Light Tents

Messiah Khan · 13 Jun 2007 at 23:03

Looks pretty good unknowndomain. you may have already mentioned it, but what lights are you using there?

unknowndomain · 13 Jun 2007 at 23:20

3 x 65 watt nulights (as linked above - would say that the link is bad above go to their main site)

The total output of the 3 lights are equivalent to 325 watts of a standard bulb and there is another light for highlighting the subject.

They are just plugged into basic table lights, I intend to create reflectors to bounce the light going in the wrong direction back inward.

I can't justify the expenditure of a proper set up considering I don't get to do much photography whilst at Uni so its a summer thing for the time being.

Bolerus · 14 Jun 2007 at 00:43

the one i use at work was even cheaper

I made it myself

cut all the sides out of a cardboard box, covered the sides with greaseproof paper (i think 4 layers was what seemed to work just about) stuck to the carboard and other sheets with double sided tape

for the inside i cut some material that my missus had no use for and was goign to throw out.

bobs your uncles next door neighbours sister. a fully functional lightbox and no risk of any body snagging my credit card details

total price .. about £3

Messiah Khan · 14 Jun 2007 at 08:50

Bolerus said:
the one i use at work was even cheaper

I made it myself

cut all the sides out of a cardboard box, covered the sides with greaseproof paper (i think 4 layers was what seemed to work just about) stuck to the carboard and other sheets with double sided tape

for the inside i cut some material that my missus had no use for and was goign to throw out.

bobs your uncles next door neighbours sister. a fully functional lightbox and no risk of any body snagging my credit card details

total price .. about £3

Thats how I made mine. but I sort of underestimated the size of box I needed, as its now barely big enough for me to fit my hands into to move the subject, lol. Cost me £0 though.

SteveOBHave · 14 Jun 2007 at 09:05

unknowndomain said:
What are you referring to when yo say blown out what is the background the subject?

Sorry - to explain myself:

Blown out I mean over exposed - too much light so you have lost some of the detail of the subjects (what you're takeing a photo of) i.e. the apple is so bright on the edges that you loose some detail.

My impression of what you desire from a light tent is controlled lighting to eliminate unwanted shadows and reflections - IMO (and it is only my opinion) you have a little too much light.

Please take my comments with a grain of salt - they are only an opinion/observation and I'm trying to be constructive.

This is the result I am thinking of:

SteveOBHave · 14 Jun 2007 at 09:16

As an aside (not sure if I can post these)

Link to buying two desk lamps with clamps for £20 plus £7.99 P&H

unknowndomain · 14 Jun 2007 at 10:25

SteveOBHave said:
Sorry - to explain myself:

Blown out I mean over exposed - too much light so you have lost some of the detail of the subjects (what you're takeing a photo of) i.e. the apple is so bright on the edges that you loose some detail.

My impression of what you desire from a light tent is controlled lighting to eliminate unwanted shadows and reflections - IMO (and it is only my opinion) you have a little too much light.

Please take my comments with a grain of salt - they are only an opinion/observation and I'm trying to be constructive.

This is the result I am thinking of:

I need to have a mess about. Its kind of a game of experimentation to see what works best, I used to use a light table with an infinity curve when I was doing a level photography and we would light to subject with 2 lights and illuminate the white plastic with another 2 lights, using a bowens quadx system it was very easy to setup so you didnt get the fringe overexposed because you could adjust the amount of light from each head seperatly at 1/4 stops i think.

Amp34 · 14 Jun 2007 at 13:01

unknowndomain said:
I need to have a mess about. Its kind of a game of experimentation to see what works best, I used to use a light table with an infinity curve when I was doing a level photography and we would light to subject with 2 lights and illuminate the white plastic with another 2 lights, using a bowens quadx system it was very easy to setup so you didnt get the fringe overexposed because you could adjust the amount of light from each head seperatly at 1/4 stops i think.

I actually quite like the over exposed look of the first couple of pictures, it makes them look dreamy and works well with the subjects you used.

On the other hand I also like SteveOBHave's whose photos are more likely to be in an advert.

At the end of the day I suppose it all depends on what you are aiming for and what you are photographing.

SteveOBHave · 14 Jun 2007 at 13:23

Amp34 said:
I actually quite like the over exposed look of the first couple of pictures, it makes them look dreamy and works well with the subjects you used.

On the other hand I also like SteveOBHave's whose photos are more likely to be in an advert.

At the end of the day I suppose it all depends on what you are aiming for and what you are photographing.

heh - I should've stated - Nicked from Flickr. Not mine - I don't have my lamps yet.

adamph · 14 Jun 2007 at 16:16

I like the apple and the can of coke close up, I tried to lookup the EXIF information to see the focal length you had used but it wasnt recorded. I don't suppose you remember off hand do you?

unknowndomain · 14 Jun 2007 at 16:39

I don't know sorry its on my D70 using an old old lens, in macro mode, if it helps i was at 85 mm in macro mode about 4/5 inches away.

MrSix · 14 Jun 2007 at 19:30

I made myself a light tent out of four sheets of A4 paper and got this:

Lit with a single strobe fired in to the roof of the 'tent'.

unknowndomain · 14 Jun 2007 at 20:43

Pretty good tbh!

I also happened to have laying around a sheet of A3 acrylic sheeting which is transparent which I have used to create reflections.

NorthstaNder · 14 Jun 2007 at 23:22

These photo's are excellent and exactly what I am trying to achieve with my light tent when I'm photographing my eBay stuff.

I'm struggling with getting the nice crisp white backgrounds though. I only have 2 lamps and they are only 50w halogen spots.

unknowndomain · 14 Jun 2007 at 23:24

NorthstaNder said:
These photo's are excellent and exactly what I am trying to achieve with my light tent when I'm photographing my eBay stuff.

I'm struggling with getting the nice crispt white backgrounds though. I only have 2 lamps and they are only 50w halogen spots.

You need much more light, mine are only slightly over exposed with full day light on a sunny day and 975w of light beaming down from 3 lamps.

NorthstaNder · 14 Jun 2007 at 23:27

unknowndomain said:
You need much more light, mine are only slightly over exposed with full day light on a sunny day and 975w of light beaming down from 3 lamps.

Heck, that's a lot of light! Shame I can't seem to find anything more powerfull than 50W spots. I'll have to look for some angle poise lamps and some big old 100W bulbs at least I think.

unknowndomain · 14 Jun 2007 at 23:32

If you re read the article you'll see that they mention the lights I bought recently, 3 of these with edison es27 screw fit bulbs and 3 angle poise lamps for es27 should be cool. Make sure you get the right price, I was 2 times over charged by the guy the postage was over charged it was £2.50 for 1 bulb + £1 per bulb (£4.50) he charged me £5.75. Also the lights were priced incorrectly in the link on this forum they are meant to be £11~ ea when they were £14~ ea on my order. Nice guy fast service he has/is refunding me for errors, I guess its just a one off as he noticed the errors not me and alerted me to the fact.

SteveOBHave · 15 Jun 2007 at 06:53

Angle Poise lamps 2 for £20.99 LINKY