Picture Practice.

All input is welcome , I'm just fumbling my way through this myself.

Lights :

Yes , I've had them all over and it does make a difference on the overall. Cool thing is the friction in the cord is enought that you can just let them hang on any side and at any height. I've also clipped them to the fame which allows you to control the intensity of the light by moving it closer or farther. In the pic of the set I have 1 light on top and one hanging on the side about half way down. Depending on what your shooting you can usa any combination. THe pic of my case is both lights , one on each long side and the pic of the butt inlay is 1 light on that short side.

Reflection :

This is what I've learned so far and am making adjustments. . .

For starters my lights are tad bright for the muslin I used. That causes the tent to light up a bit too much. Highly reflective round cues allow no flaws so they are perfect for tuning the setup ;). The easy fix which works nicely is just cutting a circle of muslin and covering the light making basicaly a soft box of it. That gives you even more light control.

Lastly , and this I think is the money fix , is a black border around the target. This kills the white you can make out on the very sides of the cue. I have black jersey material already and all I did was wrap some around 2 card board strips a few inches high and run those the length of the cue. I just leaned them against the inside of the legs and they stay fine. That makes prety much a perfect shot and is only needed for items like a cue that is round and reflective all around. I will probably just stich a small boarder of it around the bottom of the muslin and call it good. I'll put those pics up when I get home to the other pc.

Thanks for checking this out. :)
 
You have my attention and I am looking forward to seeing the results of the latest experiment.
This is what makes the forum so grand.

TNX - myron
 
RRfireblade said:
For sure. How I arrived at the overall height was based on the no zoom full length cue shot. [/img]
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What are the PVC length for top, bottom and side? Also sweat shirt material is just for the bottom, right?

Thanks for sharing ... this is a cool thread.
 
Jazz said:
What are the PVC length for top, bottom and side? Also sweat shirt material is just for the bottom, right?

Thanks for sharing ... this is a cool thread.
Click to expand...

the individual peices can vary depending on your elbows and T's :

Studio-Project-2.JPG


My square top of the frame is about 16" x 18". The sides are 14" lengths of pipe and then 11" lengths in between the T's that hold the legs. I didn't glue the T's to the frameso the whole thing folds flat. You just have to squeeze it tight together once it's set up how you like and it stays fine. You also have to cut like 1" peices of pipe to connect the T's and elbows where there is no lenghts of tubing. The frame size is not critical , just needs to be square-ish. The whole tent could be a cube if needed. The 4 legs are about 46". I may move the T's to the outside of the elbows to make the legs stance wider for more stability. It's pretty much fine once you spread the legs and get it level but I don't know , little more stability couldn't hurt right ? I use it on carpet , hard wood floors might need some crosses on the legs to keep from sliding out or around. Maybe some of those little rubber feet stuck on the bottom ?

I actually bought Jersey in black and white and yes , just for back drops. I choose that because they are non reflective , pretty dense and thick so nothing rolls after you set it where you want it. They also are not real lint catchers. I use the fuzzy side for pics and roll it fuzzy side in when I'm done.
 
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A rather redneck mode that I could find to prevent reflections is putting up one end or the other of the cue on something - like a folded T-shirt, etc. - so that the light reflects away and don't show on the pictures.

Please post if you have more pictures :)
 
Jazz said:
I think your idea is really great. There are also few other "how to make your own photo tent" on google. I also like the idea on below link.

http://digital-photography-school.com/blog/how-to-make-a-inexpensive-light-tent/

Being a lazy bastard that I am ... I bought this one on eBay in 46x46 configuration.

I'm sure I'll be disapointed when it arrives and this will motivate to build my own.

LS011201B.gif
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Well maybe it will work for you , you never know. :)

I looked at the Ebay kits too and came really close to trying one out. With lights and all they start around $100 shipped for the smaller ones and up from there. I mostly just didn't like the shape your confined to. I shoot alot of different things so I wanted more flexability.

Besides the savings , it was pretty fun putting it together myself and having it work.

I'll be very interested in how it works out for you tho , let us know.
 
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cuebuilder said:
What lens are you using? these are some really great shots!
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Just the one it came with. It's a , what do you call it , point and shoot camera ? Just not a compact little thing , like regualar size. Not to get too technical.

:)
 
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