Miniature studio

[Chipper]

Hi. I have been looking at getting a miniature studio for shooting small items on a table at home. Does anybody have any recommendations? Ideally it would allow different colour backgrounds but I could use white only. There is a club competition coming up and I would like to give something new a go without breaking the bank. Thanks

 

[Kodiak Qc]

•


Many of my students have adopted the "high chair" solution.
It allows for more or less sophistication in the construction ma-
trials used, working surface area, and flexibility in table hight.

Most of them have chosen a 50x50 cm translucent working area
with a vertical (back of the chair) of 100 cm to attach flashes and
backdrops.

A perfect table when used with goosenecks and magic arms for
light sources, flags, and reflectors.

 

[juggler]

•


Many of my students have adopted the "high chair" solution.
It allows for more or less sophistication in the construction ma-
trials used, working surface area, and flexibility in table hight.

Most of them have chosen a 50x50 cm translucent working area
with a vertical (back of the chair) of 100 cm to attach flashes and
backdrops.

A perfect table when used with goosenecks and magic arms for
light sources, flags, and reflectors.

What KQC said..

I mistakenly tried a few things before realising that I could usually get better results with

• a chair
• a roll of paper
• tracing paper for diffusion
• blu tac
• black and white card (for reflectors & flags)
• clothes pegs
• gaffer tape

There are obviously circumstances where this won't do everything you need but it's a good start.

 

[Chipper]

Ok. Well, I will see what I can cobble together.

 

[riddell]

As a commercial photographer who shoots thousands of small items on a desktop, setting up on a table is really easy, and there are simply so many options. A lot of the time its simply a roll of background paper on a background bar and a couple of stands, but sometimes even just on a C-stand. But a lot depends on what you want and need, because it can get much more complicated, with sheets of Perspex and glass in there and multiple rolls, bounces and flags.

That's the super easy part.

The part where all the skill and experience comes in is in the lighting, along with lots of micro adjustment to bounces and flags. There is no such thing as a lighting setup when it comes to tabletop photography, you need to set the lights up as and how you need them for that one particular shot. I regularly use anywhere between about 1 light to about 6 or 7, and lots of different modifiers, softboxes, reflectors, grids...

 

[Garry Edwards]

As a commercial photographer who shoots thousands of small items on a desktop, setting up on a table is really easy, and there are simply so many options. A lot of the time its simply a roll of background paper on a background bar and a couple of stands, but sometimes even just on a C-stand. But a lot depends on what you want and need, because it can get much more complicated, with sheets of Perspex and glass in there and multiple rolls, bounces and flags.

That's the super easy part.

The part where all the skill and experience comes in is in the lighting, along with lots of micro adjustment to bounces and flags. There is no such thing as a lighting setup when it comes to tabletop photography, you need to set the lights up as and how you need them for that one particular shot. I regularly use anywhere between about 1 light to about 6 or 7, and lots of different modifiers, softboxes, reflectors, grids...

As above. Come to that, although still life lighting is arguably more complex than other types of lighting, there is no such thing as a lighting setup when it comes to portrait photography or anything else either.
Unfortunately, a combination of advances in digital photography, plus the inexorable march of gadgets, means that many people seem to think that creative, well thought out lighting just doesn't matter and has been replaced by software and gadgets - and they're very wrong.

 

[riddell]

Come to that, although still life lighting is arguably more complex than other types of lighting, there is no such thing as a lighting setup when it comes to portrait photography or anything else either.

Absolutely. I shoot lots of portraits, fashion etc. as well and its just the same as product photography in that I have clients I've been shooting with for years, shooting their new collections on release. Most clients have a certain look they want, angles, lighting etc. and I'm shooting the same for them season after season, but of course each client has a different look.

But even when shooting for the same client, wanting the same look as last season, it does not mean the lighting is the same as it was last time, there are just so many factors, you have to keep changing things all time.

On top of that its not uncommon partway through a shoot to have to drastically change a lighting setup in order to get it to look the same as the last shot, because something else has changed. Models, clothing, fabrics and so on. If I left it the same, it wouldn't look the same because of these other changes.