C&C: $1 Lightbox

[MrBarney]

A little bit of an experiment for me here. My first attempt at getting the light off the camera. I suspect that I've compromised this attempt a bit as I'm trying to do it cheap with just what I have available. There's a single (intentional) light source - a 30W LED torch.

I *know* that I made at least one intentional mistake and one unintentional one (can you tell what I did?) , but to me it looks good - my best attempt, and I tried many things. This had had very minor PP to crop, remove some imperfections at the edge of frame and remove some dust. Even though I cleaned it, I can't believe how dirty this phone still is!

I have a photo of the setup which I'll post later if anyone is interested.

All comments appreciated. Thanks.

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[MrBarney]

Was it boring, or perfect?

[mrpink]

Was it boring, or perfect?

really it is kinda both, hence the silence... nothing to comment on or about.




p!nK

[Moe]

Looks good to me. Two things I notice quickly are that the screen isn't very bright and the Blackberry logo is a touch out of focus (focus appears to be on the keys). As I'm writing this, I just noticed the bottom right is completely white, rather than the paper. I noticed this because it's now on a different part of the screen, therefore a different angle. Darn laptop.

[O|||||||O]

I *know* that I made at least one intentional mistake and one unintentional one (can you tell what I did?) , but to me it looks good - my best attempt, and I tried many things. This had had very minor PP to crop, remove some imperfections at the edge of frame and remove some dust. Even though I cleaned it, I can't believe how dirty this phone still is!

How can it be a mistake if it was intentional?

The only thing I really notice (other than a little dust, and the tiny black spot in the lower right corner) is the glare on the screen.

A polarizer or a different angle on the phone or light should fix that.

And yeah - stuff like that is impossible to clean, lol. There is always dust that needs cloning out, no matter how good you think you cleaned it.

EDIT
And I can see some of the cloning you did in the lower right corner. Just barely. The brush strokes are just a tiny bit brighter than the background around them.
A white vignette should help even out the corners. Just watch out that it doesn't get onto the phone any.

[shmne]

I've got a list of critique for you ;O!

1. The background is too warm, the white is coming off as a very white red.
2. The bottom right hand there is a splotch of pure white that looks like brush strokes of you trying to clone something or paint something out.
3. Soft focus on the top half of the phone, sharp on the bottom
4. The screen either needs to be dropped in after post, or take a second shot of the same image with the exposure set to brighten the screen. Then dropped in post.
5. A reflector on the left would have helped capture more detail in the phone, however the light source is nice on the right.
6. The background has a gradient of bright white, to that warm white. This is because you didn't have a reflector on the left as well.

Think I got more or less everything :3

*edit*
7. And aperture labs rock.

[wesd]

A little bit of an experiment for me here. My first attempt at getting the light off the camera. I suspect that I've compromised this attempt a bit as I'm trying to do it cheap with just what I have available. There's a single (intentional) light source - a 30W LED torch.

I *know* that I made at least one intentional mistake and one unintentional one (can you tell what I did?) , but to me it looks good - my best attempt, and I tried many things. This had had very minor PP to crop, remove some imperfections at the edge of frame and remove some dust. Even though I cleaned it, I can't believe how dirty this phone still is!

I have a photo of the setup which I'll post later if anyone is interested.

All comments appreciated. Thanks.

I don't understand the whole $1 light box, can you explain?
Wes

[doziergraphic]

you said if someone asked you post the setup - i'd like to see that.

[MrBarney]

Yay!

really it is kinda both, hence the silence... nothing to comment on or about.

It was the first thing I could lay my hands on that would fit into the box. Probably not the most exciting photo though, I admit. Still, thanks for the comment.

Looks good to me. Two things I notice quickly are that the screen isn't very bright and the Blackberry logo is a touch out of focus (focus appears to be on the keys). As I'm writing this, I just noticed the bottom right is completely white, rather than the paper. I noticed this because it's now on a different part of the screen, therefore a different angle. Darn laptop.

That was my attempt at manual focus on the centre. I agree, I think I should have used a smaller aperture.

How can it be a mistake if it was intentional?

Er.. ah..well. Mistake is perhaps the wrong word. I'll post a snap of the setup and you'll see! Suffice to say that the light itself is actually on the left

The only thing I really notice (other than a little dust, and the tiny black spot in the lower right corner) is the glare on the screen.

A polarizer or a different angle on the phone or light should fix that.

And yeah - stuff like that is impossible to clean, lol. There is always dust that needs cloning out, no matter how good you think you cleaned it.

EDIT
And I can see some of the cloning you did in the lower right corner. Just barely. The brush strokes are just a tiny bit brighter than the background around them.
A white vignette should help even out the corners. Just watch out that it doesn't get onto the phone any.

Circular polariser now added to my shopping list (which is already $$$!)

I hadn't thought of using a white vignette. Not a bad idea. It's odd that everyone is saying that the lower right is brighter as it was only a large brush clone of other white areas of the original. I can see it too now though. Perhaps I cloned from the wrong area.

I've got a list of critique for you ;O!

Bring it!

1. The background is too warm, the white is coming off as a very white red.

Gold star to that man - the result of the unintentional mistake. Some light is reflecting from the mahogany table I have the lightbox on. I didn't see it until I took the snap of the setup.

2. The bottom right hand there is a splotch of pure white that looks like brush strokes of you trying to clone something or paint something out.
3. Soft focus on the top half of the phone, sharp on the bottom
4. The screen either needs to be dropped in after post, or take a second shot of the same image with the exposure set to brighten the screen. Then dropped in post.

Hmmm... I might try that. Turn off the lights and just expose the screen correctly?

5. A reflector on the left would have helped capture more detail in the phone, however the light source is nice on the right.

I was struggling with that. I'm glad the light looks good from the right because I couldn't get the lightbox to work for me by lighting through the walls. I think the paper had a blue tint and was too thick for my wimpy light source.

6. The background has a gradient of bright white, to that warm white. This is because you didn't have a reflector on the left as well.

Think I got more or less everything :3

*edit*
7. And aperture labs rock.

We do what we must because we can.

Ok, thanks everyone. That's just the sort of information I needed. Now, for the big reveal. No smirking at the back!

As I said, I think the light was too weak, the paper too thick (and slightly blue) so after several poor attempts at lighting from the side, I aimed the light at the inside right wall of the box. It seemed to work, but I wonder if it contributed to the washed out look of the screen. Is it acceptable, or a no-no?

Until I looked at this shot I had completely missed the reflected light coming from the table. I should probably have had more paper there so that any reflected light would be white.

Camera was set on manual, exposure up 1 stop from what the meter read, manual focus, on a rather shaky tripod, live view (locked the mirror up for me) 2 second timer on the shutter release.

[MrBarney]

I don't understand the whole $1 light box, can you explain?
Wes

I made this out of 5 sheets of A4 paper and some clear tape, then lit it with an LED torch.

Cheap 1$ Light tent / Light box : SoDoItYourself.com

Not bad for nearly no money. Next time I might use thinner paper, or try the cardboard box and tissue paper version.

[O|||||||O]

Circular polariser now added to my shopping list (which is already $$$!)

You know, I just thought of a potential problem (Still get the CPL though).

My polarized sunglasses totally black out my LCD TV, and my computer monitor if I look at them at a certain angle... A polarizer will certainly get rid of the glare, but it might also render the image on the screen completely black...

[O|||||||O]

Hold on a sec... lol.
(Just took another look at the pic of your setup.)

Were you shooting through the paper...?

Usually, you would leave a window in one side to shoot through.


The setup pic really does look like you're shooting through the paper, but damn - you can't even tell in the resulting photo.

[MrBarney]

Hold on a sec... lol.
(Just took another look at the pic of your setup.)

Were you shooting through the paper...?

Usually, you would leave a window in one side to shoot through.


The setup pic really does look like you're shooting through the paper, but damn - you can't even tell in the resulting photo.

There is a hole - in fact, because of the small size of the box, most of the side is missing, which is the light area you can see. The light is reflecting from the inside right wall of the box and around the inside quite nicely (imho). Lighting through the paper I couldn't get a decent result, so I used it as a reflector instead. Good / bad?

[O|||||||O]

Hold on a sec... lol.
(Just took another look at the pic of your setup.)

Were you shooting through the paper...?

Usually, you would leave a window in one side to shoot through.


The setup pic really does look like you're shooting through the paper, but damn - you can't even tell in the resulting photo.

There is a hole - in fact, because of the small size of the box, most of the side is missing, which is the light area you can see. The light is reflecting from the inside right wall of the box and around the inside quite nicely (imho). Lighting through the paper I couldn't get a decent result, so I used it as a reflector instead. Good / bad?

I can see it now (I think...lol). The hole just looked like the light from the flashlight at first.

Using the box as a reflector works, but doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose of having the box? You could do the same thing with a reflector and a sheet of paper to use as a seamless background.

Shine the light through the side (set up small reflectors inside the box, if needed). Another light on the other side would help even more.

[MrBarney]

Shine the light through the side (set up small reflectors inside the box, if needed). Another light on the other side would help even more.

Small reflectors?

I was worried about using several torches in case the colour temperatures were different. And then I used the table as a reflector, I know! I'll see what I can put together for next time.