# First Photos With New Light Tent



## VirgilJ

Ups just delivered my new light tent I bought on EBAY. These are my first attempts at using it. I'm not much of a photographer so any comments or suggestions of what I could do better would be greatly appreciated.


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## gketell

That is AWESOME.  Where did you get that background?  It really makes the pens pop!

GK


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## VirgilJ

The backgrounds came with the light kit. The kit has two light tents, one 12" and one 30". There are four backgrounds for each size, red blue black and white. They are similar to velour.


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## Fred

There are several suggestions I might offer/give you ... 

Use the larger tent to allow room in your setup. Space away from the edges and background is a good thing here!

Pull the pen forward as much as possible to avoid (or try to avoid) the definite crease where the cloth background curves upward. You can always adjust the framing in the camera if you come close to the front edge and almost off the background material in the viewfinder.

The smaller F stop you can use is also better as it increases the depth of field and thus enhances the focus. F32 is way smaller an aperture than F2. Just increase the time of exposure to compensate and let the camera do it's work.

Be sure the lighting used does not directly enter the front of the lens as that will wash out some of the colors in the picture. 

Use a heavy tripod to hold the camera and use either the timer to release the shutter or a shutter cable - one that is comfortable in length to your setup.

Keep the photo tent setup on a table that offers you as much comfort as possible. Bending over tends to make one not to want to do the photography. I used mine at about mid-belly in height to avoid bending over any at all.

Push a small gauge wire up through the cloth and bend it to allow it to be inserted into the pen tip. It will hardly be seen if it is small enough. This eliminates any object used to hold the pen at an angle. (I think you want to photograph the pen you just made and not the block of wood.)

Practice with the light placement to avoid 'hot spots' from the tent material ... closer vs further away type of thing. If a shadow is at the bottom of the pen, put a light underneath the background material and thus weaken the shadow(s).

Be very sure the lights are color matched to your film. If you are using digital, be sure the camera is set to the type of lighting used. Usually this is stated on the lights in Kelvin Degrees (type of light color). 6000 degrees Kelvin is quite color balanced for daylight film and is available in the digital camera setup selection.

Be sure the lights are up to temperature to allow all the color spectrum to be available. Turn them on several minutes prior to shooting. Flash photography avoids this all together BUT adds a tad bit of difficulty in first time placement.

I believe that both your photographs show decent composition, BUT are just a stop or two overexposed. The clips and barrel ends are to brightly lit. To fix the clip - turn the pen a little bit to avoid such a hot shop on the bright metal. It's kinda like looking at a reflection of the sun in a mirror. The metal tip - well, that takes adjusting the exposure and the light placement. Ahhh, the beauty of Adobe Photoshop ($800) or one of the others - just as expensive.

There are more things you can do, but space is limited here for a class in techniques, etc. Besides all that I am thirsty and need to go in search of my Modelo beer... Just e-mail me if you have a problem and I'll do my best to share what I know about 8 years in commercial photography with you!

BTW, what camera and lights are you using? I should have asked that first thing, but the lack of beer has my mind dulled a bit! Like my skew tool... it don't work to well when it's the least bit dull! []


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## stevers

Wow, nice reply Fed. I picked up a few tips also. 

Nice job Virgil. Fred's tips should help. Nice work on the pens too.


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## kent4Him

Fred has some great detailed advise.  My only point is that your block of BOW needs to change.  Either find something else, or smooth up the edges.  I found myself looking at the rough edges instead of the pens.


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## ahoiberg

thanks for the reply fred, good info. also, could you elaborate a bit more on the small guage wire up through the bottom? i didn't quite follow how it would make the pen stand?


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## VirgilJ

Fred,

Thanks for all the advise.I'll try it again this evening using your suggestions.the camera is a Panasonic FZ30. It has a good set of controls so I should be able to get the exposure corrected.The lights are 30W 5000k CFL bulbs in reflectors. Came with the light tent.

I'll post the results latter tonight.

Thanks againg for all your help!!


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## Mikey

Wow, that was some good advie Fred. I learned a bunch of new stuff too. 

BTW, I agree with getting rid of the block of wood.


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## wdcav1952

Yes, let me add to the thanks to Fred for the excellent advice!  There were some great points there.  I guess I need to learn how to use the manual settings on my camera. [:I]


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## VirgilJ

Here are a couple of photos I did this evening trying to implement Fred's tips. I think they look better. Let me know what you think.





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## wdcav1952

Bravo, Virgil.  Those are fantastic pix.  The pens appear to be almost floating above the background.


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## jaywood1207

Hmmmm.  I like some of your changes such as getting rid of the block and making the pens "float" but they are way too dark and can't see any detail.


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## GoodTurns

I think you can sell the MAGIC floating pens for more money!!![]


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## Fred

Well, it looks as though you figured out the wire idea. Great photographs and I do believe they are vastly improved upon. Now you need to play with the exposure a bit to see if you can catch a bit more detail in the wood and other surfaces. Be consistent with the pen placement and IF you ever need to print the pictures out everything will be uniform which in turn is much easier for a viewer to consider.

ahoiberg .. I use a stiff wire from Hobby Lobby. I bend a small circle about 8" in diameter and then bend the wire towards the center point. I then bend the wire upwards at whatever angle I need to use and push it through the background material, being careful to not rip the paper/cloth material. Sometimes the product will be a bit heavy and then I simply tape the circle part to the table under the background material.

One CAN make the pens float by wedging the tip up a bit on the wire away from the bottom where it enters the background material. You might have to "touch-up" the wire below the tip if it reflects the lighting. This is often accomplished in a program such as Corel Draw or Adobe PhotoShop. Be prepared to take out a small business loan for either of these as they are very pricey to say the least.

Another trick is to use sewing threat the same color (or close to) as the background and "hang" the pen in mid air. Just think how invisible a white thread would be against a white background ... Use small pieces of scotch tape to fix the pen to the thread. In this instance the pen would need to be vertical as it is nearly impossible to hang it horizontally as the weight of the clip will cause it to turn. I consider the clip to be an important design feature of the pens and thus they need to remain visible in the photograph.

If a shadow appears from the thread, either the arrangement is to close to the background, or the exposure needs adjusting to "burn" it out of the image. Open the aperture just a bit till it no longer appears in the image. Be careful of losing detain in the product though.

Treat the light source(s) as a tool and adjust as necessary to achieve what you are trying to do. The lights are a very important part of the entire process and can be made to do much of the work in showing - or hiding - much of the product.

As for as the "Thanks You's" and other kind remarks to my ideas posted here - Thanks are due to all of you that post your thoughts and methods. I wish I could take my photographs and post some for you as well. Since my minor stroke back in December it is extremely difficult for me to do much lifting and adjusting. I lost all of my "finesse" in moving my left hand and arm and things just don't work as I need them to. I AM GOING TO OVERCOME these problems and then I will do my part to post some pictures. []


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## Verne

Wow is this ever an informative thread. Now...where/who did you get the photo box from?
Thanks Virgil for starting the thread and Fred for the photo advise.
Vern


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## ahoiberg

the photos look well framed and composed, however i agree that they're still a little dark to see the details of the pens. nice work on the floating part. i've always hung wire from the top of my photo box and clipped the pen over it and had to photoshop out the wire. kindof a pain. i've been thinking of using fishing line, that should be transparent to most backgrounds... maybe i can figure out what you're doing! that looks nice.


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## tyez

what type and size light tent did you use.  I have seen several out there that are various sizes and prices.


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## VirgilJ

The light tent is from Square Perfect off EBAY. It cost $107. It comes with two light tents, one twelve inch and one 30 inch, and four backgrounds for each size. mIt also includes two 30w 5000k CFL lamps with reflectors and small stands. They also through is a pretty fair fullsize tripod for your camera. It's all packed in a big suitcase.

The first pictures were made using the small tent. As Fred suggested I switched to the larger tent for the second set.

The pen stand is nothing more than a paper clip staightened out with a small loop on one end. I sharpened the end on the grinder and screwed the looped to a 6"x6" piece of MDF. Bend it to whatever angle you want, slide the whole thing under the light tent, and poke the sharp end up through the bottom of the light tent and the background material. Remove the ink cartridge from the pen and slide it over the paper clip. Instant floating pen!!

I'll post a picture tonight of the setup. Right now I'm going swimming.


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## Verne

Anyone...is that a fair price for his setup or do you think it's a little pricey?
Vern


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## VirgilJ

Here are the shots of the light tent and the wire pen support.





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## GoodTurns

very fair price.  I just shopped and spent $100 on what I now would consider an overpriced setup!  I would gladly return mine and buy this one!


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## VirgilJ

I spent a bunch of time screwing around with lighting and exposure. I think I need a third light a of little smaller size to add a little more sparkle to the finish. This is the best I was able to come up with using the two lights. I think it's a big improvement to my original efforts. Thanks for all the help!!!





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## jkirkb94

Thanks for the tips, Fred!  Virgil your photos definitely are improved!  I too will use Fred's advice. To stand my pens up I drilled a small hole at an angle in a short piece of 1x4 and put a small piece of coat hanger wire into the hole.  The wire diameter is just small enough for 7mm slimlines.  I also like those who use props that complement the pens.  That is my next thing to try.  Kirk[8D]


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## skewed

> _Originally posted by Fred_erick_
> <br />
> One CAN make the pens float by wedging the tip up a bit on the wire away from the bottom where it enters the background material. You might have to "touch-up" the wire below the tip if it reflects the lighting. This is often accomplished in a program such as Corel Draw or Adobe PhotoShop. Be prepared to take out a small business loan for either of these as they are very pricey to say the least.


Another very good program that will do 99.9% of Corel Draw or Adobe Photoshop is Corel Paint Shop Pro.  Usually can find it for under $100.

Larry


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## Fred

TRY using the suggestion where one places a reflector (gold/silver/black) with a hole in it over the front part of the lens and adjust the angle of the clip and maybe the camera so it reflects this in most of the metal surface(s). If done correctly you will see the opening of the light tent almost go away. IF the lens shows up in the clip you are either too close or the lighting is directly on the lens, back the camera away and readjust the reflector, then ZOOM back out to the subject. The reflections of the lens will be greatly reduced and the dark band of the light tent opening will also be dealt with. This is one good example of where the use of a zoom lens is very handy and allows a good deal of adjustments to be made in composition.

Endeavor to make as many adjustments in the camera and check the viewfinder all the time after each movement of the lights, camera, reflectors, etc. This eliminates many headaches in using any photo enhancement software later on.

EXPERIMENT and make adjustments as needed ... []


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## tyez

Thanks virgil for the info. I was looking at a light tent similiar to yours it was priced at $129.00. I didnt purchase it because I  thought it was pricey but I recon not.


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## tseger

Virgil, can you tell me what type of wood is on the bottom photo in your original post?  Tim


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## VirgilJ

Tseger
I think it's blood wood. Not really sure though.It was in a grabbag of cutoffs I got from Woodcraft five years ago. I turned a few pens back then, but I got downsized and ended up moving to Florida. Just got started turning again a few months ago so I'm really just a rookie. The blank has been sitting in a bag for the last five years.

tyez
It's probably the same one. It was on "sale" when I bought it.


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## DKF

All of your pics are very nice, and thank you as well Fred for the suggestions....great thread and info.!


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