$0 Mini-practice Studio?

[TangoTracer]

Hey guys I'm interested in setting up an area I can learn more about my camera and begin manipulating it to shoot what I want to see in the pictures...

I'm thinking of a black/white sheet backdrop with a bowl of ripe fruit, or a bottle of whiskey pouring into a glass with a high shutter speed ~ I want to use my speedlite and set everything manual for education and results

The equipment I have right now is a canon T5 w/kit lens/70-300iii, but I have a nifty-fifty on order. Also have the 430x speedlite, ordered a soft box cover for it as well.
What did you guys set up to learn shooting these scenes? I've about spent my budget on gear for awhile until the wife let's me get some more, so any ideas for a shooting area to enhance my learning curve? Ghetto DUI is totally okay lol!!

 

[Designer]

Even after careful ironing, a sheet will probably still show uneven shadowing due to slight ripples in the fabric.

Use large paper instead. Large seamless paper is sold on the roll, and comes in many different colors, although you mentioned black or white.

 

[Braineack]

I'd done some of the most ghetto rigging you'd imagine to create the shot...

for this shot:


March Photo Challenge 2 by The Braineack, on Flickr

I used a door off my TV cabinet for the glass and then a pair of speakers to hold it above the plate of M&Ms. I think I did something funky to hold the umbrella/flash in position, all on top of my pool table.

 

[beachrat]

Hey guys I'm interested in setting up an area I can learn more about my camera and begin manipulating it to shoot what I want to see in the pictures...

I'm thinking of a black/white sheet backdrop with a bowl of ripe fruit, or a bottle of whiskey pouring into a glass with a high shutter speed ~ I want to use my speedlite and set everything manual for education and results

The equipment I have right now is a canon T5 w/kit lens/70-300iii, but I have a nifty-fifty on order. Also have the 430x speedlite, ordered a soft box cover for it as well.
What did you guys set up to learn shooting these scenes? I've about spent my budget on gear for awhile until the wife let's me get some more, so any ideas for a shooting area to enhance my learning curve? Ghetto DUI is totally okay lol!!

Any room in the house will work.
Kitchen table,dining room table,TV cabinet,anywhere you can fit everything and re arrange furniture.
But,skip the ghetto DUI and go with ghetto DIY.
I've done both and the DIY is much nicer.

 

[Buckster]

With your "out of money" current budget in mind...

Go to the local Walmart or craft store and get a few sheets of white foam-core poster board from the arts/crafts/school supplies area. It's super-inexpensive. Paint one side of them flat black. They're large enough that one of them will work well as a background for smaller objects like you're describing. You'll end up cutting one or two of them into smaller pieces to use for DIY reflectors and flags to bounce, block or absorb light to better control it.

Positioning them with DIY solutions is the trick. Setting them up on a tabletop around the subject is easiest. Small spring clamps work well, as do small blocks of wood with a narrow slot cut into them to hold the piece of foam core. That will only get you so far though. Longer pieces of cheap, thin, 1" pine molding from a local big box home improvement store can be bolted or clamped together into frame structures to hold pieces above, to the side, or even directly overtop of the set, affording MUCH more control of the light. Broom and mop handles, chairs, and anything else that you can set near the set and clamp to can be used as well.

 

[curtyoungblood]

Do you have a way to trigger that 430 so you can use it off camera?

If not, you can find very cheap transmitter to get the job done.

Also, so get some foam core and black mat board (or anything black and stiff, really) to use as reflectors, flags, and backdrops.

Then you'll be good to go on a cheap product studio to learn in.

 

[TangoTracer]

Living in Korea has it's issues... Haha idk where I can get any of this stuff!

 

[TangoTracer]

Do you have a way to trigger that 430 so you can use it off camera?

If not, you can find very cheap transmitter to get the job done.

Also, so get some foam core and black mat board (or anything black and stiff, really) to use as reflectors, flags, and backdrops.

Then you'll be good to go on a cheap product studio to learn in.

Can I not program the flash to fire when it detects the on-camera flash? In any case I need to get a transmitter and put it on the included stand
Oh ordered a battery grip too with a remote so that takes care of any issues there too

 

[Buckster]

Living in Korea has it's issues... Haha idk where I can get any of this stuff!

Do they not have places to buy arts and crafts supplies and pieces of wood in Korea?

 

[TangoTracer]

Living in Korea has it's issues... Haha idk where I can get any of this stuff!

Do they not have places to buy arts and crafts supplies and pieces of wood in Korea?

Not really the same type of stuff... It's really quite odd here

But I'm sure I could find SOMEthing

 

[Nevermore1]

Are you on Base? If so then look in the school supply section at the PX/BX. I know they may not have much if they have anything at all. I remember it being a pain with the limited items sold at the shop at the Embassy in Bangkok. If they don't have it on Base then try looking for an office supply type store.

 

[curtyoungblood]

Ive never used a rebel or a 430, so I have no idea if you can trigger it with the on camera flash. If you can, that should certainly work. If you can't find foam core, anything that is somewhat stiff and white/ black should work.