Tabletop photo studio?

[Former_Member]

Has anyone used a tabletop photo studio for their photographs? I'm having problems with natural light since its too gloomy out. If you have used them, are they worth it? Do they actually give you a good photo? Thanks for your information. ^^

[Former_Member]

Anyone?

[Former_Member]

You mean like a light box? Yeah a lot people use them and I've never heard any complaints about them from anyone. Most people make their own. There are several tutorials around.

[ScrapendipityDesigns]

If you have a good set up a lightbox can work great. If you google tutorials you will find plenty, here is one I found with a quick search:

http://www.thescrapshoppeblog.com/2010/07/tutorial-how-to-make-light-box.html

Good luck!
Rachel

[Former_Member]

Thank you! Yes that's what I'm talking about. ^_^ I was actually referring to the kind you can buy, but why do that when you can make it, haha XD

[Former_Member]

I just collected all the materials to make my own light box. Just need to put it together. I'll let you know how it turns out! ^_^

[Former_Member]

Thank you! I'm curious to see how it works. Do you think you need special lights too?

[Former_Member]

I bought a lightbox off of Amazon and it sits collecting dust in my closet. I found for my products the best light is natural light so I'm stuck with having to wait for the sun to shine to take photos.

[Former_Member]

Melissa - "Do you think you need special lights too?"

Depends. How much do you know about your camera? Is it a point and shoot? Are you using your phone? Chances are they have a feature called White Balance built in that either provides for AWB (Automatic White Balance) or you can adjust for Daylight, Fluorescent, or Incandescent (this last one is what we typically use indoors in lamps, ceiling fixtures, etc).

White Balance is a term that involves your camera "seeing" whites as white. All light has color. Daylight is blue. Fluorescent is typically green. Incandescent usually comes off as orange. Your camera will see these colors unless you tell it to see "white as white".

The AWB (Automatic White Balance) can usually compensate pretty well, but not always.

I guess the easiest thing would be to check your manual and find if there are settings you can adjust. They are usually marked with simple symbols like a "lightbulb" representing indoors, a "sun" representing outdoors, etc.

The best thing to do is try to pick up bulbs at your local hardware store that are color corrected for natural light. You've probably seen them all the time and never paid attention. They're in the same section with regular bulbs. You also need a bulb that's strong enough to get through whatever material you use in the light box to diffuse the light.

Sorry, I know this is a lot. It's really not as bad as it sounds. Just trying to cover some basics. Good luck!

[Former_Member]

Thank you Paula! I'm not sure what my camera has, I actually switch back and forth between two cameras. I will have to look into their settings a little more deeply. I'm not too tech savvy when it comes to cameras... hopefully I can figure it out! ^_^

[elainesgems]

This is an inexpensive one from Ebay for $29.40. It's only 12".
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Photo-Studio-Soft-Box-w-Backgrounds-Lighting-Light-Kit-w-Tripod-JTK106-/3104...

This one is 20"
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Softbox-Light-Box-JS-20-Cube-Photography-Lighting-Photo-Studio-Box-JTK109-/3...

[Former_Member]

I made my own out of a cardboard box and white tissue paper.

[Former_Member]

Thanks to both of you! I've been researching it on youtube and there are a lot of video tutorials on how to do it yourself. I will definitely be doing this soon!

[Former_Member]

I don't have a light box, just a piece of white poster board. The lamp I use has a full-spectrum bulb, these are available at home improvement stores. It gives better light and provides truer colors than a traditional or CFL bulb.

[Former_Member]

I just built my light box and took some trial photos. Nothing but a couple of $10 desk lamps from Target, my Kodak point-and-shoot, and the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button in the Picasa photo editor.

I don't have any of the new photos added to my listings yet, but I added one as my profile pic so you can see what it looks like. I also added a comparison on my Google+ page, if you'd like a closer look.

I'm pretty pleased with the results, for ~$24, 20 minutes worth of work, and very little photography experience. :)

https://plus.google.com/117883780370862686277/posts

(edited to add that the $24 counts the two $10 desk lamps :P)

[Former_Member]

Thank you! Lindsey, you can definitely see a difference in your photos. ^_^ I'm so excited to give making my own light box a try.

[Former_Member]

I don't use a "table top" photo studio because my table isn't anywhere where I can get good light.

But I do have a great spot in the front room that I do my photos in when the light is 'just right'.

I read the manual that came with the camera to figure out the settings and just keep taking photos until I get the ones that I want.

Sometimes its the first few that are the best and other times it takes a dozen pics before I get everything right.

[Former_Member]

Thank you for the input!

[MysticRainCreations]

I've got a table downstairs where I have my little 'photography studio' set up. :) I use poster board propped up against a heavier white board, then use about four regular desk lights around it for lighting and it works really well! I like the desk lamps because they're compact but yet give good light and I can move them around as needed to get the best lighting.

[Former_Member]

You're getting some great input here. I will say that the only drawback I've encountered with a light box is the lack of space for larger items. And after so long a lot of the products start to look the same. I change it up a bit by going outside and finding different backgrounds. I also carry a "bounce board" with me which just bounces sunlight onto my candles. Basically the bounce board is a sheet of foam board with aluminum foil taped to it.

[Former_Member]

I don't remember where I got the idea from, but someone suggessted something perfect - a clear rubbermaid container! It is just "frosted" enough to diffuse the light and because it is hard plastic you can attach and take off backgrounds easily without damaging the box. And when I am not using it, I store my backgrounds etc inside it! Works AWESOME!

[Former_Member]

I have a handmade light box using white tissue paper as a diffuser for smaller items and ended up buying a nice light tent on Amazon for about $30, I needed something that could accomodate my larger bags, and the homemade version was not working for those. I love my light tent, best investment I ever made.

After reading more about lighting, I also purchased 3 100 watt lamps (tough to find 100 watt table lamps, but I found mine at walmart for $10 each) and I always use a full spectrum or daylight bulb in each. For my larger light tent, I need all three lamps. I use auto on my white balance setting on my camera, and then I use PicMonkey online to crop/adjust all of my pics. (PicMonkey is easy, web-based so no downloading necessary of a program, and FREE. Much better and easier than GIMP or some of the other editors.)

Pictures are tough but so important! Good luck, lots of great info on this thread!

[LovgrenandDaughter]

I bought a photo tent off of ebay. Love it. Lights that came with it were laughable, so don't buy a package.

For lights I use painters lights - wall painters. $16 each from hardware store I put on the outside on either side of the tent.

For a background, ultrsuede again from ebay yards and yards of it. Inexpensively. Don't let the black cat get snuggly in tent on ultrasuede - lol.
Mucks it up :)
Hope this helps! Kristin

[aLilBiteOfCute]

" Elaine from elainesgems says

This is an inexpensive one from Ebay for $29.40. It's only 12".
www.ebay.com/itm/Photo-Studio-Soft-Box-w-Backgrounds-Lighting-Light...

This one is 20"
www.ebay.com/itm/Softbox-Light-Box-JS-20-Cube-Photography-Lighting-... "
-----------------------------------

I recently got this one! A 16" one. It's a great deal at $26.89 with free shipping. It has the tent box too, but it's hard to tell from the picture. :) -
http://www.ebay.com/itm/250967331627?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

I love it! I prefer natural lighting when there's enough sunlight. But now that it's getting darker out I've been using this a lot. Plus now I can take good pics at night! I wasn't able to before.

[JulieEllisDesigns]

I started using a lightbox recently. I've taken quite a few pictures in it and they are so much better now. You can look at my shop and definitely tell the difference between the new pictures and the old ones. To me, there's a huge difference.

I made my lightbox from one of those video tutorials.