tent lighting

[garygruber]

Learning to light can be a very difficult challenge. I've been at it well over 50 years now and have found a remarkably simple solution that can yield extraordinary results. Being good with my hands, I constructed a 6' x 6' x 6' frame from PVC pipe and drape surplus parachute material over it. You can use a tent like this outside with no additional hardware, or inside with only a single strobe. This image was done with a single, very old Norman 2000ws unit. It was shot on a Mamiya RZ-67.

If you look at the catch light in the eyes you can see where the strobe was positioned outside the tent.

 

[Jeff15]

Hello and welcome. A very nice shot....

 

[smoke665]

Good morning and welcome. Nice shot. You can get to big with your light source.........said no one ever! One of my favorite modifiers is a 72" brolly with diffusion. The soft light from it, as in your method really brings out the micro transitions, and helps diffuse any specular highlights.

 

[JBPhotog]

Good project and nice to have in the lighting arsenal.

What you have built is commonly called a scrim. They have been around forever and are quite common in film work to light large ares of soft light. Still photog's also use them and a number of manufacturers have ready made solutions too.

 

[cgw]

Yup, giant diffused light sources are fun.

 

[garygruber]

Good project and nice to have in the lighting arsenal.

What you have built is commonly called a scrim. They have been around forever and are quite common in film work to light large ares of soft light. Still photog's also use them and a number of manufacturers have ready made solutions too.

No, it is not a scrim. It is tent lighting (which was popularized by Irving Penn in his book "World's in a Small Room"). I worked in the video field back in the 80's -- helped make some of the earliest MTV videos. A scrim is simply a diffuser that is placed in front of a light on a light stand. A tent is a tent.

While technically my tent is a diffusing element, it is not a scrim. By enclosing the subject on all sides, the light bounces around adding fill almost evenly. You can use black sheets of fabric on the inside walls to create a negative lighting effect, absorbing rather than bouncing the light in that direction.

F-111 parachute material is the only practical material to use for one of these tents -- I know because I also spent 20+ years skydiving. F-111 was made obsolete about 15 years ago and is very hard to find. I was lucky to buy out the last I could find on eBay many years ago.

I used translucent scrims for group portraits, they were very popular in the late 70's through 90's. If you can find the fold up variety I'd suggest grabbing them, because the company that used to make the best ones (plastic frames that folded up very nicely for storage and transportation went out of business nearly 20 years ago.

 

[smoke665]

@garygruber glad you clarified, because I misread the OP as well, assuming it was a scrim. I've never used a tent enclosing the whole subject....might be something to experiment with.

They are kind of a PITA but I have 2 sets of V-flats (2 hinged 4x8 sheets of plywood) one side painted white, the other black. Bouncing a strobe off the white side gives a nice big wrap around soft light. I create a similar negative effect by reversing the V-flat.