

Use mock ups
Go media has some great ones.


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## mrbigjack50

Camera, Light, Action duh ....

jking..

Got to art shop, buy crazy color for background, get some of those lights they use with stand that carpenters use and use a ladder to take shot at it.. if you have a tripod that can be adjusted high enough, you good to go.
In photo shop, do a select color of background and change it to desired color and tweek levels and contrast


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## mrbigjack50

Oh another way I done it is, staple to wall and take a shot at it that way


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## 2Dye4

I like to display the shirts flat as well.

I have a large piece of plexiglass that I've rigged up in a 
tilted position with a piece of white fabric stretched over it.
I use a couple shop lights and the camera on a tripod and shoot 
with the aperture set on 8.0. I end up having to do some color 
correcting in Photoshop then use extract to remove the background 
then refill it with white. Sometimes I'll put a drop shadow back in. 

When the weather warms up I going to set up outside to give natural lighting a try. 

Jo


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## GraduateClothing

mrbigjack50 said:


> Oh another way I done it is, staple to wall and take a shot at it that way


I like that idea


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## mrbigjack50

yea works really good actually, because tough when doing the ladder way
You can also use pins to do it : ) you can get creative and mount flat on a tree, metal, ect. to give texture and depth


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## Dontfear2bwrong

Wow, a lot of great ideas here. I'm going to give these a shot and see which one work best for me.


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## GraduateClothing

thanks guys i was needing some ideas on doing this to


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## masterchiva

Most online stores now-a-days just photoshop mock-ups as someone already stated... It saves time, money and they look identical to a real picture on the computer.


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## GraduateClothing

True, its not very hard to make a basic shirt in photoshop.


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## eccApparel

A 4 x 5 piece of plywood with some white linen or sheet stapled to it works well. I usually prop it at a 30-40 degree angle. 

You definitely need a tripod for the camera to keep it steady and hold the correct angle. You will have to adjust the white balance of the camera to get it to where you like it. (Make sure you write down the settings or you'll have to try and figure it out every time) 

Also set the camera up to take the photo on a timer. (like 5 sec. after you hit the button) That way there's less of a chance for camera movement when you snap the picture. You'll have to do final editing in photoshop or fireworks, etc. to get the best outcome.


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## lburton3

Put it flat on a floor (or wrinkled, if you're going for that look), snap a shot, and Photoshop the background out. Replace it with something cool, like free stock images of concrete.

That's what I do, and I've received many-a-compliment on my no-budget product shots!


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## eccApparel

lburton3 said:


> Put it flat on a floor (or wrinkled, if you're going for that look), snap a shot, and Photoshop the background out. Replace it with something cool, like free stock images of concrete.
> 
> That's what I do, and I've received many-a-compliment on my no-budget product shots!


I checked out your site. Those are cool photos. I like how you did that.


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## lburton3

eccApparel said:


> I checked out your site. Those are cool photos. I like how you did that.


Thank you! It's simple, free (assuming you already have a camera and a floor...), and really easy to do. I'd recommend it to anybody!


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## chrisf116

lburton3 said:


> Put it flat on a floor (or wrinkled, if you're going for that look), snap a shot, and Photoshop the background out. Replace it with something cool, like free stock images of concrete.
> 
> That's what I do, and I've received many-a-compliment on my no-budget product shots!


this is how i do all mine as well...


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## joeydgraffix

I usually photograph them on white matte posterboard and then cut out the shirt. Getting the colors right for me is the hardest part.


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## dmfelder

Spend $15 and get a plastic torso.


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## pizza

Coty has two short articles on this and do it yourself photography. Search for coty gonzales's blog, then search for photography. Recommended.


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## funkygator2

What program and how do I take off the background of the picture, so that when I post it online it only shows the actual shirt and not it's background? Thanks!


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## splathead

funkygator2 said:


> What program and how do I take off the background of the picture, so that when I post it online it only shows the actual shirt and not it's background? Thanks!



What programs do you have now? Basically any imaging editing program can do it.

Alternative is to shoot it with the background you want. If you want a white background, shoot on white paper or cloth.


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## nosymbolrequired

Hi,
Been looking at this for awhile. I have been using the t-shirts flat on the floor with a horizontal tripod and soft lighting provided by workmens lights. Then once the picture is taken, I have used fireworks to remove the background, by selecting a small area of background and then clicking on edit- select similar, then deleting it. Seems to work ok, as long as your background is a completely different colour to your tshirts. 

The problem I have is colour matching, if i take two photos of red tees, they come out slightly different. Have to mess around in photoshop to make them look the same, which takes ages. 

if anyone knows the tricks to colour match the tees I would appreciate their help..


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## inkimprintscom

My question is if you use a regular white image of a shirt, isnt there a way that you can go into corel draw and make that shirt any color you want? that way you only need a white shirt of the different styles and from there make your color selection if so can that be done in corel as I do not have adobe


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## funkygator2

I don't have any program right now. I tried paint proshop and I did not like the results. I am considering buying photoshop element.


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## Natitown

Does anyone know of a good Photoshop tutorial to learn how to take the background out and replace it with a different background? Thanks!


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## PromoTshirtCrazy

You could try putting the shirt on a hangar and photoshop out the hangar. I've also tried a stretching the shirt over a big piece of cardboard. Both ways seem to work very well.


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## funkygator2

Does anyone know if one can remove the background using paint (basic) program?


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## splathead

Microsoft Paint? It can be done by changing the pixel colors. But I think you would have to do it manually. It would be time consuming and I wouldn't count on the results being acceptable.


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## inkimprintscom

Are there any websites that have pre-made t shirt templates?


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## splathead

inkimprintscom said:


> Are there any websites that have pre-made t shirt templates?


Most shirt sites have templates you can use. Shirt submission sites like theadless, design by humans, shirt.woot, etc. have them. There are several at emptees.com. Go Media and istockphoto have sets you can purchase.


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## dollen

lburton3 said:


> Thank you! It's simple, free (assuming you already have a camera and a floor...), and really easy to do. I'd recommend it to anybody!


Well done. I would have guessed A&B or Holister shirts that had beed PSd. 

Hollister Co. > Dudes >

Maybe you can get a gig as a photog for them.


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## cbsuperduty

funkygator2 said:


> Does anyone know if one can remove the background using paint (basic) program?


You would be better off trying Paint.Net. It is free.

Paint.NET - Free Software for Digital Photo Editing


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## chowzer2

I use a Canon Rebel XS. Cheap Digital SLR, but great results!


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## splathead

dollen said:


> Well done. I would have guessed A&B or Holister shirts that had beed PSd.


No doubt they are. Here is a new, free online tool to do it 
ShirtMockup.com - Upload your art. Mock it up. Download your image for FREE!


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## chowzer2

splathead said:


> No doubt they are. Here is a new, free online tool to do it
> ShirtMockup.com - Upload your art. Mock it up. Download your image for FREE!


You can also pay and become a "pro" member and get extra templates - Sign up for ShirtMockup Pro


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## AngrySpade

I laid my shirts out on my deck and just used the wood for a background, then I edited the pictures a bit in Photoshop.

Kelly from Cure Apparel has a nice little tutorial on editing pictures in Photoshop with the clone stamp tool - Storenvy - General - Product Photos - Photoshop Editing Tutorial


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## PhilDx

There's The Gimp photo processing app too, like a cut-down Photoshop, but FREE.


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## bubulubu

I bought 4 pieces of green construction paper to make a green screen. Then I use after effects to filter out the background following this simple tutorial.

VIDEO COPILOT | After Effects Tutorials, Plug-ins and Stock Footage for Post Production Professionals

But of course I don't make a video. I just render a single frame. Then I use photoshop to adjust the size and resolution.


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## lincolnapparel

I tack a T-shirt to an evenly lit blank wall (opposite my picture window in my living room), then take a picture. If it's a white T-shirt, I just put colored construction paper behind it. Then I use the GIMP to remove or change the background if necessary, adjust the size and resolution, and the clone tool to remove anything undesirable (like the tacks or the hanger I use to hang up the T-shirt).

I love the GIMP.


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## styleshoots

STYLESHOOTS - Taking images of apparel in a flat format with COMPLETE Alpha Transparency in less than 20 seconds 

iShopShape - StyleShoots 

Even without the use of models, the cost of high-quality apparel photography has risen significantly over the last few years, while lead times have increased. This has made the process frustrating and costly for firms in the fiercely competitive fashion market that need to get their products to market as quickly as possible. This is where StyleShoots comes in, as it frees companies from the constraints of conventional photo shoots and increases their competitive advantage.
With its smart design and elegant yet robust construction, StyleShoots includes a table, camera, embedded computer, software and a professional lighting system integrated in one easy-to-use package. With table-top dimensions of 180cm x 120cm, companies can easily style and photograph a complete outfit.
The system is even simpler to use than a point-and-shoot camera, as the operator controls all actions from the iPad2 that is included with the solution. iShopShape’s sophisticated AutoAlphaTM algorithm does all the hard work, enabling the user to easily manage staging, background removal, cropping, storing, lighting and the addition of transparency, as well as many other functions. The results are worthy of a professional photo shoot while remaining intuitive enough to be used by staff with little experience of photography. 
The JPEG and PNG images generated by the system are saved directly to an 8GB USB stick included in the solution, although customers can also connect an external portable hard drive if preferred. A single photo can be exported with multiple different backgrounds and effects, saving time compared with a conventional photo shoot. Once set up, the system is ready to use as no IT or network integration is required. The embedded Apple Mac Mini controls the backlight system, camera and iPad2, while the communication between StyleShoots and the iPad2 is managed by a secure WPA-2 WiFi connection. 
StyleShoots is available now from iShopShape and can be seen live in action at the fully- equipped showroom at iShopShape’s headquarters in Haarlem, the Netherlands.


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## jasmynn

I would buy a mannequin. Shirt mannequins are under $10. I got mine for $6. makes a huge difference in photos and it's easier to get a good pic


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## angelpower

lburton3: Thanks for sharing your tips. Tried it out and it looks great!!!
Many thanks


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## fineredwine

I use the photoshop mock-up route. Very easy once you figure it out, and allows you to quickly create product samples in multiple colours just by toggling through layers you set up for such a purpose.


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## Sarcastik

STOP THE MADNESS!!!

I saddens me to hear otherwise intelligent people talk about maniquins and photoshopping backgrounds out. I spent 35 bucks on seamless white photography paper from Amazon and it does wonders. It comes in a big roll that you can roll out on your kitchen table and stand on a chair and shoot downwards on. 

Using a template is also a good idea, but I sell a lot of shirts that I wholesale from other brands and I don't always have the original artwork. The cool about it is when you're done lying shirts flat you can also hang the paper with stands and do a photoshoot with people and you can't tell you not in a studio. Anyway, the finished results when using photo paper is awesome! [See attachment]










Link to paper:
Amazon.com: Savage Seamless Background Paper, 53" wide x 12 yards, Super White, #1: Office Products


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## shayne0307

I use a light box.....one I made myself with poster board and white fabric.....I works well enough for me.


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## sneakersseekers

You can use a white foam display board (office depot sells those) a nice high resolution camera with tripod and very good lightning (you have to get the lightning from a specialty photo store). The lights sold at photostores are very close to daylight. You can also perform a search on google for daylight lights if you want to save some money.
Have the panel with the shirt at a tilted position and you are good to go. You will have to play around with the lightning until you find the right spot for the lamps but then everything becomes automatic. You will also need some minor editing on photoshop done for each image.
__________________
Tony
Sneakers Seekers


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