Due to a lack of funds (caused by a lack of employment), I am going to try my hands at building a light tent for myself. The primary use will be florals (orchids, mainly). My big question to all is what is the best cloth to use for the light panels (sides and top) and the best cloth to use as a black backdrop? I'd rather buy cloth cheaply at a fabric store than buy a black background cloth at a photo store and cut it up.
Most decent sized fabric stores have white 'sail cloth' in various thicknesses, which is basically the same as the fabric used in softboxes. There are also many choices in black velvet (watch out for the stuff that's too shiny)
I've had success with translucent white shower curtain liners from Target and Wal-Mart. Cheap, strong, and easy to wipe down with a damp sponge when soiled. (And washable when they get really dirty.)
I'd make the box out of the white shoot-through material on all sides, and then use interchangable black and colored posterboard for the sweeps as needed. If you make the box bottomless, you can also lay it on one side or the other when you need to support your subject with an arm or other long device.
FWIW - Before you put to much effort and expense into the project you might want to stop and consider if a tent is the best lighting strategy for flowers.
The illusion of 3D is created in a photo with contrast. To get contrast in a soft object like a flower, especially a white one, you'd be better off with lighting which creates specular highlights rather than the type of diffuse omni-directional lighting the tent will produce.
cgardner wrote:
...To get contrast in a soft object like a flower, especially a white one, you'd be better off with lighting which creates specular highlights...
But is contrast what he wants?
As in much art, there are different approaches that give different results. One is not neccesarily better or worse than another; it's a matter of taste.
A still life by a Dutch master uses light and shadow to create the illusion of 3D. A Japanese sumi-e scroll presents scenes as evenly lit 2D. I enjoy both.
In this photo, the artist used highly directional light to create highlights and shadows:
But I often see people here throw equipment at lighting problems they don't fully understand and I was just offering food for thought based on how I approach lighting flowers and other soft textured objects.
Many people talk about light tents because that seems to be the current vouge.
With a little planning its just as easy to create a table top shooting environment that can be made into a tent, or just as easily have a black panel used to subtract light on one side. Or, remove the defusion fabric to increase shadow definition while using a reflector for bounce fill.
I've found that a card table or similar, with the top removed and replace with a piece of plexi is a good starting point. That way I can bounce light up under the subject if desired or use something dark to create a sweep.
Then use translucent panels or foam core on the sides or over the top.
Just takes some planning depending on the subject and desired outcome.
dmward wrote:
Many people talk about light tents because that seems to be the current vouge.
With a little planning its just as easy to create a table top shooting environment that can be made into a tent, or just as easily have a black panel used to subtract light on one side. Or, remove the defusion fabric to increase shadow definition while using a reflector for bounce fill.
I've found that a card table or similar, with the top removed and replace with a piece of plexi is a good starting point. That way I can bounce light up under the subject if desired or use something dark to create a sweep.
Then use translucent panels or foam core on the sides or over the top.
Just takes some planning depending on the subject and desired outcome....Show more →
Amen! you can get great results from foam core and tracing paper, bonus if you already have strobes, if not any clamp light or work light will do.
What you just showed is similar to what I want to try and build. I plan on taking a ~3' cubeish box (lot of the orchids I photograph can be big plants), cutting holes in the sides, and lining it with fabric. I want something more one-piece portable, as my primary flower photographing opportunity comes at the monthly orchid club meeting, so I'd like to be able to just carry it in in one piece, prop some lights up and have a go at it.
As to specular highlights, I already need to do something to get a black sweep in place for a background, and if I want specular highlights I can always blast a flash in. Right now I'm just shooting with an off camera (usually hand held) flash. A box set up as a light tent will allow me to play with all sorts of lighting opportunities, and be something I can haul around with me in pretty much one piece.
cgardner wrote:
But I often see people here throw equipment at lighting problems they don't fully understand and I was just offering food for thought based on how I approach lighting flowers and other soft textured objects.
Many of the orchids I'm shooting at the orchid club (awesome club to join for the flower shooting opportunities, btw) are not soft textured objects. Some are very glossy, and generate large, blown out specular highlights when lit by flash (I am using an SB-600 with a Lumiquest softbox here).
This flower shows an example of what I am trying to avoid. Not all are like this, of course.
Greg Feldman wrote:
You know what's better than shooting with a light tent?
Shooting without a light tent.
Why? How is this helpful to me (or anyone else)? Do you have some advice on shooting florals to offer?
I've been shooting without a light tent for a while, and am not very happy with my results. I want to better control my lighting, and have control of the background white or black. I'm sure a perfect studio set up might not need a light tent, but I'd like something I can take with me and set up in not too much space. A light tent that I build myself offers me this opportunity on a very limited (for the time being) budget.
Catfur wrote:
I want to better control my lighting, and have control of the background white or black.
OK. I might have been just a touch flippant in my previous post. Here's the deal: a light tent will not help you better control your lighting. At most, it will help you achieve one particular look (that you can achieve without a light tent anyway). To me, "better control" doesn't mean homogeneity and lack of shadows. It means flexibility and the ability to envision certain looks and make them happen. A light tent is the opposite.
You really don't need a light tent to get white or black backgrounds. For that matter, you don't even need white or black physical backgrounds to get white or black backgrounds. But assuming you want to use them, you can use many more kinds if you're not using a tent.
I don't want to hijack this thread, so if anyone has any suggestions for me, please feel free to PM.
I'm interested in this topic as well. In my case, tripods, monopods, light tents, etc are all forbidden, and the exhibition area is not very well lit. I'm attacking this problem with a 5D, a 70~200 2.8 IS lens with ext tubes, and off camera flash on a RRS bracket. I'm getting a larger Lumiquest softbox to try to eliminate hot spots and shadow problems by producing a softer light that will be larger in area than the smaller orchids, rather than having a "point" source from the smaller flash head. Am I on the right track here? If so, is it possible to keep the background from going black; I think I'm doomed from rapid light fall-off.
If you have your heart set on a Light Tent, using an old lamp shade as an impromtu tent also works.
Try and source a white one of course or rip of the existing covering and replace with tracing paper or white paper if you have the grunt with your lights.
The added kickers is because of the angle of the shade, you ended up obtaining a helpful angle of incedence/reflection to combat the speckies you not wanting.
Hey depending on what you find, you might ended up with a nice snoot type of arrangement for your lens to poke through.
Other than that, I hate light tents..... You get get what you want by simply using light field set ups, foam core white/black, masks/shades all made out of any old things.
Do you know of the book, "Light Science and Magic". If not, don't spend another cent on any more light modifiers. It's the Bible for working out just about every lighting solution.
BrianO wrote:
I am appalled at the arrogance of a couple of the people who have posted here.
Catfur did not ask "How should I light flowers?" He did not ask "Should I make a light tent?" He did not ask if a light tent was a useful accessory.
He asked for suggestions on how to build a light tent.
An analogy: Imagine that this were an auto-enthusiast forum. A new guy comes in and says "Hi everyone. I want to improve my winter-driving skills, so I'm looking for instructions on building a snow plow for my car." Some people might point him to plow instructions, but it would benefit him more to recognize that he's going down the wrong road.
I was (as admitted above) flip in my initial reply, but I did explain further after that. The fact is I know zero pros who use a light tent.
BrianO wrote:
I am appalled at the arrogance of a couple of the people who have posted here.
Catfur did not ask "How should I light flowers?" He did not ask "Should I make a light tent?" He did not ask if a light tent was a useful accessory.
He asked for suggestions on how to build a light tent.
+1
"A fanatic is someone who can't change his mind and won't change the subject" - Winston Churchill
Catfur, you've got some good suggestions from those who answered the question.
I have a couple of thoughts. One is to build a square base out of PVC with "T's" at the corners. You could use 1/2" or even 1/4" PVC as "tent poles" stuck into the open end of the T's. Drape it with ripstop (sailcloth) and you're all set. If you want to get creative, you could cut the cloth into sides that you could velcro on the frame. Leave one off the back or use black velvet for the black background. You could also create a lens hole for the cloth in the front.
If you already have one, you could use a large shoot through umbrella pointing straight down and positioned very close over the subject. You could use foam core cards around the sides, or if you got fancy, you could make a ripstop skirt to hang down around the sides of the umbrella.
Good luck and I hope your employment situation improves soon!
