Taking Photos

[John Terefenko]

Does everyone use a light tent to take pictures of your work??? If so what is a good one and where can you get it??? What type lights and bulbs do you use??? What other secrets other than a good camera do you use to take good photos??? Thanks for the replys

[Dewey Torres]

There are tons of ideas on this forum. I just did a search and here is what pulled up!

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/search.php?searchid=2535264

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Fellow Creeker's Tamara and Brian Brown are professional photographers. If you do a search on Brian Brown.....go to his profile.......select "statistics" then select "find all posts".....you can then find where he's made recommendations for photographing turnings. I wished I had read all of his recommendations before I bought my photo tent. It works but the "covered wagon" type he recommends allows you to use the back drop better to make the lighting work better.

[Brian Brown]

Steve Schlumpf has asked me to do a tutorial on photographing turnings.
He has gone so far as compiling the posts I made before on this topic, and sent the compiled document to me to add, correct and polish. So far I haven't got there. Work, teaching, and trying to turn all of our Christmas gifts to friends and family have kept me from it. I thought over Thanksgiving I would get to it, but I am so behind on Christmas turning, that it probably won't get finished. Add to that a 20 year old pickup that is finally showing it's age, and in the process of being replaced (why is it so time consuming to buy a car?). But it is coming. You can read those old posts for some information. Hopefully it will do until I do the tutorial. In the tutorial I will add new information.

[Richard Beuker]

I found plans on how to make one out of a cardboard and PVC on the internet. I plan on making one. A lot of good ideas. Just put in Light Tent

[Cyril Griesbach]

Richard,

Go here

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=57168

[Steve Schlumpf]

John,

I use a photo tent that I picked up off of eBay, a graduated background, tripod, 2 clamp on reflectors with 5700*k florescent bulbs for lighting and a Canon A70 camera. Nothing extraordinary but everything works and didn’t cost an arm & leg to put together.

Warning - photography is a lot like the abyss in that you can really sink some money into once you get hooked!

I use the second background down from the top - #39.
http://www.phototechinc.com/graduate.htm

[John Terefenko]

Brian

I for one look forward to an extensive tutorial about this. I think it is important part to be able to show off your work. I know nothing about photography and want to learn. I did buy a book photography for dummies about a year ago and comprehend some stuff but other things are foreign. At least earning the basics is a start. Will look through some of your past posts.

[Neal Addy]

Here's a good tent option if you don't want to build your own. These are relatively cheap, well made, and quick to set up.

http://cgi(dot)ebay(dot)com/PRO-PHOTO-TENT-LIGHT-SOFTBOX-CUBE-DOME-POP-UP-KIT-30_W0QQitemZ370120377466QQihZ024QQcategoryZ79006QQ tcZphotoQQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1742.m153.l1262

[John Terefenko]

Neil

What kind of lights would be good with that???

[Scott Conners]

John, if you are shooting digital, you can use any light you wish with a tent. The key is to use all the same type of lights, so the color temperature stays consistent. Mixing types (such as fluorescent/halogen/tungsten/sunlight) will create strange color casts. Some of the cheapest bang for your buck are 250W-500W halogen construction lights. They get very hot and will heat up a room if you are shooting for awhile, but they produce a lot of light for a little amount of cash.
Compact flourescent lamps in cheap hardware store flood reflectors also work well, you need a few to get the job done but they stay cool and are cheap.
Multiple-lamp compact fluorescent floods are now beginning to become popular, they can be a good value and don't produce heat like halogen or tungsten lights. They use 2-8 of the pigtail style fluorescent lamps, and work very well.
You can also still get the blue photoflood bulbs some places, but they are expensive and short-lived, and unnecessary for digital.
Outdoor skylight (put the tent in the shade where a lot of bright sky is visible) can work very well too.

You want a fair amount of light, I'd shoot for two 250W halogens (or 100W compact fluorescent, at least 2 fixtures) at the minimum. More light will give you faster shutter speeds (important if you aren't using a tripod) as well as a greater depth of field (importance depends on your camera).

[Neal Addy]

John, I use a couple or three 13 watt 5100k (daylight) compact fluorescent bulbs (in Borg 8" clamp-on aluminum worklight reflectors) but you can use just about anything if you set your camera's white balance correctly. Setting your WB with a gray card or piece of white paper works great if your camera has custom WB capability.

Also, be sure and use a tripod! Even a cheap one (when used with a timer or remote clicker) will give you a better shot than hand-holding.

This is a nice little tent. 30" is big enough for most turnings but if you turn large platters or bowls you might consider his 60" tent. I've seen some 16" tents on the market but those are too small for anything but pens and small turnings. 30" is the minimum I would recommend.

The piece I recently posted here shows an example photo from this tent --> http://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=96804

HTH!

Neal

[John Terefenko]

Neal

Thanks alot for the info. I clicked your link and that is a stunning piece and the photography is excellent. I noticed in the remarks you had this answer to the question about the glare on the front lower section.
Thanks for the kind words, all.

"Tom, that's a photo tent artifact. I originally had a black hole from the tent opening and tried to cover it with a front flap. The flap didn't do a very good job. "

What did you mean by that and is this something to be concerned with and how do you correct it??? Thanks again. Lots of good info here. I do need to get something setup for better photos.

[Neal Addy]

Hehe, what I was saying there was that I was lazy. ;)

I shot this with three bulbs (one on each side and one below - it's a glass-top table) but with a dark room behind me. Brian, Scott and others will recognize my mistake.

Highly reflective pieces can be a challenge to photograph.

When using a photo tent, lack of light coming in the front tent flap creates a black hole effect (a dark circle, the opposite of a bright "hot-spot") on the front of high-gloss pieces. You can compensate for this in several ways. One is to set up a reflecting panel in front of the tent and bounce light off it. (I've never been smart enough to get that to work very well.) Another is to use a tent flap that covers the front opening. This is what I was doing. But, I was shooting with a 50mm lens and had the camera pulled back about 6" from the tent so my front flap didn't quite cover the entire opening. I was too lazy to mess with it and settled for the shot you see.

Light positioning is one of the challenges I've always struggled with. It's both an art and a science. But, as they say... photography is all about painting with light!

Neal

[Allen Neighbors]

I made my light tent after looking at Jamie Donaldson's 'Phrugal Photo Studio'. I used CPVC pipe. My background is seamless (a roll of off-white wrapping paper from Walmart. Cost is less than anything I've seen so far. I use two of those 500watt shop lites, and some posterboard for reflectors. A white sheet, folded to two thickness is my drape over the pipe frame.
It works well. Google "Phrugal Photo"... you'll find it.