I'm looking for a small table top setup for some product photography, probably looking for a table tent / softbox setup about 2 feet square. This will be used to take pictures of a bunch of items that my mom wants to put on eBay. The best price I've found by far is through Cowboy Studio, but I'm a little turned off by the reviews of most of their products.
Can anyone suggest a product that is under about $40 that will fill this need? I can put together the lights on my own.
Nozzleforward wrote:
Can anyone suggest a product that is under about $40 that will fill this need? I can put together the lights on my own.
Easy. Back yard. Picnic table. Cloudy day (instant light tent).
If you want to get fancy, glue some black velvet on a piece of foam core for a subtractive reflector to give a little direction to your light.
Of course, what she is selling will influence your choice. Is it earrings or refrigerators? (I'm guessing from your light tent example something closer to earrings.
I cut out the sides and top of a large-ish cardboard box, taped in a sweep, and threw a bed sheet around the sides and top as a diffuser. Then I set my flashes outside the sheet at different distances and angles.
Walmart has folding display board for under $10. You can even put another foam board on top to reflect down. They should also have a larger size as well.
I've been using a piece of white poster board sitting on my kitchen stove for a few years...it wraps up the back like a mini-cyc. I used to just bounce an on-camera flash off the ceiling, but for the last few months I've just been putting a light on a stand with a big umbrella...it's more consistent and it recycles instantly (WL X3200 @ 1/4). I also get f11/ISO 100 with the big light, and was only getting f5.6/ISO200 with the speedlight. Either works ok though if you don't mind bumping your ISO. I've taken I don't know how many hundreds of pictures with this setup, and it works great for anything small enough to fit on the board. It also costs about $1.50 if you already have the lights and camera. Here's a couple random shots taken with it...
Thanks everyone for the ideas! I'll swing by the store on my way home and see if I can get a piece of poster board and mess with this when I get home. Maybe I'll take some shots to replace the horrible ones I uploaded to the B&S earlier today...
@Scott, I'm also using the same setup, with speed light in homemade softbox.
the one thing I noticed, even though subject is well lit, the white board does not look white, it has some gray shade to it.
