Testing my new light tent.

[simonydes]

i want to get one of those tents, it looks good, i think i might go to home depod and make one you think it will come out cheaper than actually buying one?

 

[fmw]

i want to get one of those tents, it looks good, i think i might go to home depod and make one you think it will come out cheaper than actually buying one?

I don't know. the one you see above was $45 at B&H plus shipping. Not very expensive.

 

[simonydes]

oh so thats not bad then, ima go on their website and check them out, hmm maybe ill get the kit with some lights. and i dont have to pay the shipping i could just pick it up

 

[THORHAMMER]

very nice AND clean !!!

only thing I was going to add is watch the black shiny heads, they look dull but once when I was trying to shoot a cheese grader, (yeah) they were reflecting a lot... how weird it that? I had to velcro black fabric over mine...

These are very nice and well shot...

 

[fmw]

Yes and sometimes it's easy to get yourself into the images. I've done that before. It's usually just a matter of angle.

 

[zioneffect564]

nice lightbox im going to have to try that out since its so cheap

 

[RVsForFun]

I saw instructions on making your own light box on a website and made one of my own for $15. It folds flat when not in use and is quite sturdy. If I can put enough photos out there, I'll publish photos taken with the tent. It's very useful, and many people use $9 Home Depot work lights to illuminate the box. Neato!

The box is four 20x30 foam boards taped together with holes cut on three sides.

The rear panel is 20" square, not taped in, and is held in place with 3/16" dowels.

Here's the light box with a single light on the side; craft paper covers the holes.

One light, to left, craft paper backdrop.

One light to left, no fill.

 

[RVsForFun]

One light, to the left, no fill.

You can put more lights (top and other side) for shadowless lighting. Or turn over the box putting the hole on the bottom, for bottom lighting such as crystal and glass.

 

[shorty6049]

its pretty good. i'd like to see what shadowless lighting would look like. This seems a little too dim for me. Still very nice though, I'd like to make one of these. I built one a while back out of a translucent plastic waste bin, but the problem lies in trying to get shots without the sides or back in them because you point the camera in one end and put the object somewhere between there and the other end... that was a little confusing

 

[John_05]

i finally got a picture of one of my knives thats acceptable to me. im sure i can do better with a little more practice, but for now, im happy with the results ive gotten so far.

 

[Aquarium Dreams]

Wow, John, that really pops! It looks like it's suspended in midair. Very nice.

 

[John_05]

Wow, John, that really pops! It looks like it's suspended in midair. Very nice.

thanks. i showed the picture to another person and they asked what type of set-up i used, so i took a quick shot of that too.

i wound up "stealing" that table at, of all places, a thrift store here for $17 the lights and stands were a gift, as was the clamp i used to hold my makeshift horizontal tripod. i made that with a tripod i had that rarely got used. i just popped the legs off and used electrical tape around the center part so it fit snugly in the clamp and doesnt slide if i use it at a different angle. the only thing thats not in the picture is the reflector i used against the back of the table to eliminate some shadows i was getting towards the top edge of the knife.

as you can see, i was shooting some ornaments when i took that shot. rather than hijack FMW's thread, ill post those later in a different thread.

 

[fmw]

Looks good, John. I'm still trying to figure out the angle. I looks like you shot the knife from directly overhead but behind the subject. Or you shot the subject upside down and changed it in photoshop. You definitely got the shadowless look.

 

[John_05]

Looks good, John. I'm still trying to figure out the angle. I looks like you shot the knife from directly overhead but behind the subject. Or you shot the subject upside down and changed it in photoshop. You definitely got the shadowless look.

thanks FMW. i did shoot it overhead, but it was centered in the frame like you see it here. i didnt crop or rotate that shot at all.

the only thing i did was prop the knife up slightly by placing a .177 BB inside the second hole in the handle of the knife. if you look closely, it looks darker than the other 2 round holes in the handle.

 

[DigitalDiva]

When I worked at Apple, I used a light tent in studio with top, left and right soft boxes. It produced nice photos. The quality of light in your photo posted is nice.

I've found the tent especially useful in photographing white and black objects or especially shiny objects.