First Light box attempt help

alarionov · Mar 3, 2009

Ok so thought I would try with a DIY lightbox but had the most difficult time getting it bright enough. Still had to brighten it in PP but cant seem to get it white, its a bit yellowish.

1 1/60" F14 Iso400 WB set to tungsten on both

2 1/15" F22 Iso 400

rufus5150 · Mar 3, 2009

Go in to curves, click the right-most sampler and click on the background where it's yellow-ish. This should be done as an early step as it will also brighten up the photo.

That is a first step and may be all that's necessary, but try the tutorial here:

Adobe Photoshop Tutorial | Color Correction Using Curves Adjustment Layer | Layers Magazine

Big Mike · Mar 3, 2009

Ok so thought I would try with a DIY lightbox but had the most difficult time getting it bright enough.

It's most likely a metering issue. What the camera sees is a whole lot of white...so it gives you settings to make it mid toned (18% grey). The camera always does this because it is programmed to think every scene is 18% grey. But when you scene is mostly white the meter is tricked so you can't trust it. You need to add exposure to brighten it up. It's as simple as adjusting you EC (exposure compensation). I'd suggest adding one whole stop to start with...and go from there.

Samanax · Mar 3, 2009

What is the setup? What kind of lights are you using?

What kind of material did you use for the translucent part of the light box?

Are you shooting using one of the Creative Modes or are you shooting in full manual?

alarionov · Mar 3, 2009

Samanax said:
What is the setup? What kind of lights are you using?

What kind of material did you use for the translucent part of the light box?

Are you shooting using one of the Creative Modes or are you shooting in full manual?

this is the one I did
How to Make An Inexpensive Light Tent - DIY

but I set up two clamp on lights from the sides.

I used shutter priority in this instance

Samanax · Mar 3, 2009

For these kinds of shots I go full manual on my XTi and do lots of test shots and checking of the histogram. I don't use constant lights, I use remote Speedlites on light stands. I plan to get a Sekonic L-358 Flash Master light meter in the near future to help simplify things a bit.

alarionov · Mar 3, 2009

Big Mike said:
It's most likely a metering issue. What the camera sees is a whole lot of white...so it gives you settings to make it mid toned (18% grey). The camera always does this because it is programmed to think every scene is 18% grey. But when you scene is mostly white the meter is tricked so you can't trust it. You need to add exposure to brighten it up. It's as simple as adjusting you EC (exposure compensation). I'd suggest adding one whole stop to start with...and go from there.

thanks for the help, I will try adjusting the exposure compensation.

alarionov · Mar 3, 2009

rufus5150 said:
Go in to curves, click the right-most sampler and click on the background where it's yellow-ish. This should be done as an early step as it will also brighten up the photo.

That is a first step and may be all that's necessary, but try the tutorial here:

Adobe Photoshop Tutorial | Color Correction Using Curves Adjustment Layer | Layers Magazine

Downloading the 30 day trial of Photoshop as we speak. I will give it a try.

Don Kondra · Mar 3, 2009

Try Aperture mode @ f8... are you using 5500k lights?

Get them here

Cheers, Don

alarionov · Mar 3, 2009

Don Kondra said:
Try Aperture mode @ f8... are you using 5500k lights?

Get them here

Cheers, Don

thanks for the advice I will give it a try. Currently I am using cfl thats only 4100 kelvin I will definitely try a higher kelvin bulb though.

Big Mike · Mar 3, 2009

The bulbs shouldn't be an issue, as long as your lighting is consistent....because you can adjust your WB to suit.

If you aren't already, shoot in RAW mode. This will allow you to adjust the White Balance on the computer, after the shot has been taken.

Parkerman · Mar 3, 2009

What I always did using my light box was I preset the WB myself.

When i set the preset WB.. I just made sure the box was empty and I was just taking pictures of the white.

Most of the time my shutter speeds were pretty slow. So.. you need to be using a tripod for sure.

*edit*
and even on some of mine.. the white could have been brighter as it was a tad bit gray.. here are some that I took back towards the beginning of last summer

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a392/Parkerman/Photography/DSC_1989.jpg
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a392/Parkerman/Photography/DSC_2024.jpg
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a392/Parkerman/Photography/DSC_1964.jpg

alarionov · Mar 3, 2009

Big Mike said:
The bulbs shouldn't be an issue, as long as your lighting is consistent....because you can adjust your WB to suit.

If you aren't already, shoot in RAW mode. This will allow you to adjust the White Balance on the computer, after the shot has been taken.

the first sentence says it all... I just realized that the clamps lights have two different bulbs, one is an incondecent and the other a compact Flourescent maybe thats the dilemma.

After messing with with in photoshop here is the second try

1

2

As you can see having some issues with pp as well, one seems to be more warm than the other.

Ps. When I look at this on my Flikr they should blend with the white of the flikr website right? is white the same across the board?

Big Mike · Mar 3, 2009

That's much better.

alarionov · Mar 4, 2009

Ok so this is the second attempt taking all advice into consideration. I made sure both lights had the same bulb (which helped out a lot) and went full manual. after some pp work in photoshop this was the result. Not as sharp as I would like but thats another thing to work on..
1/125" F1.8 Iso 100

All in all I am quite pleased with results. Thanks everyone for all your help..