Show us yer DIY tabletop studio then

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unclerichy

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As the long nights are drawing in I cleared the spare desk in the office and set up a temporary studio for macro shots.

Clockwise from top: Maplin hobby lamp, USR wireless access point (not an integral part of the setup), 4-way extension lead (again, not used), Nikon and Zenit lens caps, sticky tape (used as a weight), Nikon remote control, Manfrotto 804RC2 head, cheap Argos table lamp. In the middle is the Zenit-E that I was taking photos of.



Go on then, I've shown you mine now show me yours :naughty:
 
Here's one I took a while ago - lightbox and lights from eBay

498763071_d93cdce9d7.jpg
 
how many lights should you use and do desk lamps work fine
 
400duser said:
how many lights should you use and do desk lamps work fine
Click to expand...

It all depends on the effect you're after. For even light the mobilevirgin's approach is ideal - one either side with a 'light tent' to act as a diffuser. Desk lamps do work fine though you may be limited in the wattage that can be used, thus a tripod is pretty much a must.

I chose not to use any sort of diffuser and placed my lights in such a way as to create shadows - the hobby lamp is quite handy as it can be moved pretty much anywhere.

Whatever way you go it's probably best not to mix types of light - eg. fluorescent and tungsten as that will throw the white balance out. The lamps that I used were both tungsten and my camera white balance was set accordingly.

I'm currently on the look-out for suitably sized energy saver bulbs as the 40w+60W bulbs gave me a bit of a dab on by the end :(
 
I should have added - those lights have daylight bulbs in them. I usually have them both switched on at the same time. I can move them around to deal with shadows, highlights etc.

There's no "should" about it - you do what you want. However, ordinary desk lamps will give a yellow cast to your pics, so you'll need to adjust the WB in your camera accordingly.
 
If you show the studio, please show the results!
 
Nice shots guys.

Unclerichy, is the hobby lamp an off the shelf at Maplin?

Mobilevirgin - where can you buy daylight bulbs from?

I have an eBay light tent but only been using ordinary spots and I struggle with white balance.
 
Mart61 said:
Nice shots guys.

Unclerichy, is the hobby lamp an off the shelf at Maplin?
Click to expand...

Yup, that's the one - they often have it on offer. It takes SES candle bulbs and it was the devil to find an energy efficient one that offered more than a dribble of light. I think it's a 60W equivalent. The other two lamps are from Argos and they also take screw-in bulbs (this time the larger ES). One is a 75W equivalent from B&Q, the other a 60W equiv. from Homebase. They don't quite have the same colour temperature though and the 75W looks 'pink' in comparison :(
 
Many thanks - I can feel a shopping trip coming on...
 
* unclerichy - not sure of the scale of the model - the photo is about 100%

* Mart61 - the bulbs came with the light tent, from ebay. Craft and art supply shops will sell daylight bulbs, or get them on ebay, eg http://tinyurl.com/2j6kec
 
^^^^^ those are fantastic^^^^^
:clap:
Dean:)
 
Very nice, Liberalis. My fav is no. 3 (a TVR, is it?) with that mirroring.

Someone proposed this deceptively simple, but apparently ingenious scheme. Looks brilliant. Waiting for an opportunity to apply it. Would it work?

BrilliantQuickDirtyMacroSoftBox.jpg
 
I built a deluxe tabletop studio that I use for all kinds of things and has been published on a few sites so I put together a tutorial on building one like it.

http://www.brantfordselections.com/Selections/Light_Box.html

If you like it and can improve it – let me know how it works out and some results shots too if you don't mind.

Cheers
 
Figured this would be good for a giggle...

DSCF7113_p.jpg


Resulted in...

655783d592.jpg



Nothing like roughing it! :D If you see the bulldog clips on the end of the plastic strip, those are "counterweights" to hold the paper BG up straight, the stip itself is one of those triangular things you put on the edges of small documents or posters. 4 mugs to support some pictureframe glass (Mugs are conveniently the same height...) and some black card to kill backlight spill.
 
Bit more basic here - just getting into it, and built on a budget - 5 sheets of A3 foamboard, 2 sheets of tracing paper and some velcro dots that I already had kicking around the house from other projects.

'scuse photo - good camera is on the tripod ;)



Black thing on top of box is a clip-frame which occasionally ends up donating it's glass for the base of the box. Pictured without the normal paper backdrop/infinity curve, mainly as it had been sat upon and nicely crinkled :bonk:

Usually shoot tethered from the laptop using the canon Utility for a larger preview of the shot.

As I said, just getting to grips with this, so final pictures may not be exactly magazine quality, but they'd certainly be fine for fleabay...





 
Some good Ghetto setups :) will post might tomorrow, I bought a lightbox from maplins for £9 half price :) + discount. Works well and have got some good results from it, need to get some proper lights & or more lights.

Currently using a single 150w Work light form B&Q.
 
Found a roll of baking parchment in the drawer yesterday, its not quite white but will this be OK as a diffuser instead of tracing paper which is proving a bit hard to find?

Want to make a DIY one this week, very impressed with the results on here!!!
 
Can i ask where and how much you guys are getting your lightboxes for?

looks awesome!
 
W.Smith said:
Very nice, Liberalis. My fav is no. 3 (a TVR, is it?) with that mirroring.

Someone proposed this deceptively simple, but apparently ingenious scheme. Looks brilliant. Waiting for an opportunity to apply it. Would it work?

BrilliantQuickDirtyMacroSoftBox.jpg
Click to expand...

haha just tried that and it actually works. although with paper it was too floppy.
 
Mine was about £8 for the 5 sheets of foamboard, and somethng like £1.50 for a pack of A4 tracing paper. I'd already got the velcro dots that hold it together, yet allow it to pack flat, but to be honest, if you're not bothered about that, a couple of strips of packing/gaffer tape would do the trick. Other cheapie was the lights - £3.39 each from argos - nearly the same price as the bulbs.
 
Not quite tabletop (and not quite photography, stop motion animation done using DSLR), but

n518870122_4952510_902.jpg


Rented set of Dedolights (video fresnels), and a piece of paper that we got free from the printers because someone messed up a poster print on the back
 
OK heres my answer to the credit crunch!

Tent was £13.98 from Ebay, lights £4.49 from homebase (150 watt) so total of £22.96.

All folds down very small:

Set-up.jpg


but in use its quite big!!!

setuo2.jpg


couple of very hastily taken shots:

c1.jpg


T31.jpg


Really need some better stands for the lights, but the watch shots are the best I've managed so far, so its a start!!!
 
kiteninja said:
Some good Ghetto setups :) will post might tomorrow, I bought a lightbox from maplins for £9 half price :) + discount. Works well and have got some good results from it, need to get some proper lights & or more lights.

Currently using a single 150w Work light form B&Q.
Click to expand...

Have you got a link to the Maplin lightbox? I couldn't see any on there.
 
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