New Photo Setup

[Paul Tarlow]

I invested some time and $ this weekend into a better photo setup. I used the plans that are located here:

http://www.pbase.com/wlhuber/light_box

The only thing I changed was I made it bigger (mine is about 30 inches in each directions). I'm using "Daylight" halogens. The whole deal (pvc, lights, bulbs, sheet and backdrop paper) ran me about $150. Almost $50 of that was for the 5 bulbs I'm using.

The camera is a Nikon 5700 digital.

You can see the results here:

http://www.pbase.com/tarlow/photo_setup_test

Click any of the four thumbnails.

- Paul

[Nickie Jordan]

Thank you for imparting such great information - your work is wonderful !
- Nickie

[Brian]

Nice, simple setup. Three suggestions:

1. Use a polarizing filter to reduce or eliminate the glare.

2. Move the piece being photographed farther from the background or use a larger aperture (i.e., smaller f-stop number) or both with the objective of letting the background go out of focus (so the creases in the paper are less apparent).

3. Lay something opaque (e.g., black paper, foamboard) across the top rear of the lightbox to cast a shadow down the background. This will give you the graded (darker at top) background common in product photography.

Lovely work.

[Paul Tarlow]

Nice, simple setup. Three suggestions:

1. Use a polarizing filter to reduce or eliminate the glare.

2. Move the piece being photographed farther from the background or use a larger aperture (i.e., smaller f-stop number) or both with the objective of letting the background go out of focus (so the creases in the paper are less apparent).

3. Lay something opaque (e.g., black paper, foamboard) across the top rear of the lightbox to cast a shadow down the background. This will give you the graded (darker at top) background common in product photography.

Lovely work.

I knew about the polarizing filter and adjusting the depth of field. I never would have thought to put that shadow behind the piece -- that's a great, simple tip.

Thanks!

- Paul

[dee]

I invested some time and $ this weekend into a better photo setup. I used the plans that are located here:

http://www.pbase.com/wlhuber/light_box

The only thing I changed was I made it bigger (mine is about 30 inches in each directions). I'm using "Daylight" halogens. The whole deal (pvc, lights, bulbs, sheet and backdrop paper) ran me about $150. Almost $50 of that was for the 5 bulbs I'm using.

The camera is a Nikon 5700 digital.

You can see the results here:

http://www.pbase.com/tarlow/photo_setup_test

Click any of the four thumbnails.

- Paul

lol looks very similar to what my husband made - one thing i have different which i have found works well for jewelry - we put a piece of the metal shelving available at lowe's/home depot accross the top - using small s hooks you can hang jewelry from it to get a full frontal view.....

D

[Lisa Allen]

Paul-
Wow, what a difference a good photo setup makes! I absolutely love Untitled#1. You new direction is really wonderful and these new pics showcase your work beautifully. Kudos!

Lisa

[Claudia Whitten]

Paul,


Thank you for sharing. I like your new work, Your going in some interesting directions with it....
I see you use the holegen bulbs, knowing that they get hot. I was wondering if your Lamps are all metal. I had a blue photo bulb in a metal lamp with a ceramic base , go flying across the room. The heat broke the bulb and the gas propelled it. It was a great surprise to me, as it flew by my face. Are you lamps all metal with metal base?
I assume that you did not have to do any adjusting in your photo shop.
The thumbnails looked dark, but when inlarged looked fine. Why did you use a black drop, had you tried a grey to see if it showed the work better.
Just wanted to know if you did a compare on the two.........Claudia

[Suzan]

Hi Paul!

Thanks for this. I have been trying to buy a light box from a store that keeps forgetting to place the order!

Did you need to do any editing in order to get the objects to appear cut out and placed on a uniform background, or were they shot against the same colour background as on the web page?

Cheers,
Suzan

[Paul Tarlow]

Paul,


Thank you for sharing. I like your new work, Your going in some interesting directions with it....
I see you use the holegen bulbs, knowing that they get hot. I was wondering if your Lamps are all metal. I had a blue photo bulb in a metal lamp with a ceramic base , go flying across the room. The heat broke the bulb and the gas propelled it. It was a great surprise to me, as it flew by my face. Are you lamps all metal with metal base?
I assume that you did not have to do any adjusting in your photo shop.
The thumbnails looked dark, but when inlarged looked fine. Why did you use a black drop, had you tried a grey to see if it showed the work better.
Just wanted to know if you did a compare on the two.........Claudia

Thanks Claudia

The lamps are metal and plastic -- really just $10 desk lamps. The hotter of the halogen lights I'm using are 75W floods. The lamps are rated for 60W. Given the lamps "shade" is metal, I'm only a few watt over, the flood is directional -- outward from the light and they are never on when I'm not around I'm not too concerned.

- Paul

[Paul Tarlow]

Hi Paul!

Thanks for this. I have been trying to buy a light box from a store that keeps forgetting to place the order!

Did you need to do any editing in order to get the objects to appear cut out and placed on a uniform background, or were they shot against the same colour background as on the web page?

Cheers,
Suzan

I made very few changes in Photoshop. I tweaked color balance and levels (globally for the entire photo - no selectively for parts) and cropped.

I've been able to find limited colored matte paper (that's large enough) for the background. Michael's had colored craft paper that works very nicely. I've got black, pale tan and white (probably too harsh to use). I still need to find some gray.

- Paul

[Susan Moore]

Paul,

Thanks for the photo setup info. I like Untitled No. 1 very much and I like saying "Tabella Della Stella". It's going to be stuck in my head for days and days.

Susan