Inexpensive home made lighting setup

Baz777

Baz777

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Name
Barry
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I wanted a lighting setup for flower studies for my website and came up with the following:


Main Box
1. A4 copy paper box.
2. Cut out front of box.
3. Cover sides with white card/paper, sellotape into position.
4. Rear of box is your background colour, I generally use black card.

Picture of main box

mainlightbox.jpg



Base
1. Cut from lid of A4 copy paper box.
2. Cover with Baco Foil, sellotaped into position.
3. Note angled piece at front, this surprisingly does reflect additional light onto the subject.

I made the base separate as the foil may get damaged and will be easier to replace. I also want to try different reflective media, gold foil etc, to see what affects this may have on the lighting.

Picture of Base

base.jpg



Flower Holder
1. I glued together 3 metal finishes samples to form the base, (obtained from work). Whatever you use needs to have some weight to it to make it stable.
2. Black tube, cut down body of plastic propelling pencil, approximately 50mm high. I specifically wanted black as that is my main background colour.
3. Super glue tube to base.

Picture of Flower Holder

plantholder.jpg



Picture of Assembly

assembly.jpg



The only real financial outlay has been on the card bought from W H Smith.
25 A4 sheets Black, £2.99
25 A4 Sheets White, £2.99
25 A4 Sheets various colours, (red, green, purple, yellow etc.), £2.99

Everything else I either had or was kindly donated by the company I work for.


I position the box under a table lamp, 40W bulb.

All photographs are taken late evening whereby the table lamp is the only light source.

Tripod and cable release are essential, (or timer on camera if you don’t have a cable release), as exposure time is usually between one to two seconds depending upon the subject. The lighting is quite subtle hence the longer exposure times.


I have only been using this set up for a week or so but am really pleased with the results. Here are a few examples, which I have previously posted on the forums.


Tulip

DSCF0160-800.jpg


Camera: Fuji S9600
Priority: Shutter
ISO: 100
Exposure: 1.6”
F Number: F3.4
Focus: Spot
Tripod Mounted: Yes
Flash: No


Red Clover

DSCF0793-800.jpg


Camera: Fuji S9600
Priority: Manual
ISO: 100
Exposure: 1.3”
F Number: F11
Focus: Spot
Tripod Mounted: Yes
Flash: No


Chive in Bloom

DSCF0799-800.jpg


Camera: Fuji S9600
Priority: Manual
ISO: 100
Exposure: 1.5”
F Number: F11
Focus: Spot
Tripod Mounted: Yes
Flash: No


Carnation

DSCF0764-800.jpg


Camera: Fuji S9600
Priority: Manual
ISO: 100
Exposure: 2”
F Number: F11
Focus: Spot
Tripod Mounted: Yes
Flash: No


As previously mentioned, I made this specifically to photograph flowers. I have not tried any other subjects but would imagine it is quite restrictive considering its size and the lighting.


Thank you for looking. Your thoughts and comments would be much appreciated.
 
thanks for sharing
looks like a very effective piece of kit
and incredible value for money!!!!!
 
Just goes to show, great results don't have to cost the earth. Nice one (y)
 
Excellent work. Its amazing what these DIY setups can do.

Have you tried adding a small reflector into the mix though? If you could find a small el-cheapo one on the 'bay then you'd have a tightly controllable fill light for subjects that have detail on the bottom.
 
Impressive, simple and efficient setup for the money. I think its a winner, especially for the outlay(y)
 
Thanks Baz (y)
Will have to give that a go.

Have you tried it with a brighter lamp (eg. Halogen) and does it work or does it give too much light?
 
Thanks for sharing. I've a light tent/box made in a very similar way, but with "windows" made from carrier bags where your white walls are.. so can shine lights through. Plus I've got a selection of bits of old material black/blue/green (cotton/velvet) for the back drop
 
hi baz, i actually saw this in one of your other threads a few days back, looks great, i actually gave it a shot later that day, havent tried it out yet, need to tweak a few bits, then i will have to make sure my mum doesnt see me nicking flowers from her garden. :D
 
for the same price as all the paper Maplins are doing a portable studio one for 9.99 at the moment. drops down and goes any where with you.


excellent set of photos with yours though well caught love every one of them.
 
hotchef23 said:
for the same price as all the paper Maplins are doing a portable studio one for 9.99 at the moment. drops down and goes any where with you.


excellent set of photos with yours though well caught love every one of them.
Click to expand...

I bought one of those, not the Maplins one, but still getting better results with this set up for certain shots.
 
very nice
gettign some good results there :D
 
Baz777 said:
I bought one of those, not the Maplins one, but still getting better results with this set up for certain shots.
Click to expand...

must admit the photos are fantastic. lighting is good shows dont need to spend hundreds on lighting excellent
 
Looks good but...I think there's too much top down small light source lighting for the flower shots. I think you need to look at a way to diffuse and side light the flowers.
 
So pardon me for being thick but in the assembly picture is the black box with the light out of the top the table lamp?
 
Would a cloth be better for the background? I am interested in making one of these and have a fair few pure black t-shirts that I could cut up to make the backdrop.
 
Well thats my night sorted :D

Just got to figure out how to light it...!
 
foz said:
Would a cloth be better for the background? I am interested in making one of these and have a fair few pure black t-shirts that I could cut up to make the backdrop.
Click to expand...

thats what i did. i didn't have any black paper around, so i just draped a nice black shirt over the backround and it works great.
 
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