Anyone use a light tent?

MrBook2

I am looking to do some product shots (for lack of a better term) and was wondering if any of you folks have any experience with light tents? I am thinking of getting something like the Impact Light Shed from the nice folks at B&H ( http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/386544-REG/Impact_DLS_L_Digital_Light_Shed_.html ). I would light it with a pair of Nikon speedlights I already own.

How well do these sorts of products work? Are they really that much better than a DIY version made from a box with some white fabric? Are you mostly paying for convenience and portability with this kind of product? Any suggestions of the best one to get? I have seen several threads about some DIY solutions (including the brilliant one with the card table here: http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=87337&highlight=light ) but I have not seen much in the way of discussion from folks who actually have purpose built store bought collapsable light tents. I live in an apartment, so space is a precious commodity, and I don't own a folding card table.

I don't do product photography for a living, I am just hoping to make some decent pictures of some of things for personal use. I am also hoping to teach myself more about lighting in the process. Experience is a great teacher, after all.

ziggy53

Light tents and other similar light modifiers do a remarkable job in softening the light (and softening subsequent shadows) and reducing reflections. The commercial products do provide a convenience but you would need, potentially, a large number of them to cover the infinite number of possible products, product positions and lighting variations.

I often shot with a DIY open "pup tent" type of modifier and then used a white card, with a hole cut out for the lens, positioned in front of the camera. This allowed a fair amount of product positioning inside the tent and helped control reflections. Other times I used a white sheet of paper, folded in half and placed vertically so that it was self supporting. Sometimes a black or dark "flag" is used to provide depth and dimension. I've used 2 - double-diffused softboxes to form a light tent, and that works very well for many objects.

The point is that while modifiers work well, it's important to choose the proper modifier for the job, and to properly position the camera and lights with respect to the subject/object/product of the image. No 2 setups are likely to be the same.

Product photography is a whole sub-genre of photography and it takes a myriad of lights and modifiers and some real experience to make products look as good as they may.

Some links to review:

http://www.studiolighting.net/homemade-light-box-for-product-photography/
http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/product-photography.htm
http://www.tabletopstudio.com/documents/TTS_LIGHT_MYTHS.htm
http://cameras.about.com/od/travelphotography/ss/ebaytutorial_3.htm

Don Kondra

I'll just add Alzo Digital to the list.

I prefer the paper backdrops over cloth...

Cheers, Don

Zanotti

Really easy to build yourself. Many on here have had success with doing it w/o much investment.

Here is mine:

http://digitalgrin.com/showthread.php?t=51457&highlight=light+tent


Good luck!

Z

Manfr3d

Stay away from light tents with cloth background, they are horrible. Not
only will you need to overexpose to get rid of the wrinkles in the background
but you will also be at war with the small space inside the tent. I have one and
I am not using it. The sides eluminate everything inside the tent.

I shoot my products shots with a simple piece of cardboard as a background
and one to three (usualy only two) flashes behind shoot through umbrellas
above left and above right of the subject. When I use only one flash, I make
it an overhead light by bouncing it off a white ceiling. The white cardboard
softens the shadows around the edges of the subject just right.

The setup looks something like this: Link

This guy has a similar setup, only with more pro background stand and softboxes instead of umbrellas: Link

Here are some shots I took lately:






I only applied levels and whitebalance in post processing.

MrBook2

Thank you all for your responses. Looks like a lot of mileage is to be had from the DIY route. I think I will try Manfr3d's set up first. After all, I do have two umbrellas already. Now to just grab a big sheet of white posterboard and experiment a bit...

ziggy53

Manfr3d wrote:

...
Here are some shots I took lately:

... I only applied levels and whitebalance in post processing.

Excellent work.

MrBook2

Well, I have tried the set up suggested by Manfr3d, and the initial results are very promising.



There is dust everywhere (I didn't have my blower handy and did not want to take the time to clone it out) but I am very excited by this. It is amazing what you can do with a 59 cent piece of white poster board.

Thanks for all your input, folks. Looks like this is going to be fun!

Manfr3d

MrBook2 wrote:

There is dust everywhere (I didn't have my blower handy and did not want to take the time to clone it out) but I am very excited by this. It is amazing what you can do with a 59 cent piece of white poster board.

Looking very good! thumb

Don't forget to experiment with other backgrounds. Or small white
cardboard reflectors to lighten up shadows.

Black/dark grey can boost colors:



And bring out reflections on translucent objects:

NealAddy

I often use a light tent to photograph my turnings. My favorite tent is from Steve Kaeser (see below). He also sells on eBay. 30" tents run around $39. He also has 60" tents available.

Example shots can be seen here: http://www.nealaddy.org



Note: The position of the light sources shown above are not typical. This image was taken for a photo tutorial that I wrote and was meant to introduce photo tents to those who were unfamiliar with them.

Wil Davis

I was thinking about making my own light-tent, and there are lots of useful links on The Web; I was pushed for time, and ended up getting an Alzo 28" cube which looks similar to the Steve Kaeser tent (see post #11 by NealAddy). I also use clip-lights ($8 from Home Depot) with 100W n:vision CF daylight (5500ºK) lamps. I use microphone stands rather than chairs though…

Here's an example of a photo taken with my set-up:



Here's a link to more pics:
http://wildavis.smugmug.com/gallery/9315580_PXhqZ/1/622740373_USmkh

HTH -
- Wil

chrismoore

NealAddy wrote:

I often use a light tent to photograph my turnings. My favorite tent is from Steve Kaeser (see below). He also sells on eBay. 30" tents run around $39. He also has 60" tents available.

Example shots can be seen here: http://www.nealaddy.org



Note: The position of the light sources shown above are not typical. This image was taken for a photo tutorial that I wrote and was meant to introduce photo tents to those who were unfamiliar with them.

I have the Kaeser light tent just like this and I am pleased with the diffusion, however, as stated earlier in this thread, the cloth backgrounds that come with it drive me nuts with the dust and wrinkles. what background do you use? seamless paper?
Thanks

JohnBiggs

Wil Davis wrote:

I was thinking about making my own light-tent, and there are lots of useful links on The Web; I was pushed for time, and ended up getting an Alzo 28" cube which looks similar to the Steve Kaeser tent (see post #11 by NealAddy). I also use clip-lights ($8 from Home Depot) with 100W n:vision CF daylight (5500ºK) lamps. I use microphone stands rather than chairs though…

Here's an example of a photo taken with my set-up:



Here's a link to more pics:
http://wildavis.smugmug.com/gallery/9315580_PXhqZ/1/622740373_USmkh

HTH -
- Wil

Nice Pic!

chrismoore

chrismoore wrote:

I have the Kaeser light tent just like this and I am pleased with the diffusion, however, as stated earlier in this thread, the cloth backgrounds that come with it drive me nuts with the dust and wrinkles. what background do you use? seamless paper?
Thanks

Open question to all who use a light tent similar to the Kaeser- what do you use as your backdrop?

Art Scott

I have one that I can assemble in a few minutes that I can walk into approx a 6' cube....made pf PVC pipe and white flat sheets from the salvation army and good will stores.....I gave under $50 invested

ziggy53

chrismoore wrote:

Open question to all who use a light tent similar to the Kaeser- what do you use as your backdrop?

I greatly prefer a product table with a transparent tabletop and then a sweep underneath with separate illumination. Usually the sweep would be a white paper.

SLRdude

Yes.
A cheap one from American Recorder. I think it was about 60 bucks with two lights. It is called Studio In a Box.

I liked it because it folds into a neat easy to carry bag that contains everything you need.

(not my photo)