Lighting

hands · Mar 22, 2005

Hi
I am new here and had a look for advice on what type of lighting to use for a light tent.
I want to take high quality pictures of watches for a brochure and a website, I am looking to make/buy a light tent and a cheap lighting method.
I am looking to get a Canon 300D in the next couple of days, so I am now stuck with lighting choices, I have used tungstun befora but had a bad colour cast, is there any information on a website that is good for info on this subject?
I am on a budget to start out otherwise I would go and spend £250 for proper lighting.
Thanks for any help

Rob · Mar 22, 2005

Hi Hands, and welcome to the forum.

You can buy filters which attempt to block the orangey excesses of tungsten light, but these are sometimes not a great solution due to the varied nature of indoor lightbulbs. They may also be out of your budget range.

Another alternative is to visit your local DIY shop and try and get lightbulbs which have a different composition. Strip lights, Xenon lights, Halogen lights and others will not give the same nasty orange glow, unfortunately however, they may give some other colour aberation which is unacceptable. You could still build a light tent or softbox with them, but beware of excess heat being trapped by the paper or fabric you use to construct it. I find that 500W Halogen floods with tracing paper on the front work quite well - they cost about £5 in the UK.

Probably the best free answer is to try and shoot semi-outdoors. If you or a friend have French or patio doors where you can be inside, but get a good amount of natural light; you'd be surprised what can be done with some bits of tracing paper, a table and some tin foil! If you have a flash to give extra light, this may help as well.

Let me know if this is of help, or if there's more specifics to your conundrum.

Good luck

Rob

Big Mike · Mar 22, 2005

When using a digital camera, you can adjust the white balance to compensate for different light temperatures. You can take a baseline shot and set a custom WB to be used for the rest of the shots...with the 300D you can even shoot in RAW mode and adjust the white balance on the computer after taking the photo.

Therefore, you could most likely use any light source.

Christie Photo · Mar 22, 2005

hands said:
I am on a budget to start out otherwise I would go and spend £250 for proper lighting.

Welcome!

Sorry, but I really don't know... about how much is that in US dollars? How much do you have to work with? I think we can help a bit more with this info.

Good luck!

-Pete Christie