Light Tents

macdsean · Jul 8, 2008

As some suggested above I purchased some cheap Lowe's floodlights and have been using those for isolated photography. In order to get more flexibility I simply covered the lights in several layers of a semi-transparent white shower curtain to soften the light. I put one light on each side of the subject pointing at the white paper and that seems to do the trick.

The only problem with my setup is that it doesn't work so well for objects that are highly reflective (you can see bright spots where the light reflects off them). I believe that the light tent is supposed to help that, but is there anyway to accomplish the same thing using my setup (the covered lights with no light tent)? Thanks.

Village Idiot · Jul 8, 2008

macdsean said:
As some suggested above I purchased some cheap Lowe's floodlights and have been using those for isolated photography. In order to get more flexibility I simply covered the lights in several layers of a semi-transparent white shower curtain to soften the light. I put one light on each side of the subject pointing at the white paper and that seems to do the trick.

The only problem with my setup is that it doesn't work so well for objects that are highly reflective (you can see bright spots where the light reflects off them). I believe that the light tent is supposed to help that, but is there anyway to accomplish the same thing using my setup (the covered lights with no light tent)? Thanks.

Reflection is based on several things including light placement, the shape of the object, and focal length.

Below is a painstakingly illustrated masterpiece that shows how reflections get from the light to your lens. BTW, all you need is a flash light and a piece of glass to actually see this concept, a camera isn't needed at all.

The black "lens" represents say a 50mm prime lens. The black lines protruding from it show the viewing area. Light one is close to the camera and aimed at the glass. The light is bouncing of the glass (or any highly reflective surface really) and bouncing into the FOV of the 50mm lens.

The green lens is say 200mm lens. It's FOV is considerably smaller, but so are the angles at which the light enters the glass. Light 1 is still shooting light off the glass and into the lens because of the position.

Now if you take the light and move it off the the side, it's moving where the light is hitting the reflective surface and bouncing back towards the camera. Since the 50mm lens has such a wide angle at which the light enters the lens, you'd have to move the lens farther off to the side. The 200mm lens has a smaller angle of which the light enters the glass. You don't have to move the light as far off to the side as if you were using a wider lens, you just have to move it outside of the angle that light enters the lens.

Get a mirror and a flash light. Shine the flash light directly at the mirror. Then rotate the flash light around and you'll see the light disappear but the mirror will remain light as you're moving the flash light out of the angle of which light enters the lens (your eyes).

When you start messing with curved objects or with items that have multiple plates, etc..., that can reflect light, you have to adjust to get the best shot possible.

A polarizer can help with some reflections as well. There's a lot to how it works, but check out "Light Science and Magic" for a great explanation of how light works.

macdsean · Jul 8, 2008

That information is very useful. Unfortunately, as you said, when you are using real life objects with multiple facets it gets more complicated. How well do polarizing filters work for close-up isolated product photography? Does it make a big difference? Are there any polarizing filters that you would recommend (my lens takes a 52mm filter). Thanks for the help.

Village Idiot · Jul 8, 2008

Probably the cheapest site you'll find these at.

http://hvstar.net/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=53

B+W 52mm Cpol.

It only works on polarized light though, so it won't do anything if you're still getting plagued by a direct reflection.

macdsean · Jul 8, 2008

OK. How do you combat light reflection of shiny metal surfaces? Is it just camera angle and focal length like you mentioned above? Or do you have any other tricks? Thanks.

Village Idiot · Jul 8, 2008

macdsean said:
OK. How do you combat light reflection of shiny metal surfaces? Is it just camera angle and focal length like you mentioned above? Or do you have any other tricks? Thanks.

Gobos. Gobo = Go between. An object like an index card placed between the light source that's the creating the reflection and the object. You can still indirectly light it though.

macdsean · Jul 8, 2008

Interesting. So simple. I hadn't thought about that. I will have to give it a try.

Computer_Generated · Jul 18, 2008

Hey so I saw this tut on some guys blog about creating a light box:

http://jyoseph.com/blog/detail.cfm/post/18

Thought I'd build my own, here's the setup:

Here's a quick pic with the lights on, no WB set:

Here's another pic with the WB set quickly:

Did some quick PS on it. Sorry about the shadows on the bottom... I could have re-aranged the lights so they weren't there after levels in PS were set... what can I say I'm lazy.

Just a quick show - you can tell from the top of the level what it could have looked like had I spent the appropriate amount of time on it.

grimm5577 · Jul 18, 2008

building your own is key...
they have some nice DIY on strobist.com

rlcphotos · Jul 18, 2008

Freedbaby said:
these will do the trick.

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=203216-1373-FL-301PDQ&lpage=none

save 2 to 3 bucks go to walmart

Copacetic · Jul 18, 2008

I'll second the homemade setup. This is what I use for knife photography:

The lights are the basic clamp-on work lights from Wal-Mart, with 6500K fluorescent bulbs. The diffuser frame is PVC pipe, and the material is plain old kitchen trash bags. The whole set up cost me about $50, most of which was the lights. It's not pretty, but it's cheap and it works.

Village Idiot, I love that shot of the cleaver! And I envy the lack of hotspots on that Kershaw (Leek?).

Computer_Generated · Jul 19, 2008

Copacetic said:
I'll second the homemade setup. This is what I use for knife photography:

The lights are the basic clamp-on work lights from Wal-Mart, with 6500K fluorescent bulbs. The diffuser frame is PVC pipe, and the material is plain old kitchen trash bags. The whole set up cost me about $50, most of which was the lights. It's not pretty, but it's cheap and it works.

Village Idiot, I love that shot of the cleaver! And I envy the lack of hotspots on that Kershaw (Leek?).

Dude, that totally rocks! You know I looked ALL day for those freakin' fluorescent bulbs... I can't believe they didn't have 'em at Home Depot. I'll look around next weekend I guess and see what I can find. Hey so how big are these bags? Do you have seams in the middle there and do they do anything to the image if they're there?

Don Kondra · Jul 19, 2008

Home Depot has up to 5500k twisty CF's and up to 40w.

I went to a lighting wholesaler to buy 65w'ers... $35 each at 4100k

I tried the halogen 500w work lights even with quartz bulbs but still ended up with "yellow" light and a fire hazard :meh:

Cheers, Don

Computer_Generated · Jul 19, 2008

yeah I'm gonna have to do some better searching I guess. That whole fire hazard always makes me nervous with my foam board light box lol!

Joves · Jul 19, 2008

What makes nice material for a light box is light duty white nylon. You can set your flashes outside and, shoot it that way. But there are a ton of ghetto setups at http://strobist.blogspot.com/ as was said. Just search for light tents/cubes.