Light Tents

Denise

Hi
Im considering getting a light tent to try to get better pics of my snakes.
What do folks think of these?
Will I definatley need to get daylight lamps to use with them, or can I use ordinary bulb in clip on lamps???
Im very novice to all this having just gotten myself a new D70s.
Any light shed on the subject much appreciated:rofl :rofl
Denise
PS this is my first post here :clap

Stormdancing

Denise wrote:

Hi
Im considering getting a light tent to try to get better pics of my snakes.
What do folks think of these?
Will I definatley need to get daylight lamps to use with them, or can I use ordinary bulb in clip on lamps???
Im very novice to all this having just gotten myself a new D70s.
Any light shed on the subject much appreciated
Denise
PS this is my first post here

Welcome to Dgrin!
Here are a couple links you might want to check out 1st.
Super Simple Light Tent

Light Box/Light Tent

Dee

Even simplier
If you have a folding card/game table unfold it, place it so that the top of the table rests on a surface (like a larger table) (or the floor if you are nimble) and the legs resting on the larger table hold it upright. Drape a sheet around the legs of the card table. Find something to use as a seamless background. Tape one edge of the seamless background to the table (or floor) the folding table is resting on. Tape the other edge to the inside of the "table" part of the card table.

Put your lights up outside of the white sheet, place your item inside the "tent" and shoot away.

When done, remove seamless background, remove sheet, and fold. Remove table, fold legs into the card table top and put away. All traces of light tent are now gone!

To start with you can use halogen shop lights, photofloods, halogen desk lamps, etc. If you already have the shop lights that come on a stand try those first.

If your item doesn't move -- you can use less light. I'm not sure what the snake would like though :-)

If you like the effect of shooting with the tent, the next thing I'd do would be to upgrade your lights. There are some expensive cool (not hot to touch) daylight balanced flourescent tube lights that screw in. These would fit clamp on reflectors (like you find in the hardware stores) or regular lamps.

Here's a link to the bulbs (I have not tried these yet) and also to some excellent free tutorials on shooting with light tents. http://store.tabletopstudio-store.com/lightbulbs.html

Welcome to dgrin!

pathfinder

I built the PVC version mentioned above. - http://www.pbase.com/wlhuber/light_box_light_tent

I did not glue the legs into the sockets, thus they can be rotated flat for storage, like the cardtable Dee mentioned above. Or since they are not glued, I can exchange them for longer legs one day if I were to see the need.

I made mine a little wider and used 1 inch PVC for more sturdiness. I use an old white sheet for my diffusion panels and a pair of Flashpoint studio strobes for lighting. I prefer it to the box method described above because I can used a paper background for a seamless transition from the floor to the backwall. I could also use a sheet of white plexiglass for a floor and light from beneath if necessary.

This was shot in it