Light/Photo Tent.

[NikGrey]

I am about to probably build One but was after advice here first.

I see photo tents on a popular auction site for no money, they are just white sheets on a frame it seems - with daylight lamps either side. with different coloured backdrops.


There must be more to it than that though - I have seen the L-Boxes too, corrugated boxes with CFL tubes in.

Anyone built their own? I do have a sewing machine and a load of Big welding rods I dont have the power to use so could knock the Flux off of those to use for a frame !

Just after pointers really before I begin.

[pisquee]

We use one of those light tent kits for our small product photography (with some additional lights) and have one of the bigger tents that we use outdoors for larger products.

Material you use needs to let light through, but diffused. the lights need to have white light, rather than yellow, and be very bright.

[Paul]

lights will give you bad colour balance and backgrounds are probably useless to you any way...

http://strobist.blogspot.co.uk/2006/07/ ... tudio.html

[pisquee]

...Yeah, you'll only really want the white background, and maybe the black.
What camera do you have?

[NikGrey]

I'm going to try the system from that Blog Post Paul posted - with Tissue paper first, my Daylight Lamp from above will be my first light source for this..

I can adjust the output of my flash and change its angle but I cant remove it (and no hot foot) - its a Samsung WB250f Smart Camera.

Let the project begin

[funkey monkey]

I bought one of these http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B006 ... e=&seller= for my Nikon D3200 DSLR camera at the start of the year and for £32 which was cheap and does the job for taking photo's of smaller items like Mugs, Slates, Phone covers and so on.

But what I would advise is buy some better branded bulbs like Phillips from B&Q or Wickes! but for the price it does come in very handy and is quick to setup and take down with another plus of being portable and doesn't need a lot of space to store when not in use.

[pisquee]

Having a camera where you can have proper manual control helps a lot to get decent shots, especially white background shots, with very little editing in Photoshop.
Although do note that there does seem to be a trend away from purely white background shots, unless you are submitting images to press. although products look nice and clean, they are also a bit sterile, and people prefer see things in a more real life way - so white shots along with more styled shots seems to be where things are moving.

[guarddog14]

i have the same one as funky monkey it arrived this morning , seems good for the price

[funkey monkey]

i have the same one as funky monkey it arrived this morning , seems good for the price

Don't forget to get better bulbs the ones with it are not up to the job.

[arthur.daley]

At last, something I know about! 20 odd years as a photographer finally coming in handy!

You will need to be able to set shutter and aperture manually to do any of this with a degree of control rather than random hit and miss exposures! Ideally you also need to be able to set the white balance or set a custom white balance rather than rely on AUTO.

If you can control the white balance on your camera or better still set a custom white balance you can get away with almost any light sources - just don't use mixed light sources.

If you want cheap, cheerful and effective get yourself some 150w or maybe 300w (might be a bit over powerful) tungsten halogen floodlights (used as garden lights, security lights, car park lights etc) and set a custom white balance or failing that tungsten balance - picture of a light bulb. They are good and bright but a tad hot! You really need a pair of them to use with a light tent. If you have a half decent photo editor - Photoshop Elements will do just fine, it doesn't matter if the photos have a little bit of a colour cast as you can filter it out in your photo editor.

I'd look at

http://www.viewfinderphotography.co.uk/ ... -Cube.html - if you can, it easier take the front off and use it as an open faced cube instead of shooting through the slit if using a compact camera.

or

http://www.viewfinderphotography.co.uk/light-pod/

They are more expensive than most of the ebay offerings but then again they are much better made and bigger.

Of course you would still need to cobble something together to hold the lights in place - the tubes have to be kept horizontal in use and don't like being banged around too much when they are on! A pair of G clamps and the backs of two dining chairs are ideal ;o)

Nick - I know you like to make stuff but by the time you have faffed about it would be easier and much quicker to buy a cube etc.

If you weren't 90 miles away I'd come round and show you how its done.

Arthur