Makeshift Studio - DPChallenge Forums

Canon EF 17-40mm f/4.0L USM

08/05/2005 04:59:52 PM · #1

I got this book from my brother on martinis, the pictures in it are amazing and i want to try and take some pictures of martinis myself, but the lighting is always bad, either there will be a glar in the glass or a shadow that i dont want, im sure the photos in the book are taken in a studio, but what do all of you do for a makeshif home studio for lighting, and background purposes.

Prof_Fate

08/05/2005 05:04:20 PM · #2

that is a big question. There are many books writtin on that subject. Food photography is a specialty, and delaing with reflective surfaces is an art as well.

What have you got, equipment wise? do you want to use hot lights or flash?

Rikki

Canon EOS-20D

08/05/2005 05:06:50 PM · #3

This is an interesting topic. I would like to know as well. Some folks use strobes such as graphicfunk. What are they? I only have the cheapo clamp lights with a soft white and a clear bulb.

Inquiring minds need to know :)

Canon EF 17-40mm f/4.0L USM

08/05/2005 05:08:11 PM · #4

Well right know all I have is the pop up flash, but my 580EX will be here soon i ordered it today. i found it somewhere cheeper and had to re order it, i tried using a white background with a martini, and a chunk of pineapple on the rim , i couldnt get it to look right, the glare from a yellow celing light ruined all of the pictures. i was wonderign can i put a white cloth up or somethign to block the glare,

Rikki

Canon EOS-20D

08/05/2005 05:25:35 PM · #5

Originally posted by TroyMosley:

you might want to shoot in RAW so you have the flexibility to adjust the WB... my two cents...

trnqlty

Nikon D90

Nikon AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8

08/05/2005 05:30:53 PM · #6

How about KeithManiac's setup for his metal challenge. I have yet to try it but my brother used a similar lighting setup for his circle challenge picture that did very well.

Here's the setup pic

A pic that my bro ArmyofnOne used this setup for.

brianlh

Canon EOS-450D Rebel XSi

08/05/2005 05:31:35 PM · #7

I made a small still-life type studio a bit back.. I never took pictures of it like I said I would, but it should be easy enough to assemble.

12 PVC Pipes, 8 3-way PVC corners (whatever they're called).. made a cube, draped some white cloth over and around it.. shined light into the cube. It ended up costing me about $40-50 because I had to buy the cloth and a work light to go with the PVC stuff. You can probably do it cheaper if you look around and figure things out rather than just buying it at the first place you see it (like I did).

edit: or you can follow the prior post - rough, but appears to have gotten the job done.

Message edited by author 2005-08-05 17:32:37.

08/05/2005 05:33:11 PM · #8

thats exactly waht i was thinking, using something to let the light thru but to expand it not direct it to cause a glaer, im going to go home from work and make a makeshift studio.

08/05/2005 05:34:26 PM · #9

those are both great, ideas. ill have to look around my place doesnt ahve alot of space for something big, but i could probably creat a box of some sort,

brianlh

Canon EOS-450D Rebel XSi

Sigma 30mm f/1.4 EX DC HSM for Canon

08/05/2005 05:36:33 PM · #10

Originally posted by TroyMosley:

those are both great, ideas. ill have to look around my place doesnt ahve alot of space for something big, but i could probably creat a box of some sort,

come to think of it, i remember seeing some homemade things that used the framework of a cardboard box rather than pvc pipe. not quite as sturdy, but definitely cheaper.

Prof_Fate

08/05/2005 05:45:55 PM · #11

Originally posted by TroyMosley:

Lesson 1: every light has a 'color' to it. Daylight and flash (aka strobe) are the same. Incandescent light is yellow in comparison, and flouresenct is green As long as you have only ONE light source, it can be any one of them. You can use the WB (auto, custom or choose a preset one) to make the colors look right. If you mix light sources, as in flash and incandescent lighting, you are screwed. There is no easy way, and often no way at all, to fix it. Avoid it like the plague! The only fixes up front are avoid it, make sure the flash overpowers the room lights, or put a colored gel on the flash to match the room lights.

Next is to control the light as in how bright/direct/harsh or diffuse/bounce/soften it. Bouncing it is the easiiest - the 580 will make it easy to do. As long as the walls are white, no probs. Colored walls will color the light a bit. To diffuse try a white bed sheet - iaim the light to go through it. a plastic trash bag works too. ON-camera diffusers and bouncers exist in many many forms - white cards, index card with a rubber band, omni-bounce, lumiquests' softbox, gary fong's lightsphere, plastic from a milk jug or rubing alcohol bottle, etc.

Then we can talk direction....reflections....shodows...

The beneift of hot lights is they are always on, relatively cheap to buy, and you can see what the light is doing. Drawback is HOT, they generally need to be failry close to the item, and still require a slow shutter speed. One of the ones i have that i think is the best is this one.. Can be had on sale at times for $20. get 2, and get some sheap white and black sheets from walmart ($3 ea), some PVC pipe and rope, clothes pins and perhaps hooks to hang the pipe to the ceiling, the cloth goes over teh pipe, the rope holds the pipe to the hooks, the clothespins hold it all together.

Flash is bright, white, lighter in weight(generally), portable (usually) and allow faster shutter speeds, are cooler to use.

james_so

Canon EOS 77D

08/05/2005 05:49:30 PM · #12

I made myself one of these but a little bit larger than this one. the PVC pipe cost around Â£5 ($9) and the connectors about Â£1 ($1.80) each, so thats about Â£13 (~$23) for all the pipes and fittings. For the white sheet I use (you guessed it) a white sheet ;) and the lights are just desk lamps with spot light bulbs in. All told it cost me about Â£30 (~$50) including 6 or 7 different coloured card backdrops.