Thanks for any information.
Dale
Photo Shooting Tent
Photo Shooting Tent
Does anyone have any suggestions on how these tents work for photographing reels?
Thanks for any information.
Dale
Thanks for any information.
Dale
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Harvey
- Super Board Poster
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Dale,
I think somewhere on Mike Ecols/Gabby's page there are some tips on how to photograph lures. (www.antiquelures.com) I guess it would work for reels also
I use a styrofoam cooler with a light in the top. Here are some examples of what they look like.
http://orcaonline.org/images/pixel.gif? ... nreels.htm
I am sure with a little practice, you could bo better. Steve, ya know, the Vernon guy, swears by black and white. That does do the item justice and also makes it look older. (I always have my picture taken in COLOR just for that reason)
"H"
I think somewhere on Mike Ecols/Gabby's page there are some tips on how to photograph lures. (www.antiquelures.com) I guess it would work for reels also
I use a styrofoam cooler with a light in the top. Here are some examples of what they look like.
http://orcaonline.org/images/pixel.gif? ... nreels.htm
I am sure with a little practice, you could bo better. Steve, ya know, the Vernon guy, swears by black and white. That does do the item justice and also makes it look older. (I always have my picture taken in COLOR just for that reason)
"H"
Light tents have several advantages. They diffuse the light, cutting those awful reflections you get from shiny metal. They minimize those dark reflections of the room from shiny, flat surfaces. They're very convenient for shooting stuff away from home, since they're easy to carry.
I've never bothered buying one because it's easy enough to build your own equivalent. I use a box-like frame made of aluminum. The sides and top are covered with glossy white art paper, and the background, made of the same paper, hangs down in the back and curves gently to provide the floor. The frame folds for easy portability. I use daylight-balanced, compact fluorescent lights, and if I need diffusers, I can drape tissue paper over the bulbs.
BTW, Harvey, I haven't used black-and-white for half a decade. Digital cameras plus Photoshop made color photgraphy infinitely easier, and you can convert to black and white with a couple of mouse clicks. If you want, email some black and white portraits of yourself (daguerreotypes?), and I'll "iron" your face in Photoshop.
I've never bothered buying one because it's easy enough to build your own equivalent. I use a box-like frame made of aluminum. The sides and top are covered with glossy white art paper, and the background, made of the same paper, hangs down in the back and curves gently to provide the floor. The frame folds for easy portability. I use daylight-balanced, compact fluorescent lights, and if I need diffusers, I can drape tissue paper over the bulbs.
BTW, Harvey, I haven't used black-and-white for half a decade. Digital cameras plus Photoshop made color photgraphy infinitely easier, and you can convert to black and white with a couple of mouse clicks. If you want, email some black and white portraits of yourself (daguerreotypes?), and I'll "iron" your face in Photoshop.
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el Lawrence
- Advanced Board Poster
- Posts: 314
- Joined: Sun Oct 12, 2003 12:19 pm
- Location: The TEXAS Hillcountry...
the Styrofoam cooler is great idea... I have also seen a LARGE tupperware type mixing bowl (the translucent variety) with hole cut for camera to look into... place on white paper, shine lights through the translucent material for diffusion. Drape with white cloth for lighter background. Works well for smaller reels and lures... I imagine some of the big storage units with translucent sides would work pretty well too... you might have a few lines if corners are really defined but a white cloth draped on the outside should help too... you will have to put the lights up pretty close to this in order to have them shine through but it DOES take care of unwanted reflections.
By the way... if you don't have a professional light kit you will do well to invest in TUNGSTON bulbs and a few of those clip on lights with alum. reflectors from the hardware store. Tungston bulbs that just screw in like regular light bulbs have a cleaner "white" light... not yellow like most light bulbs are (not sure what the new "True Light" etc. bulbs shoot like... maybe they ARE tungston ) This will help get that brassy look out of the photos... aside from that shooting in natural sunlight is good color-wise.
If your camera has a built in flash experiment with turning it off, or drape a thin tissue over the flash so it doesn't cause bright spots.
GO to a camera store and look at the pro tents... you will see how it works and that you can make something similar pretty easy.
By the way... if you don't have a professional light kit you will do well to invest in TUNGSTON bulbs and a few of those clip on lights with alum. reflectors from the hardware store. Tungston bulbs that just screw in like regular light bulbs have a cleaner "white" light... not yellow like most light bulbs are (not sure what the new "True Light" etc. bulbs shoot like... maybe they ARE tungston ) This will help get that brassy look out of the photos... aside from that shooting in natural sunlight is good color-wise.
If your camera has a built in flash experiment with turning it off, or drape a thin tissue over the flash so it doesn't cause bright spots.
GO to a camera store and look at the pro tents... you will see how it works and that you can make something similar pretty easy.
The "brassy" look in a lot of reel pics is caused by tungsten bulbs, which usually emit with a color temperature of 2700K to 3500K or so. In other words, the light they give off is on the yellow side (warm). Some tungsten bulbs are available now with somewhat higher color temps, but I haven't found any yet that match the 5000K-5500K range, which is about what you find in bright sunlight at noon, and which is fine for shooting reels. "Full spectrum" bulbs, used in those over-hyped light fixtures, emit at either 5000K or 6500K, which is also considered "sunlight" but which I've found is too blue (cool) for reel photography. Some of the blue tungsten bulbs (GE Reveal, et al.) emit at temps over 4000K, but they still have the major disadvantage of emitting a lot of heat, too.
There are lots of compact fluorescent bulbs that emit at 5000K and screw into the same sockets as regular household tungsten bulbs (medium screw base). I've found some occasionally at places like Home Depot, but if you want brighter bulbs, you may have to buy them online. I think a pair of 26W bulbs is about minimum for this sort of thing, and if you're illuminating through a plastic light box, like the ones el suggested, you'll probably want to go to 32W or higher.
This site has info on color, bulbs, etc.: http://www.energyfederation.org/consume ... 1636e85d7c
If you google for "compact fluorescent bulb", you'll find other sources.
There are lots of compact fluorescent bulbs that emit at 5000K and screw into the same sockets as regular household tungsten bulbs (medium screw base). I've found some occasionally at places like Home Depot, but if you want brighter bulbs, you may have to buy them online. I think a pair of 26W bulbs is about minimum for this sort of thing, and if you're illuminating through a plastic light box, like the ones el suggested, you'll probably want to go to 32W or higher.
This site has info on color, bulbs, etc.: http://www.energyfederation.org/consume ... 1636e85d7c
If you google for "compact fluorescent bulb", you'll find other sources.
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el Lawrence
- Advanced Board Poster
- Posts: 314
- Joined: Sun Oct 12, 2003 12:19 pm
- Location: The TEXAS Hillcountry...
Steve...
Good info... worth noting that in pro photo situations we usually don't leave the lights burning for long so the heat isn't a big factor. Set up the shot, turn on the lights and give a look to see if anything needs to be moved. Lights off for any repositioning... back on only for the shot. Then off again. On our pro light kits we use a slave that pops the lights at the same time the flash goes so they are on for an instant (not practical on a "home-brew" version as you wouldn't have the power packs to get the bulbs fired up fast enough) just turn them off when you are not shooting. And take time between shots to let the set cool off if it seems hot.
When we shot jewelry through a plexi dome, yeah the lights are right up on it... just be careful if you use Tupperware rather than professional plexiglass for this... it works pretty well considering the cost vs working with the plexi. You can also build a decent set box out of foam core or Gator board that is the size you might need.
I have a open sided foam core box I drape a sheet inside of (so I get the seamless backdrop effect) I use outside in a pinch. Works very well and you don't have to fool with lights. Put another white card or sheet of foam core behind the camera and use a cable release when you shoot to cut out most reflections (if you make a lens size hole in a white card you will only have the lens refecting in the shot).
Just a little fooling around with it and you can get pretty pro looking results at the hobby level of cost.
Good info... worth noting that in pro photo situations we usually don't leave the lights burning for long so the heat isn't a big factor. Set up the shot, turn on the lights and give a look to see if anything needs to be moved. Lights off for any repositioning... back on only for the shot. Then off again. On our pro light kits we use a slave that pops the lights at the same time the flash goes so they are on for an instant (not practical on a "home-brew" version as you wouldn't have the power packs to get the bulbs fired up fast enough) just turn them off when you are not shooting. And take time between shots to let the set cool off if it seems hot.
When we shot jewelry through a plexi dome, yeah the lights are right up on it... just be careful if you use Tupperware rather than professional plexiglass for this... it works pretty well considering the cost vs working with the plexi. You can also build a decent set box out of foam core or Gator board that is the size you might need.
I have a open sided foam core box I drape a sheet inside of (so I get the seamless backdrop effect) I use outside in a pinch. Works very well and you don't have to fool with lights. Put another white card or sheet of foam core behind the camera and use a cable release when you shoot to cut out most reflections (if you make a lens size hole in a white card you will only have the lens refecting in the shot).
Just a little fooling around with it and you can get pretty pro looking results at the hobby level of cost.
el,
Also good info. Nobody likes "hobby level" costs more than I do. When I first starting shooting these things in black-and-white, I built my own ring light, which used a circular fluorescent bulb to get fairly shadowless pics. Back then, I did my own printing.
Never liked using flash, slaves, etc., because you can't be sure what the final results will be until the picture's taken. Ergo, for digital color, I use an old "movie light" fixture that I got for about $3 once at a flea market. It sits on a tripod, has two flexible arms that each extend about 20" from the center, and each arm has two light sockets. It's wide enough and flexible enough to light from the top, sides, or through the sides of a translucent plastic light tent. The camera, of course, is also on a tripod, usually in front of the lights.
Almost all my shots are taken using macro focusing, so the camera, the lights, my hands, and my eyeballs are all fairly close together. Tungsten lighting was uncomfortably warm, so gaping at the viewfinder while adjusting the subject was a hassle. Worse, the hot lights heated up the camera and its battery, and even the reels got warm. Switching to fluorescents vastly improved the color balance and virtually eliminated the heat problem. The cooler lighting even made diffusion easier. When I need it, I can drape white tissue paper over the bulbs without worrying about when it will ignite. This system doesn't require switching lights on and off, so repositioning goes quickly.
When everything has been adjusted, I shoot using the camera's timer and rush back to post stuff on Reel Talk while the camera does its work.
Also good info. Nobody likes "hobby level" costs more than I do. When I first starting shooting these things in black-and-white, I built my own ring light, which used a circular fluorescent bulb to get fairly shadowless pics. Back then, I did my own printing.
Never liked using flash, slaves, etc., because you can't be sure what the final results will be until the picture's taken. Ergo, for digital color, I use an old "movie light" fixture that I got for about $3 once at a flea market. It sits on a tripod, has two flexible arms that each extend about 20" from the center, and each arm has two light sockets. It's wide enough and flexible enough to light from the top, sides, or through the sides of a translucent plastic light tent. The camera, of course, is also on a tripod, usually in front of the lights.
Almost all my shots are taken using macro focusing, so the camera, the lights, my hands, and my eyeballs are all fairly close together. Tungsten lighting was uncomfortably warm, so gaping at the viewfinder while adjusting the subject was a hassle. Worse, the hot lights heated up the camera and its battery, and even the reels got warm. Switching to fluorescents vastly improved the color balance and virtually eliminated the heat problem. The cooler lighting even made diffusion easier. When I need it, I can drape white tissue paper over the bulbs without worrying about when it will ignite. This system doesn't require switching lights on and off, so repositioning goes quickly.
When everything has been adjusted, I shoot using the camera's timer and rush back to post stuff on Reel Talk while the camera does its work.