Light Tents, Boxes etc.

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Archive 2008 · Light Tents, Boxes etc.

Tink
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p.1 #1 · Light Tents, Boxes etc.

I was asked to shoot some tissue specimen ranging from 3/4 '' to about 3'' in length. Question what do you all think about this light tent or is something like this what I need?

http://www.skaeser.com/servlet/the-586/16%22-LIGHT-TENT-dsh-2-LIGHTS-dsh-4/Detail

Any suggestion on aperture and shutter setting? Would this be similar to a product shot? Although I've never done product shots.

Thanks

Dec 14, 2008 at 02:29 PM

Garry Burton
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p.1 #2 · Light Tents, Boxes etc.

Hi Tink,

I use a tent for jewellery, online auctrion stuff with about 60 seconds to click on to the next. Here's a pic I put up for anothet thread http://www.flickr.com/photos/29956235@N03/3109437183/

I only use a tent as I'm working in a very dusty warehouse other than that I HATE them!!! I can never put the lights where I want them as there is a bit of nylon in the way...

Anyhoot, the little stand and lights are not up to the job. The stand is for P+S cameras and the lights are just blue... We bought a similar set up, I use the tent as a small chimera/diffuser instaed of a tent.

Looking at the gear you have, have you thought of your AB's set up with strong directional lighting. The speedlites will do a good job too.

If you haven't done the macro/close up thing before, at the distance I imagine your lens to subject will be, there is simply bugger all DOF. Another point to consider as those light tent lights don't have the power, I'd be trying to shot at least f16 to keep everything in focus with those specimens.

Hope I've helped.

Cheers Gaz

Dec 17, 2008 at 04:25 AM

Furby39
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p.1 #3 · Light Tents, Boxes etc.

What sort of lighting do you recommend for this type of shooting? I recently acquired a light tent for product shots, and I was advised not to bother with the lights...so assuming the lights you can buy as a package with a tent won't do the job, what sort of lighting would you suggest using? Strobe? Constant lighting? Incandescent? Fluorescent?

I'll be using a Nikon D70 with the Nikkor 18-55 lens most likely. I'm not an advanced photographer by any stretch of the imagination...

Apr 12, 2009 at 11:14 PM

cgardner
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p.1 #4 · Light Tents, Boxes etc.

Tink wrote:
I was asked to shoot some tissue specimen ranging from 3/4 '' to about 3'' in length. Question what do you all think about this light tent or is something like this what I need?

It would really depend on their shape and how you want them reproduced: flat and shadowless for documentation, or with 3D shading like a still life subject?

The way light tents work for reflective objects is to create a uniform white reflective surfaces 360 degrees around the subject with "shadow" detail created by putting black cards strategically to kill the reflections in some areas. I don't think that approach will work well for tissue samples.

For documentation purposes without any specular reflections I think you'd be better off with something like the Canon MT-24 Twin Macro Flash: LINK with polarizing gel over the flash and a polarizing filter on the lens. The cross-polarization of the light will allow control or total elimination of specular highlights on the samples.

You are more likely to find people who use the MT-24 and macro lenses on the Macro World forum.

Chuck

Apr 13, 2009 at 12:07 AM

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