# Light tents???



## jttheclockman (Nov 24, 2008)

Do most of you people use light tents when photograghing your pens and other things???  What size and where did you get it???  What type lights are needed??/  Thanks for the replys.


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## GouletPens (Nov 24, 2008)

Sure do...homemade....out of pvc pipe and frosted plastic sheathing, doubled up. I use halogen light bulbs in the cheap clip-on metal lights you get from Home Depot. The whole getup was around $40....works like a champ.

When you make your own, you can do any size you want....mine's 16" each direction. I had a bigger one, but I cut it down because it took up a lot of space and I only photograph pens which are small....


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## BruceA (Nov 25, 2008)

*Light Tent suggestion*

Boy, is this a topic that can give you a spectrum of recommendations..

There are 16" light tents available from eBay for about $50 total, that include halogen lights and a mini tripod.  I've got one and it's "OK".  

Halogen bulbs are compact but they get HOOoOTTTT!  I've switched to working with 27w CFL (compact flourescent) bulbs that are rated at 5500K, which is about the closest "Kelvin" rating to natural light.  They're not too blue, and not too red.  They run about $7. each at Home Depot/Lowe's.  You'll need to get a couple table lamps @ $10. each to put them into.

My thoughts on a light tent are to forget it and go with a plexiglas cube.  You can source your plastics at http://www.delviesplastics.com/ and use five 12” x 12” pieces of #2447 translucent white, which are about $6. each.  

You could CA glue it together, or use adhesive-backed velcro on the mating edges, and make it collapsible.

If you think about the lighting factor, a bigger tent/cube is not necessarily better.  If you are photographing primarily pens, 12" is fine.  It also means that the light sources on each side can be closer to the pen!  A third light above the cube/tent is another variable to experiment with. 

You will definitely need some kind of tripod, and a camera that has a timed shutter release to minimize any kind of camera shake.

The actual surface you lay your pen on while photographing it is another area of exploration.  White, black, and gray plexiglas can work well, while minimizing reflections.   There are some great examples of creative backgrounds in the photo albums here that get into the "artsy" realm.

A critical area of pen photography that is usually overlooked is the aspect of "white balancing", and something I'm still exploring further.  Software like Paint Shop Pro (even version 8 or 9...) can do wonders for digital photos to correct whites and blacks.  There's a set of black-grey-white cards called Grey Kard by Digital Image Flow (@$21.00) that can be used for white balancing digital photos.  You include the Grey Kard in your pen photo, then point your software to the white card as the "white" color, and black card as the "black" color, then grey, and your software color-corrects your photo. 

You need to read Gerry Rhoades' article on Pen Photography for spot-on directions, and look at his Montanapens.com website for exemplary photos.

I still consider myself a novice in this pursuit, and hopefully some other veterans can illuminate this topic with higher wattage!


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## Nick (Nov 25, 2008)

*light shade*

Here is a very "lo tech" device. It came from the Goodwill for $1.00.
Lights can be adjusted around the unit. Camera on a stand and the photo is shot through the hole in the top with a grey card on the table.


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## greenmtnguy (Nov 26, 2008)

Go to a fabric store and buy white nylon and make a small box out of scrap wood. Cost- about 3.50


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## NewLondon88 (Nov 26, 2008)

I've had expensive professional tents, tents I made myself and even a tent
I picked up at Harbor Freight for around $20. They're all about the same.
It's a piece of diffusion material and some sort of frame.

I made mine out of pieces of 3/4" PVC pipe, elbows and a few yards of
ripstop nylon. Before that, I used a white shower curtain. Some were fancier,
but I couldn't say that any one was better than the others. This was also
for photo studio work, both product (tabletop) and portrait.

Right now I'm using the $20 HF tent and a 500 watt halogen work light.
I've got the light on a boom so I can light from directly overhead. You
could use a microphone stand if you can find one at a flea market or yard
sale. I see them all the time for $5.

So far, the setup is working fine for me. This pic is in an 18" tent, 500 watt
worklight directly overhead. There's a chunk of cherry burl on the bottom
and a piece of maroon fabric hanging up in the back of the tent with a 
few clips.


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