CharleyL
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 p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Any suggestions please for a site with diy photography project ideas? | |
I'm a Maker of anything that I can't buy at reasonable prices or I feel that I can make the equivalent much better and cheaper than what is available. A couple of years ago I wanted "Apple Boxes", the type of box/platform that allows adjustment in height of things in 1" increments up to 15" per set. The term "Apple Box" came from the early movie industry, probably because the first used were actually modified apple crates. What is available on the market seems to all be made from construction grade plywood and did not appeal to me. They are quite expensive for what they are too. I wanted them with a smooth finish and made of harder material. I ended up using 12 mm Baltic Birch plywood, a void free metric plywood made from Birch. They have box jointed corners and spacers inside to transfer the weight down through to the floor, even when in stacks to achieve the desired height. They are 12" X 20" and a set includes heights of 8", 4", 2", and 1". I made two sets and applied two coats of clear polyurethane to them. To test their strength I placed the two stacks under the front tires of my Jeep Grand Cherokee (it's a 6,000 lb car and the front end is the heavy motor end), and there wasn't a sound from the wood when the weight was added. So I feel quite comfortable using them under the largest human or equipment that I wish to raise up in my photo studio.
I also built an overhead rail system for my shooting room, so I can hang video lights, and even strobes sometimes, from the ceiling. This is made from 1" X 1" X 1/4" steel angle. Each spans the width of my 10' wide backdrop system and they are spaced about 4' apart. I use 5' lengths of this same angle to bridge between these angles so I can hang a light or something anywhere above my 10' wide by 23' shooting space. I ran Wiremold multi outlet strips on the ceiling past both ends of the 10' long angles, so there is power within 5' of anywhere that I hang a light or place a light on a C-stand below. There are almost no tripods and never any cables on my studio floor to trip on. I use Electrician's Beam Clamps with 1/4-20 threaded holes in them to hang whatever needed or to join the 5' angles to the 10' long angles at the crossing points for safety. I also use short lengths of small chain and snap hooks to make safety loops around a sturdy part of the light and the angle that it's attached to for safety to prevent anything from ever falling. I modified my tripod stands by adding a 1/4-20 stud to the bottom end of the center section, so I can attach a tripod stand upside down using an Electrician's Beam Clamp to the overhead grid angles. This allows me to easily adjust the height of an attached light. If stability is needed, I can extend the tripod legs up against the studio ceiling.
My video lights are LED panels, and I have found that I can leave these in place on the ceiling grid while using studio strobes and soft boxes below for portrait or other still shooting. These lights do need to be removed when doing video work, but leaving the LED panels up there saves a bunch of time during transition to and from video shoots. I have a master switch on the wall for controlling all of the ceiling outlet power, but then use a wireless power control system that allows me to turn on each group of lights from a wireless remote at the camera location. My studio strobes, in use, are then all turned on and off by this remote system. So are the video light panels, by another button pair on the remote. I have two 500 watt focusing spot lights up there that I can turn on and off by this remote system too. I recently even added remote control for my studio house lights, so I can now control them from the camera position or the wall switch by the door, when I find that low F-Stop camera settings are needed and the house lights are contaminating the lighting needed for the shots. All of the strobes are Godox X controlled, using a wireless transmitter on the camera hot shoe, and my 6 backdrop system is motorized, so I can raise and lower my backdrops from the camera position, also using a wireless remote.
The only cable that might be on the floor is my camera tether cable, but it also runs along the ceiling lighting grid to a point above the usual camera location, then hangs down with enough slack to allow me free movement in the camera half of my shooting room. I do have an extension Tether Cable, should I ever need longer. My shooting laptop is in the rear corner of the shooting room at camera right, and I have a 60" flat screen TV connected as a 2nd monitor to the laptop attached to the wall above the laptop. When I take a shot, within about 2 seconds, it appears on the TV, as well as in my camera software on the laptop computer. When shooting live subjects/models, the TV is facing them, and they can readily see the result of each shot on the TV. I have found that the shots improve rapidly as the shoot progresses because of this. The TV isn't quite high quality enough for serious photo editing, but it is close enough for them to see themselves easily and at near the final quality. It's a new VISIO TV.
If anyone reading this would like to know more about any of this, I welcome questions and will be happy to provide more details. I built all of it to minimize floor trip hazards and make my small shooting room as flexible as possible for the kind of photo and video work that I do, with safety in mind for both me as well as my guests. I'm 82 now, and don't get around as good as I did 30 years ago. I do mostly portraits, product and still life, plus short video commercials in this 19' X 26' X 8' high room. It's been a challenge to make it work well, but I'm quite happy with the result.
Charley
Charley
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