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Photo Studio Light Box

Don Wattenhofer

Don Wattenhofer

Joined
Jul 19, 2018
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Location
Ponsford, MN
I have been thinking about purchasing one but would like to hear what the photographers in the group have to say. The majority of units that I have seen advertised have LED strip lights inside but there are some that have free standing lights aimed at the translucent side walls. So if you are interested enough Google PSLB and I will be glad to here your thoughts. The 2 things I want to eliminate are shadows and glare.
 
Could I discourage you from wanting to eliminate shadows and highlights? While harsh shadows and large blown-out highlights are bad news, you really do need shadows and highlights to give depth to an image. Eliminating shadows and highlights would result in a lower contrast image. Personally, I don't care for light tents/boxes. Here is the set up that I use.
 
We had John Vaeth this week at Hudson Valley Woodturners and he was excellent! A retired Kodak photographer is now a woodturner.

https://johnsdigitalsawdust.com/home He is also on instagram

In fact, to summarize his IRD, he recommends a simple solution for beginners of one light source @90 degrees and a reflector and Various backdrops.
I am currently searching for a softbox now on amazon. He highly recommended a 300 watt Feit 5000 degree light source bulb which is available at home depot which he installed in his softbox. https://www.homedepot.com/p/Feit-El...uW2lhz03QKetE_cJJSxoC7Q4QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
Hope this helps.

oops... I should have my coffee first before responding! Don't know how i missed that this post was 5 years old. I thought it was part of another current thread.
 
Dennis Weiner said:
oops... I should have my coffee first before responding! Don't know how i missed that this post was 5 years old. I thought it was part of another current thread.
Click to expand...

Not a problem, I moved your post back to this current discussion.
 
Free standing lights.
I have a photo tent & gradient background. The tent is limiting but does diffuse the light. Would rather not have the tent.
I take a lot of photos with various combinations of lights (I have overhead and left & right) and with natural light.
I think the majority of my best photos are take with natural light (non-direct). A bright but overcast day seems best.
 
I photographed artwork for 27 years. Light tents are not bad if you use external lights correctly. The setups they sell are terrible. I prefer one light above and forward as far as you can move it without casting raw light inside. Then a second light on one side. In most of my photos I now use one light in a softbox and position it for the best look of the piece and then a large reflector to fill in the shadows. I have written several articles for American Woodturner on this subject. You can search the back issues and find them. I also have several good handouts for my classes. Feel free to email me at johnclucas45@gmail.com and I will forward them to you.
 
john lucas said:
I photographed artwork for 27 years. Light tents are not bad if you use external lights correctly. The set ups the sell are terrible. I prefer one light above and forward as far as you can move it without casting raw light inside. Then a second light on one side. Most of my photos I do now use one light in a soft box and position it for the best look of the piece and then a large reflector to fill in the shadows. I have written several articles for American Woodturner on this subject. You can search the back issues and find them. I also have several good handouts for my classes. Feel free to email me at johnclucas45@gmail.com and I will forward them to you.
Click to expand...
I will check the back issues and thanks for offering the handouts. There are so many products online. A beginner would not know what to choose from what's currently offered. What softbox and reflector would you recommend today.
 

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Would someone please define "softbox".
Its a large, diffuse light source, typically rectangular, but can be any shape. its got a light source at the rear of the box with a diffusion scrim across the front to soften the light. They make soft edge shadows rather than the sharp edge shadows of a specular or point source light. the highlights are typically shaped like the diffuse panel on the front as well.
 
I bought a table top "light box" for about $70 on amazon. it was foldable and came with 4 led lights with desktop tripods. It was impossible to get out the wrinkles in the fabric and after trying many things I gave up. Then I came up with a simple solution that cost me less than $10 using some grey paper from a hobby store(or whatever color you choose) and some stands made from scrap 2x4's clamped to the bench. It takes longer to clear my bench than to set it up (a couple minutes). Although the lights from the light box are seen in the picture, I no longer use them. My media on AAW:

photography lighting.jpg
 
JeffSmith said:

​


Would someone please define "softbox".
Its a large, diffuse light source, typically rectangular, but can be any shape. its got a light source at the rear of the box with a diffusion scrim across the front to soften the light. They make soft edge shadows rather than the sharp edge shadows of a specular or point source light. the highlights are typically shaped like the diffuse panel on the front as well.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the definition, but could you also post a photo of the setup.
 
Don - There are as many ways to set up tabletop lighting for small products as there are photographers. Google is your friend, but so is John Lucas who has written several articles on the subject specifically for turners. He's always open to sharing his information.
I was a commercial studio photographer for many years and tend to use a single softbox suspended overhead and angled to the front with several reflectors to bounce fill light into the shadows. I've always been a one-light guy - even with a studio full of equipment it often came down to one light and reflectors when it came to products.
 
Don Wattenhofer said:
So if you are interested enough Google PSLB and I will be glad to here your thoughts.
Click to expand...

I Googled PSLB and while there were lots of hits there wasn't anything related to photography or lighting.

Here is a picture of a softbox on the B&H website. As JeffSmith indicated there are several softbox designs (rectangular, square, octagonal, etc).

Smith_Victor_408085_Economy_Softbox_1_Light_442910.jpg
 
I will be on the computer later today and try to answer some of the questions with photos. When I first started shooting artwork I had no skills and jewelry and glass fought me. I used the light tent set up. Pretty quickly I quit and went back to one main light with reflectors or sometimes second lights through panels or in soft boxes. The light tents leave the work looking too flat and kill the detail in texture. I do have a handout that shows some tricks for using a light tent. Give me a few hours and I will get on my computer and try to expand on this.
 
Here is my handout on little tricks to make a light tent work better. First off you need just 2 lights. Do not use those 2 lights that come with the tent and are set low and on the sides. That's horrible looking. Put one light above and forward. Then if needed add a second light but it should be further away or aimed less directly at the tent so that is not as bright as the main light. Then use black cards if needed to reduce the light on one side. You can add reflectors to fill in shadows. On bowls I will sometimes use a mirror on the front by the camera to bounce light back into the underside. If it's too bright use a white card or cardboard with krinkled aluminum foil.
 

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Don - I just reread your original post and noticed that you mention that your goal is to eliminate shadows and glare. This is the realm of the light tent where light is blasted in from all angles just to eliminate any shadows that may be cast by the lights. The result is often an image that is completely 2 dimensional and doesn't show the actual 3 dimensional form at all - there are competing (and confusing) highlights all over the place.
In reality, a good photo that shows the form to its best effect has shadows and highlights that bring the form out. The goal is to control the shadows and highlights to best show the piece. The absolute simplest way, as John has shown in his information is to use one main light - often from overhead or angled from the front/side and use reflectors to throw some of the light back into the shadow areas to lighten them slightly - but not to overcome them completely.
A few things that are often overlooked in the advise I've seen offered:
  • Keep the lighting simple usually one main light and a couple of reflectors is all that's needed. Black cards can remove light (highlights) where you don't want them.
  • Use the longest lens setting you can - a wide angle lens is NOT your best friend on the tabletop. Use a tripod to support the camera and keep it still.
  • Get the subject as far away from where the background goes vertical as possible. This allows you to light the background as a separate
  • Turn off any other lights in the room - cover the windows or wait until it's dark out if necessary. It's really difficult to see what the effect of your setup is if its competing with room lights or daylight from windows.
Take the time to make as many test shots as you need to get the image just the way you want it. Take a good look at them on a computer at a size that allows you to make some decisions on where you may need to add a little light (move in reflectors) or subtract a little light (put some black cards or flags in to kill reflections).

Sure, it takes a bit of time, but it only needs to be done once if you take a few notes on your best setup. It does become second nature once you figure out what the reflectors are doing and where the main light is best positioned.
 
I taught using a styrofoam cooler to shoot jewelry and pens. You can put a background in it. I wrote an article for American Woidturner where I showed using the cooler.
 
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