I would like to put together a light box for taking photo's
of cue's and such things . I remember awhile back other
members have posted on this subject but I cant seem to
find it in a search . If you have any info or instructions
as far as material's needed please offer whatever advise
you may have .
I'm at work and trying to do this on my iPhone. Tikkler was the one I remember doing the light box along time ago. Search his post if this link doesn't work, it's around the 9 th page or so around 2/01/09 time frame.
Link; http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=127199
Hope this helps. Ron
I'm at work and trying to do this on my iPhone. Tikkler was the one I remember doing the light box along time ago. Search his post if this link doesn't work, it's around the 9 th page or so around 2/01/09 time frame.
Link; http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=127199
Hope this helps. Ron
Larry just get some small cheap plumbing pipes and make a box. Then go to the sewing section of Walmart or such & buy a large section of a material you like to use for laying the cues on...then cover all but the front window of the box with a white bed sheet. Add some lights to your satisfaction...you may want some floods on top and/or on the sides. It'll take a little trial & error to get the lighting correct for your set up. Thats about it...add cues & snap away. Hope you are doing well my friend.:smile:
You can get a nice result by placing the cue on a small stand that is hidden from the camera. This will let you push the shadows off of the background. Use floods set at about 2:1, maybe 3:1 if you like. Set a third flood with a snoot on it behind the cue pointing towards the cue but not at the camera. This will create a slight halo effect. Use a small pen light suspended from a piece of string to set the highlights where you want them. This is similar to what a professional photographer would do in a studio. There are other ways but this will yield a professional looking picture.
Light tents are useful but often create lighting that is too uniform. If you use a light tent try to arrange the lights so there are some shadows created that may be pushed out of the picture. It may seem that a cue is simply a round object but you can show up some details in the wrap and can emphasize the roundness with well placed shadows.
I was a professional photographer in the 60s and did a lot of studio work. This is the type of lighting I would have used back then.
BTW they make studio umbrellas but you can make them with a regular tripod stand and white board. Point your floods at the white board and you can get some nice studio effects if you stagger the boards for diffeent ratios for the main and fill floods. Kodak has a series of books on studio lighting and how to obtain different results. You might want to pick up some of their materials.
