Building a cheap light tent

[akazoly]

I want to build a cheap light tent for product photography.

I have:

- 7xA3 tracing paper.
- 1x30W Daylight bulb (6400 K).
- 3x25W Daylight bulb (6400 K).
- 1 carton box.

I want to achieve:

- A pure white background

Now I need your ideas. I need to put the tracing paper on left, right and top side of box ?

Thanks!

 

[MarcusM]

I need to put the tracing paper on left, right and top side of box ?

Yes, you're right. I built one of my own based on strobist.com:

http://www.strobist.blogspot.com/2006/07/how-to-diy-10-macro-photo-studio.html

 

[Big Mike]

I would get a white card or thick paper, and bend it in, so that it forms the floor and back wall (two sides). Don't fold it, you want a seamless transition from wall to floor.

Then cut out as much of the rest of the box as you can replace with the paper. Leave a hole for a lens.

 

[Big Mike]

Check out THIS site

 

[akazoly]

thanks

Why in many pictures, for example on http://www.strobist.blogspot.com/2006/07/how-to-diy-10-macro-photo-studio.html I don't see a pure white background ?

 

[Big Mike]

Sometimes people prefer a gradient to a pure white background.

A light tent isn't going to give you a pure white background...it's just for giving you nice soft light.

To get a white background, you need to put more light onto the background....which might be easier without a light tent/box.

If the background is almost white, it usually isn't too hard to tweak it a bit with software....to get what you are looking for.

Of course, you could use a layer mask (in Photoshop) to do it, but it might not look as good/natural.

 

[akazoly]

Last time I do this on black (photoshop isolation): http://dreamstime.com/easter-candle-image4592110

But now I want to shoot on pure white especially for stock photography.
A top and bottom light help me a bit ?

 

[gendarmee]

thanks

Why in many pictures, for example on http://www.strobist.blogspot.com/2006/07/how-to-diy-10-macro-photo-studio.html I don't see a pure white background ?

Thats neat.

 

[akazoly]

I read somewhere, I need to overexpose the photo to achieve pure white background.
Ok I overexpose with spot metering. I get the pure white background but the subject is overexposed.

Is possible to solve this problem using the Exposure lock on camera? I want to overexpose only the background (the white background).

 

[Big Mike]

If your scene is mostly white (white paper background) then that will trick the light meter in your camera...so yes, you would need to add positive exposure.

To simplify things, I would put the camera into manual mode and take test shots. Look at the histogram after each shot and adjust the exposure until most of the graph is close to the right side.

That should help, but it's still possible that your subject will be brighter than you want, and the background might not be all the way white. So like I said before, you may need to put more light onto the background (without putting more light onto the subject.)

 

[akazoly]

Thanks Mike! Now I think how to illuminate the background, because the object sit on white paper. I think I need a bottom light

 

[akazoly]

For testing purposes I put two bulb behind the subject:

With spot metering and little over exposure I get this:

Of course I have a little top lighting (not visible in image).

I achieve the pure white background only with spot metering, this is normal ?

 

[akazoly]

any idea please? My bottom light is a good idea?

 

[Ryvax]

Time to bring back this thread. I am also wondering how to achieve a perfect white background with a light tent.