Simplified Hat Photography

Most of my shots are done professionally in a studio by Michael G. Stewart, but those of you at home can get good looking results with a minimum of cost or effort.
Here’s how.

01: A hat stand of some description is important for photographing your hat while maintaining the shape of its brim. This purpose made one cost $5. The backdrop is a sheet of 18″x24″ paper from an art store.
02: To minimize shadows, shoot outdoors on an overcast day, or at the very least in shadow. Make sure what you’re shooting does not hang over the edge of the white.
03: In photoshop (or GIMP, it’s free), white balance to the lightest point of the white backdrop.
04: Use a brush tool to knock out all the non-white sections of the photo.
05: Select the shadows and white balance that selection separately to eliminate them.
06: Crop.
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Champ Featherweight fedora hat

It feels like a while since I’ve been in the fedora business.  It used to be they were my bread and butter.  I sold hats with a very small vintage clothing sideline.  There was a time, not too long ago, where I could walk into an antique store and come out with two or three golden-era fedoras or homburgs, at great prices.  But the ebay market has gone through the roof, and antique shops seem to be more picked over now.  Taking gambles on badly listed ebay hats to flip isn’t worth it when the price gets to big to comfortably eat.  While this Champ is a bit dirty and a bit past the era I prefer, it was still refreshing to see it quietly sitting on a shelf at an antique store, waiting to be taken home, steamed out and cleaned up.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/281070476177

This vintage fedora was made by Champ in the early 1960s. It is a lightweight fur felt, with a bound brim, and simple hat band. It has a c-crease. Size 7-1/8

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Lee Leisure blue fedora

http://www.ebay.com/itm/271138090787

This vintage fedora was made by Lee in the late 1940s or early 1950s.  It is a lightweight blue felt, with spiral stitching.  It has a casual hatband, and an overwelt brim edge. It is creased with a teardrop crown.  The hat is unlined with sporting scenes printed in the crown. It was originally sold by the JL Hudson Co of Detroit, MI.  Size: 7Brim Width: 2-1/2″    Photobucket

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Deadstock 1920s Gordon Hat

http://www.ebay.com/itm/271116969726

This vintage homburg was made in the 1920s by the Gordon hat company.  It is an early soft felt style, made before the current definitions of “fedora” and “homburg” had come to be.  It is somewhere between the two, with brim flanging similar to a homburg or a lord’s hat, but with a stitched overwelt brim.  It has a distinctive wide wale grosgrain ribbon and substantial double bow.  It has an unreeded sweatband, still soft and in excellent condition, with all stitching present and accounted for.  It has an incredibly detailed seal imprinted on the leather, and on the lining.  The lining is of a fancy style which fell out of fashion in the 1930s.  The sweatband has a taped, rather than a stitched rear seam, a detail rarely seen on later US made hats.  It has a sticker size tag (also common in the 1920s era), which is in excellent condition.  There is the early style large union tag under the sweatband, along with an early style size stamp.  The condition of this hat, particularly the presence of details like the perfectly clean size tag, indicate this hat was rarely, if ever worn.  It’s a truly incredible time capsule of a hat, produced almost 90 years ago.Size: 7-1/4Brim Width: 2-1/2″Ribbon Width: 2-1/4″    Photobucket

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1920s Gordon Hat

http://www.ebay.com/itm/281034607401

This vintage hat, like the other 1920s one I’m selling at the moment, was made by the Gordon Hat Company.  It is a forest green fur felt, with a long nap velour finish.  This felt finish was popular in the 1910s and 1920s. The hat is in the fuzzy middleground between fedora, homburg and lords hat, with flanging similar to a homburg, but a stitched overwelt brim.  This style pretty much dropped off the radar by the 1930s. The hat has a wide purple ribbon, which has a feathered trailing edge.  Other than Cavanagh, this bow detail, so popular at the time this hat was produced, was dropped by most hat manufacturers by the end of the 1930s. The hat has an unreeded russet color sweatband, marked “genuine velour”.  The liner has long since gone missing. The sticker size tag on the rear seam of the leather is still legible, and reads 7-1/4. The hat has the old style large union tag, size stamp and a Gordon manufacturer’s tag.Size: 7-1/4Brim Width: 2-1/4″Ribbon Width: 2-1/4″    Photobucket

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Flechet Fedora

http://www.ebay.com/itm/271116480284

This vintage fedora was made in the USA by Bollman under the name of the famous French hatmaker, Flechet.  It is camel colored fur felt with a leather hatband.  It has a tapered blocking to the crown and an underwelt brim edge.
Size: 7
Brim Width: 2-1/4″
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Lee Leeston Fedora Hat

This vintage fedora was made in the late 1930s or early 1940s by Lee as part of their Leeston line.  It is a lightweight, unlined fur felt, with broad brim binding and a black ribbon.  The hat is creased in a teardrop crown.  Inside, there is an unreeded sweatband, which, as is typical for that type of sweatband of this era, has dropped many stitches.  Please see the photos.  The sweatband leather is stiff.  It was sold by Burt-Easter Haberdashery which had locations on Pennsylvania Avenue and on H. Street in Washington DC.  There is light staining and wear to the felt, staining to the brim binding, and a moth track on the bottom of the brim.
Size: 7-1/8
Brim Width: 2-3/4″
Ribbon Width: 1-3/4″
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