Edited to add some more test pics of some peanut butter cookies I baked tonight for taking to the Chalmers' tomorrow for Super Bowl watching.
Saturday, February 04, 2006
What's a lightbox?
I've always wondered how catalog and stock photographers got their pics to turn out great with just a plain white background. Now, thanks to Sarah and my nifty new camera, I can play around with it myself. The two most recent pics she has posted on her photoblog have been of test images from using her new homemade lightbox. What's a lightbox? I didn't know either until I clicked on her link to a website showing how to make one. Last night I went to Michael's and The Home Depot to get materials (fun Friday night ehh?) and this afternoon I put it together. I took shots of several objects ranging from my cell phone to my Eagle Scout awards to a miniture pumpkin with a Hummer on top. I'm far from acheiving the crisp white background I want but it's a start in the right direction. This will definitely come in handy if I ever start helping my grandparents start getting rid of stuff on Ebay. Here are a few test shots and the "muddy water" background as well as the box itself.
Edited to add some more test pics of some peanut butter cookies I baked tonight for taking to the Chalmers' tomorrow for Super Bowl watching.
Edited to add some more test pics of some peanut butter cookies I baked tonight for taking to the Chalmers' tomorrow for Super Bowl watching.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
That tutorial is really making the rounds. :) I like how you made your box long, instead of wide. I don't notice the back corner seam as much in your photos, maybe because it's farther back. That seam is my biggest annoyance with my box at the moment.
As for the color -- were you shooting JPG? Don't know what kind of light bulbs you're using, but if they're "normal" bulbs, what you'll have to do is shoot RAW and then set the white balance in post-processing. (Or set it in-camera and your JPGs should look at least decent.) The tungsten setting worked best for me, though what really worked best was doing it manually when post-processing the RAW images.
Anyway, I need more practice with mine for sure. And a solution to the seam problem.
Well the reason my box is long instead of wise is b/c I did it wrong but when I got done and looked back at the website I think it makes more sense to have a long box. It gives you more room for stuff and the seams are less noticable.
I've been shooting RAW and JPEG and did mess with the white balance and even tried the custom balance setting the color temp. I think most of the shots I posted are AWB or daylight. I did notice that the tungsten mode did yield something closer to white but it was pretty blueish also. Any suggestions on how to process the RAW images to get better results?
As for the light bulbs, I'm using Philips Natural Light bulbs that are supposed to replicate daylight. They're 75 Watt which is what the lamps are rated for but I think I could still use some more light. As with most any picture taking what our eyes see as bright doesn't appear that way to the camera. Any suggetions are appreciated. Thanks.
I think I got the Philips natural light bulbs as well, 100W. You're right, the tungsten setting was too blue, so I set a color temp myself. In the 2800-3000 range seemed to give me the best results, though I need to do some more tests...
Post a Comment