Using a Light Tent

When taking still photos of small items, it is common practice to use a light tent. The translucent nylon material of the light tent diffuses your lighting evenly around your subject, reducing shadows and softening the light.

Most light tents today come with backgrounds that attach to the inside of the light tent using velcro. Choosing the correct background is the first step in using the light tent. Be careful to choose a background that your subject will not blend into. If the background has creases, use a steamer to remove the creases prior attaching it to the light tent.

Another important element is the lighting. After setting up the light tent, you will need to add your lighting around it. You should use at least two light sources; adding a third in the front is useful if you still see shadows when just using two lights. When selecting your lights, you should look for daylight balanced compact fluorescent bulbs, as they produce the most natural lighting. Setup one light on each side of the light tent; if you use the third light, set it up in front of the light tent at the same level as your subject. You should turn off any other lighting sources in the room, especially the flash on your camera.

To reduce any blur in the photo, you should setup your camera on a tripod. Position this in front of the light tent, about 1 1/2 to 2 feet away. You can adjust this to a height and angle that will get you the results you are looking for. For extra stability, you can use an infrared remote or wireless shutter.

Light tents are simple to use and produce great results. With the right setup, anyone can create professional photographs.

Softbox vs. Umbrella

This is a question often asked by beginning (and sometimes established) photographers: should I use softboxes or umbrellas for light modification? There is a lot of debate amongst professional photographers on this topic, and for good reason. If you’ve read about this on the internet before, you’ll be familiar with why.

With the right training, a good photographer can use either of these devices to obtain the results they desire. For a beginner, a basic understanding of how light works should be obtained before tackling the subject.

This entry aims to address the pros and cons of softboxes, umbrellas, and brolly boxes, and assumes prior knowledge of working with basic photography lighting.

Softboxes
When it comes to lighting, softboxes can offer you the most (and best) control and most uniform lighting. Multiple shapes are available, ranging from your standard rectangular or square to octagonal. They are double diffused, producing softer light than your other lighting options. Softboxes are more effective at reducing shadows, and can be used with brighter lighting (unlike with other methods, where too much light can wash out your photos).

However, softboxes are the most expensive option. In most cases, they are also hard to setup (especially when compared to umbrellas and brolly boxes), making use of them on location difficult. Quick setup softboxes are available, but the standard assembly softboxes offer you more versatility.

Umbrellas
There are two different types of umbrellas that you can use for photography: reflective and shoot through. Either option you choose, there are two large incentives for using umbrellas: they are the cheapest lighting modification option, and extremely easy to transport and setup. They produce a soft look, and the light falls nicely onto your background.

Umbrellas are also the most difficult to control and produce the most spill. If you use too much light with them, unlike with softboxes, you will wash out some elements of your photos. Also, if you are not extremely careful, you will get a small black center in the catch light in your subject’s eyes.

Brolly Boxes
A newcomer to the market is the brolly box. This item combines the quick assembly of the umbrella with some of the advantages of a softbox. A typical brolly box will have an outer white lining for shoot through lighting, with an inner black lining that fits around the head of your light to contain and eliminate spill. Used correctly, they can produce results similar to a softbox of the same size. Additionally, brolly boxes are as easy and convenient to setup and breakdown as an umbrella, and only slightly more expensive.

Brolly boxes generally have more light output than softboxes, but are not as robust as they offer less diffusion and cannot handle as much lighting. If used too far away from your subject, your light fall off will greatly diminish.

If you are a beginning photographer, we recommend becoming familiar with basic lighting before you begin to use modifiers. Once you have a basic knowledge, you should be determine what your needs are for your particular style of shooting.

Choosing Reflectors

There are many factors to consider when selecting reflectors: size, shape, color, and portability. This blog entry will discuss some of these factors so that you will be better informed when making your purchase.

Size
The size of a reflector can have an impact on the outcome of your pictures, but overall its affect is limited. Generally speaking, the larger the reflector, the more light is spread out.

Shape
Reflectors come in a few different shapes, but the shape of a reflector has no affect on the overall results the reflector produces. Shapes range from circular to oval to triangular, but what you choose is largely a matter of personal preference.

Color
The color of your reflector is the most important aspect to consider when purchasing or using a reflector. Reflectors come in many different colors. Below is a short outline of what effects each color can produce.

Gold: Use gold reflectors to warm up your pictures.
Silver: Silver reflectors can be used to brighten your picture, without affecting the color of the light.
Silver and gold stripe: Similar to the gold reflector, the silver and gold striped reflector will warm up your pictures. However, the effect it produces is softer, while still warm. This produces a flattering warm light, ideal for portraits.
White: Use white reflectors to bounce light into shadows, without affecting the quanity, quality, or color of light being cast on your subject.
Translucent: Translucent reflectors can be used to soften light, and are often placed above your subject.
Black: Black reflectors act in a subtractive manner, removing excess light from your photos.
Blue: Blue reflectors are often included in reflector kits, but in reality, they are not reflectors. Instead, they are useful as Chroma Key digital backgrounds for background replacements.
Green: Like blue reflectors, green ones are also included in several kits online. They are also used in digital photography for making background replacements.

Portability
If you will be moving around often, portability is a factor to consider. Hand-held reflectors can be useful when on the go, as they have a convenient handle and do not require stands in order for you to use them.

Using Barndoors

To start off this blog, we are starting with a topic that we are often asked about, but for which little information is available on the internet: barndoors.

Barndoors are devices that you can add to your lighting to help you to adjust how much light hits your subject and where that light is directed. There are many types of barndoors available; the one you choose depends on the lighting system that you use, as many are made to fit specific strobe heads. The most important thing to remember when purchasing a barndoor is to make sure to purchase one that is compatible with your lighting. For the purposes of this post, we will be discussing a small four leaf barndoor mounted on a 110 watt monolight strobe head, both available on our website.

To attach the barndoor to the strobe head, there are four screws around the center opening of the barndoor that need to be adjusted so that the strobe head fits between them. Then, slide the strobe head between the screws so that, when tightened, the screws will all sit about 1/2 an inch from the outside edge of the strobe head. You want to make them tight, so that the barndoor will not move when adjusted, but do not overtighten them (this may cause damage to your strobe head).

After your barndoor is attached, you can then adjust the leaves of the barndoor by pivoting them on the hinges. Bringing the leaves in, closer to the light, will narrow the beam of light that hits your subject. Be careful moving the leaves in too far, however, as this can cause the leaves to heat up and become extremely hot.

Determining where you want to position your leaves will take time and is something you will need to experiment with in order to get the style of lighting you want. Keep in mind that you will not necessarily get a straight edge from the barndoor leaves, as light between them does bounce around and will soften the harshness of the edges. To get a general idea of how the light will look in your photographs, turn on the modeling light on your strobe so that you can make basic adjustments to the leaves while examining the effects this has on your lighting.

Barndoors are a relatively inexpensive was to make your strobe more versatile. Take your time to setup one up and get familiar with it, and you can easily change the lighting effects from your strobe.