How do i setup my lightbox ??

  • Thread starter Thread starter kinchy
  • Start date Start date
K

kinchy

Guest
I bought an 80cm lightbox from Ebay the otehr day and i relly want to be able to take some good photos in it, but am stumbling across some problems.

I bough this one :

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330145739173

I have got 2 x strip lamps from Argos (£15 each) and they attach to the table and produce some good light.

The problems i have are :

Where do i place the lights, at the side, on top etc ??
The material the lightbox is made of is very creased and this shows up in my photos. Is it best to use card or a mirror ?

Any help, pics, tips advice would be appreciated, then i can post some inanimate objects in my gallery

Ta
 
Can you position the lamps inside the box? If so it should blow out any creases and reflect the light back ont the subject. As for where to position them it totally depends on what you're lighting and how you want to light it.
 
Not really, depends whether you want diffused light or reflected light.
 
spannerdude said:
What are you photographing? Have you got an example?
Click to expand...

I have been photographing everything that wasnt nailed down. I got my better results from a vase of flowers, but cant get to my PC upstairs to upload them at the moment. Will be able to do it later.


I tended to get some better photos if ibought the vase close to the front meaning the backing was very blurred.
 
If you want the background darker so you can't see the crease move the subject as far away from the background as possible and as close to the light source as possible. If you want the background lighter move the subject closer to the background.
 
What effect are you trying to achieve? Isolated on white/black, reflected from below, narrow depth of field?
 
I want to create the effect of th item looking as if it is completely isolated.

just as a crude example, i found this on Flickr. If i tried to photograph that with that much background i would get creases all over the shop.

218832439_627eae412c.jpg


458232754_4e0e5d5a1d.jpg


I have had a bit more of a play and decided i need to iron the creases out of my sheet or use some card.

I will take some photos of the setup tomorrow and everyone can chiop in and give tips. It may turn out to be a thread i can relate to time and again if everyone throws tips in on how to make best use of a lightbox
 
I guess its a bit different on a white backdrop, but I've just spent 2 weeks photographing architectural models on black backgrounds.

Its mostly just a case of getting the object as far away as possible from the background, and ensuring that your depth of field is shallow enough that any creases in the background are completely out of focus.

I was using big sheets of cloth, attached to a wall and draping down over a table about 2/3m from the wall. I had to light from level/slightly below the table to make sure the cloth didn't show up around the bases of the models. Also shining the lights parallel(ish) to the back wall to ensure that light didn't fall on the backdrop.
 
Ah, now we are cooking. Try this:

Put your object bang in the middle of the light tent.
Set one light above the tent and slightly to the back of the object to light the backdrop.
Set the other lamp to the front and side of the tent to put the shadows where you need to emphasise the contours of the object.
Set your metering to spot and meter for the object. Set EV+ to move the histogram as close to the right as you can without washing out the object. Use Aperture priority with the widest aperture you can with enough DOF for your object, you need the background to be out of focus if you can. If you can't throw it out of focus it's not the end of the world, you can PP it.

It sounds like your lamps are a little mediocre, I use a couple of 500w daylight flourescent studio lamps so you might find that you need to use a tripod and cable release/self timer.

This should get you close to what you are after, perhaps close enough but if not I can maybe point you in the right direction regard PP too.
See how you get on.

Here's an example of how these settings work for me:
http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup.php?id=3722979
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top