Photographic Light Tent for Diffuse Lighting

[reeljohn2]

I am looking for information regarding a source of good portable light cube diffusers for taking photographs of reels. As I remember, Stu Lawson had one at the national which seemed quite nice and sold for less than $100 with the lights. What do you recommend? Thanks for your help

[Steve]

John, we had some discussion on light tents before:
http://reeltalk.orcaonline.org/viewtopic.php?t=3184
There are a few small LT's on the market, which you can find by googling. Cheap as I am, I still use a couple of 5000K fluorescent bulbs, diffusing when needed with tissue paper. Our local camera store advertised a tent recently (I forget the brand), and after viewing it, I felt the ca. $100 price was too high. Most of the cost probably went into the two small "daylight" lamps that came with the tent. But if portability counts, the tents are handy.

Anyway, to answer your question:
EZcube, Cloud Dome, ImageMaker brands come to mind.

[Dr. Rob]

Large translucent tupperware tubs from walmart. Use whatever lighting you want and put the tub over the subject.

[Tony Malatesta]

Along the same lines as Dr. Rob. Simply place any piece of opaque plastic over the flash on the camera that you are presently using. You may have to try a few differant pieces to come to the right thickness. You didin't say what kind of camera you are using, but if it has an auxillary attachment for a flash, simply by a cheap flash($60-$70) with a tilt head and always point it up so the light bounces of a wall or what ever back drop you are using , and not directly on to the shinny surface of the reel. This principle of photograghy holds true for any subject that you are shooting at close ranges. Hope this helps.

[Ron Mc]

split a milk jug in half - plenty big enough for macros - as long as your light source is larger than your subject.