Light Tent Set Up

[Tinysd]

I have received many pm's asking what I am using, so I took some quick photos of what I use.

Coop has an awesome set up and thread for his $75 tent. No frills tent.
I learned a lot from reading that thread.

This is what I use for some of the smaller items. You can shoot through the hole and the light bounces off the front cover.


With the front cover off is how it is used the most.


The lights are hardware store clamp on with daylight bulbs.


Some of you were worried about room. This is the folding tent in it's case. I got it for about $30 on ebay.


Out of the case.


Opened and ready for use.


The backgrounds on the right came with the tent. I got the material on the left from Walmart.


I keep them hanging from these pant hangers to keep the wrinkles out.


A piece of the white board I use to direct light where I want it. Only a couple of bucks at the art supply store.


My tripod is a Manfrotto with a grip action ball head. It has a quick release mount that stays attached to the camera which allows easy set up.


If you have any tips or have some pictures of what you use, please add them to this thread.

Thanks.

[inkster]

Awesome post Thank you I just don't know where to put the lights

[Tinysd]

Awesome post Thank you I just don't know where to put the lights

You have to move them around until the light is where you want it. Well, that is what I do.

[inkster]

Can you come over and help me? I get worse with every photo.

[Lemmy]

That sure is a nice, clean garage!

[GODDESS OF VENGEANCE]

YAY, Tiny!
Lookin' forward to seein' more pics from Tiny & Devilz!

[inkster]

More photo's please

[Iceman]

what kind of camera are you using?

[willhunt]

Here is my current setup. Just some white poster board cut out to shape, with a frosted panel out of a flourescent light fixture, as a diffuser. My lights are some old Smith/Victor incandescents. A decent tripod, and use your 10 second delay shutter timer (if your camera has one) to avoid any camera shake. Maybe also a small mirror or another piece of white poster board to place in front of the knife for some fill light.
I must say too, that Photoshop, or any of the many photo editing software available, should be a part of your digital photography set-up. Photos taken with even the most expensive camera/lighting set-ups can be dramatically enhanced with it.
This set-up, with my older Canon G-5, took this pic of my BRKT Canadian Sportsman. With some tweaking in Photoshop.

[Tinysd]

Nice! I need to get some real lights.

[willhunt]

Not at all, Tinysd. I think your pics are outstanding with your current set-up.
I picked these lights up real cheap, and yes they work OK, but I have read about some newer daylight light balanced bulbs that you can put in very inexpensive fixtures, and get great results.

I guess what I'm saying is that I don't think you need to spend a ton of money on lights/camera/lightbox to get some very nice photos.

And I thank you for starting this thread. Photography is a passion of mine, and it's always a good thing to see what kind of set-ups and combinations that others use.

Please keep'em coming.

[Tinysd]

I would be nice to have the stands instead of clipping one to my bikes brake lever or a ladder.

[RoadFish]

Tiny - If you want stands for your clip on lights, I found that for static, low level shots, old tripods or music stands work fine. That is what I used for shots in my TCF days at San Diego State. The best part was that I was able to "borrow" the stands from the Music Department......


Question. I don't have a very good electronic camera, so I don't know if with better cameras you have to deal with f stops and such as we did with film. Do you shoot on automatic? Do you measure exposure and balance your key and fill lighting ratios with a meter? I still have my old Sekonic Studio Deluxe meter, would it be useful if I had a better camera?

[GODDESS OF VENGEANCE]

More photo's please

[willhunt]

Here is another type of setup someone could make themselves. I'm thinking of building one myself.