light tent question

[Osmer_Toby]

i'm trying to shoot some food on a plate- i made a rather pathetic attempt at a light tent and shots came out horrible. i saw some reference to this a while ago- anybody got any advice or a link to a set of instructions for doing it correctly? thanks in advance... ( am using a macro lense on a canon eos5, when i made my ill fated attempt it was with 100 speed film)

 

[voodoocat]

Can you post any of your attempts? Perhaps we could help a little better.

Basically a light dome emulates what you would get on a cloudy day. You'll use a transluscent material to make a half sphere. That will diffuse the light in all directions creating a somewhat shadowless environment. Any shadows that do exist will be soft.

I've done work with 3d rendering and lighting is the most important thing to achieve good looking renders. Here is a render from a tutorial on using lighting domes in Lightwave.

 

[Osmer_Toby]

my results were washed out, dark. i know i needed MUCH more light- or faster film. i guess what i am looking for is details on how to build the tent itself and recommendations for lighting and film speed. i am thinking of trying again with a couple halogen work lights that i have in the garage, but i'm looking for all the info i can get before i blow more $$ on film...

 

[voodoocat]

my results were washed out, dark. i know i needed MUCH more light- or faster film. i guess what i am looking for is details on how to build the tent itself and recommendations for lighting and film speed. i am thinking of trying again with a couple halogen work lights that i have in the garage, but i'm looking for all the info i can get before i blow more $$ on film...

Well if they were washed out or dark it means you didn't do the correct exposure. How are you metering? You don't necessarily need much more light, just expose for the amount of light that you do.

 

[Osmer_Toby]

i had the camera on automatic, i used ttl metering, was getting speed of only 60 on shutter and i dont remember aperture reading. maybe i should not be using a macro lense? i had to back up to about 1.5 meters away from subject- perhaps i needed to adjust f stop? btw, even at this distance, i was having trouble getting the whole plate in view, but i was standing on a ladder as it was!