Peter House on Fstoppers

Staff Writer & Commercial Photographer

House The Photographer

housethephotographer.com

Member for: 1 year 7 months

Photos 15
Videos 0
Lists 0
Comments 154
Photos Rated 1,436
Up Votes 57
Down Votes 1

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Gear List

Nikon D800E
Nikon D700
Nikon 80-200mm AF-S
Nikon 16-35mm
Samyang 24mm TS
Nikon 85mm

Tamron 28-75mm
AlienBees B800
White Lightning X1600
PCB Einstein
Photek Softlighter

Recent Articles from Peter House

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I am a commercial fashion photographer from Toronto, Canada. My days are generally filled with catalog and editorial shoots. I also run one of the most popular rental studio's in the Toronto area.

I have an unhealthy obsession with cupcakes, my hair game is strong, and I am fond of elephants.

Cheers!

robin miller - December 6, 2014

Peter, thanks for your EXCELLENT article, "Stop Over-Thinking" on fstoppers,com. I've read it twice, but this is one I'm going to print and keep. I know from now that it's one I'll refer back to when i need the encouragement, confidence and hope you offer. Thank you for freely sharing your wisdom and experience.

Daniel Czempinski - September 11, 2014 [Edited]

Peter,

I came across one of your articles for "Must Have Tools for Apparel Photographer". I'm coming across shooting apparel here at the studio I work for. I've only helped assist on previous apparel photo shoots before and those have always been with a stylist. Currently, it's just me doing all the photography, assisting, styling, etc around the studio.

I have pins, a steamer and batting. I'm very curious about the tubing you use though. Most of the clothes that I will be shooting is kid's clothing so would you recommend a smaller diameter of tubing for this? I've also used the cork board in the past, but we didn't use cork board, we used some pink insulation wrapped in white paper and stuck the clothes to it.

Are there any tips you could give me? I'm not sure if they will want it shot on the floor or on a hanger, so any advice would be greatly appreciated! I'm really interested in the tubing though

Thanks again,
Dan Czempinski

Peter House - September 14, 2014

Hey Daniel,

Sorry about the late reply. I'll try and keep it short and sweet. :)

I use all sorts of tubing to be honest. I see a variety of clothing, ranging in weight and dimension. So I keep a variety of tubes on hand depending on the situation. For smaller lighter clothing I have found clear plastic tubing to work quite well. It is a soft plastic, so it will bend more under longer sleeves and heavier fabrics. For heavier pieces, such as wool coats, I have found white plastic tubing that is a little thicker to work very well. Generally it is about an inch to two inches in diameter. Cut to length.

All these tubes can be found at your local hardware store in the plumbing section. I would avoid rubber tubes as they are too heavy and sag causing pulls. As you can imagine though, stick to white or clear tubing due to color cast. On thinner fabrics, even the white can show through. This is where the clear tubing comes in handy.

If you shoot on the floor, you don't really need the tubing. The tubing is mainly there to counter the gravity which pulls on the sleeves and prevents them from having shape. If you shoot on the floor you avoid this problem and have a much easier time styling. My clients insist on hanging shots though. If you have the freedom to shoot on a floor, it will be easier to style. :)

The only other tip I can give you is to watch the details. Make sure the tags are flipped down. Piping is straight. Loose threads gone. All that "fun" stuff. Haha.

Hope that helps!

Daniel Czempinski - September 16, 2014

Peter,

Thanks for all the advice. Most of the stuff over the past few days I have shot on the floor which makes it a little easier to stylize. But I know in the future that they will want stuff shot up against a wall on a hanger. I used some filler to help give the items some dimension rather than being just flat on the white background.

I know exactly what tubing you are talking about. I will have to go and pick up a few different diameters. Probably on the thinner side as most of the clothes are for kids. These are all flexible tubes, correct? Not PVC?

I like how mentioned you use it to counter the gravity on the sleeves. I will keep this in mind when this comes up in the future.

I'm very detail oriented so I'm all over the loose threads or if filler poking out just a wee bit where it shouldn't. Very informative and helpful.

Thank you again!
Dan

Chris Adval - August 25, 2014 [Edited]

What you think about the "pro photographers" saying to not charge for licensing until you've established some known credibility?

Peter House - August 25, 2014

I thinks its silly. You become established by having a successful body of work, why would you not want to be rewarded for that? You don't necessarily have to CHARGE for the license up front. But I would always include it with certain limitations that allow for compensation when they are exceeded. That way you future proof your work.

Also, by not issuing licenses you are teaching future clients that this is an acceptable way to do business. Makes for a crappier workplace for us all.

And lastly, if you never issue a license to a client, then become established, good luck selling them on the idea of a license later.

Thanks for the question! :)

Chris Adval - August 26, 2014

Great, I wasn't sure. I've been having issues with many potential clients wanting just unlimited/lifetime copyright usages at no additional costs (unless its pennies of course) and trying to figure out how to not lose these potential leads. Do you think including basic usage like overall web usages, local print advertising, and public display in their own offices/buildings included into their cost of creative/production fees, for life, and simply added $100 or so to my creative fee to make the difference and more worth including this would be better at least for now?

Brandy Yowell - July 18, 2014 [Edited]

Peter, I love your post processing style! Your work is great!

Peter House - July 19, 2014

Thank you so much! I appreciate that :)

Thang LV - July 15, 2014 [Edited]

is it just me or ur site is really slow? anyway nice port man

Peter House - July 15, 2014

Hey Thang, we are currently updating the site and optimizing so it is a bit on the slow side for the time being. Thanks for the heads up! Thanks for the kind words as well! :)