I own a rug shop which has about 4000 rugs. How much would it

How do you shoot a rug? Show us an example? Also it depends on the number of pics for each one.

Also 4000 is a lot and it's probably gonna take a lot of time, thus money for a photographer. If it's not something really complicated you can always find a young enthusiast and pay him less.

If you can figure out a good workflow, it shouldn't be too hard to do it yourself efficiently. At 4000 rugs you're looking for efficiency than archival-grade quality. The best thing you can do is find a good system to shoot and process ~100 rugs/photos a day, and make sure you have the storage for the photos too.

>>2994415
As the other anons said, at 4k rugs you are looking for price efficiency. Online product photography is very forgiving of gear. A 400$ DSLR kit and maybe a cheap-ass tripod are all you'll need to do it yourself

The real question is how do you shoot a rug product photo?

>>2994435 heavy as fuck clamps and a high ceiling?

>>2994435
depends on the size. lie it flat against a white background, have camera on a boom and at least 2 constant lights in softboxes on either side. tether to a laptop and shoot away, It's how i set up my old employers product photography (clothing retail company, invisible mannequins weren't feesible)

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>>2994440
>white background

I think that would look weird for rugs.

I would put them in a nice room and photograph them from a natural angle.

Then add one or two closeups to show the quality of the material and any design details. - just filling the entire frame with a piece of the carpet.

>>2994446
that wouldn't help OP much. if he had 20 styles of rug to sell to a high end clientele and was able to pay a photographer, set designers, stylists and retouchers it would be possible. but getting through 4000 (assuming each has a unique design) is all about efficiency, and my guess is they're going to be seen 90% of the time as thumbnails whilst somebody's scrolling down a page.
Once business is booming (if it isn't already) then diversify a bit, have a few 'nicer' studio images like that as main images for categories etc. but that doesn't seem like what OP is going for

>>2994458
that said, a set could be just as easy as a wooden floor as background and maybe a prop ornament, the more complex you go though the less efficient it's gonna be. OP just needs a good drop & pop setup

Well unless all of the rugs are the same size it really depends on the factors involved.
How large of a space do you have to work in?
Can the rugs possibly be hung?
How much time will there be between setup? If you only have the room to set one at a time.
I do not know a single pro that would shoot something like that cheaply. So I suggest you learn to do it yourself. You can get by with an entry level camera, and a good wide to normal zoom lens in my opinion. Get a book on product photography, and google it.

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>>2994464
That's what I was thinking, yes.

Just a decent wooden floor and some furniture to show scale.
Could be the same room for every shot, with the camera on a tripod so you don't have to re-frame.

A rug over a white background doesn't show its size, and makes it hard to envision how it will look in real life.

>>2994415
What kind of rugs and who's your main clientele?

If you really need to shoot the whole inventory, like if they're unique handmades, it's sure as hell not gonna be cheap to hire a pro. Quick math says that you're probably looking at between 200 and 400 hours of shooting, which translates to somewhere between the cost of a new Ford and the cost of a new BMW depending on the photographer.

>>2994435
I'd mount the camera in the ceiling and tether, spread the rug and shoot. Then I'd get a close up of a sector for pattern/color/texture sample, and then one a bit more "artsy" with it semi un rolled. That is if they are all new and you don't have to show defects

>>2994509
they are all antique persian and oriental rugs and are unique. Im just going to lay them flat on the floor with good lighting and take some shots and some close ups. People like to see the front on backs of the rugs so 5-6 shots per rug. I thinki i can get 20 -30 done a hour maybe.

>>2996659
Alright Rod, how's the porsche coming along?
I'll give you a hand with this task if you want.

>>2994415
Having that many rugs done professionally, especially if you want multiple shots of each rug, will cost you anywhere from $30k to over $100k. You could do it yourself, but it'll take longer than you expect, be extremely frustrating, and the photos will probably turn out terrible.

If that's what you want to do, some advice: 99% of how this turns out is going to depend on your preparation. Your preparation is THE most important thing, hands down. You'll need a staging area that you can move rugs in and out of without disturbing anything else (camera, lights, furniture, etc.). Since you'll have to reconfigure your setup for each size rug, do one size at a time before moving onto the next size. You'll need to get a couple of cheap studio strobes (do not use speedlights for a job like this) with stands and softboxes. A decent consumer level DSLR should be fine for web photos, but if you get a zoom lens try to keep the focal length consistent. You'll need to learn to use the camera and strobes together in manual mode. THIS IS IMPORTANT. Consistency is key here, and the only way to get that consistency is to use manual mode, so learn how to do it. It won't take long since you're just shooting one setup, but it must be done. All your files must look the same. Google strobist 101 and that should get you going in the right direction. If you want to do any post processing or organization, use Lightroom. If your files are consistent, which they should be, you can just process one photo then apply that to all the rest.

Like I said, preparation is key. So learn how to do all the above first, then practice with one rug and get your setup the way you want. Go through the whole process first with one rug before setting out to shoot the rest. Once you're happy with the final result of your one, and only until then, apply that to the other 3,999 rugs in a consistent manner.

Bust honestly I highly, highly recommend you hire a professional.

>>2994415
hang it.
shoot it flat.
get some worker because you'll break your back.

>>2994415

Can I ask you something?

WHY did you decide to wn a rug shop? Are you very passionate about rugs? How much did you invest to start the business?

I am always so confused by people who own and run shops selling products like metal bearings, rugs, curtain shops, CHRISTMAS SHOP etc

And when you see these places, theyre always super quiet, I understand there is a demand for such things but surely larger outlets cover majrity of the business, without foocusing on 1 specific product.

Rugs

Whatever you do, make sure to compose such that the rug really ties the room together.

Work out a system first to streamline it, this includes whatever cataloging system you have to organize your inventory. Don't figure it out as you go along. May seem tedious, may seem like you're never going to get truly started, but once you work out a workflow, it'll make going through 4k rugs faster.

Have some employees come in after hours to help out, pay them extra if you must (may be cheaper than hiring a outside professional,) or if you got the people and room to do it, during business hours. Use multiple cameras. One mounted to take the wide shot(s) under fixed lights, with whatever props needed if you wish to show scale, and a second to take whatever detail shots needed. Though it may be tedious/monotonous to merge the photo sets. after

One person can set up the next rug while the previous is being removed. Detail shots of one rug could be taken while the next is being set up.

Take the shots at night, or away from any windows if you can. so your light isn't shifting through the day.

Stand on a ladder and use your iPhone. Crop and rotate them then save to iCloud.

Done

>>2997251
Obviously there's a good market for them, else they wouldn't be around, or for very long. You might consider that they may also get a good portion of their sales from industry. You might shop for curtains once every few years. But there's hotels, inns, restaurants, offices, etc opening up all the time to supply a shop sufficient business.

I don't know if this will provide an answer, as I don't remember the exact explanations given, but I suppose it may be relevant to the question of shops with seemingly narrow focus.
http://freakonomics.com/podcast/mattress-store-bubble/

Just get some cheap led lamps (2-3 should be enough) or room with a good light, get a ladder, buy some cheap used SLR and a stabilized lens, kit lens should do fine, make sure to stop down to at least f 6.7 preferably f 8 or higher. First shoot from ladder to show the whole rug, then take a shoot from an angle standing on the ground to show what it looks like from human view, two or three shots of details directly from above and end with a detail of the backside to show the knots. Remember to measure the width length and height of the rug, give it an id, save in excell or something and also write on a tag you fasten on the rug so you can find it quickly again. Expect to use at least 15 minutes including post per rug. Documentation is pretty important because you will lose oversight faster than you think. Remember proper white balance. Good luck

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>>2994504
Every shot cost like around $50 each, plus additional fees for higher quality files and product assembly. I relaly don't think it's feasible to send 4000 rugs to someone.


I had a brief stint as a catalog photographer (pic related, work I did a few months ago in the corner of my room) so here's what I can advise if youre going for this style you posted

1. Buy Savage white background paper in its largest variant. Cut it up so you can leave a nice background for the rugs, this will help in post processing.
2. Marking the paper is key,: finding the largest size rug and outline the corners and centers of the width and height. Youre basically just going to drag your rugs in the center of your markings
3. Your camera shouldnt move AT ALL. Tether your camera to a laptop and use LR (or whatever Canon/Nikon uses for tethering) and release the shutter from there
4. Rent 3 strobes. Because the rugs are opaque and nonreflective you can bounce the light off a white cieling. If you dont have a white cieling or its too high ask for umbrellas

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>>2997431
It's really easier than what most people market: they just nickle and dime you due to the equipment cost but its really just figuring out the lighting and just rotating out the products

>>2994415
Do you unironically sell rugs?
I thought those were all fronts for money laundering since they're such shitty businesses