Anyone else ready to have a melt down when it comes to photography?
Its that time of year when the light just isn’t right to capture those badly needed golden snaps.
By the time I get home from work the sun is slowly sinking and I’ve been flapping around desperately trying to get decent shots before dusk.
I’ve decided its time to invest in a light box and some daylight lamps. I’ve seen prices range from the silly to quite affordable so I think I will start with a great priced pop up light box which I’ve noticed has quite good reviews.
It also needs to be portable for me as I don’t have the space to have it set up all the time.
Anyone else got a light box setup? Any tips would be most welcome as I’m a complete novice lol
I’m really excited about getting a light box set up Rosalind @Myfanwysmakes . I haven’t ordered anything yet as I’m still doing the research, but I will let you know how I get on when I get it.
The £50 I spent on a studio lighting kit was hands down the best money I ever spent on my business.
If I want to take photos at midnight, then I blimmen well will!!
Aside from that, now that I know exactly what the light level will be for all the photos I take so it makes post processing about eleventy-billion times faster (possibly a slight exaggeration there but it’s still pretty awesome).
I got one of those pop-up tents with two table lamps but as I didn’t have a space to have it set up all the time, I found it was such a rigmarole to set it up and put it away every time. So I continued to photograph as much as I could in the front window. But as I’m not selling anything at the moment and have plenty of stock I don’t have to bother at all!
I like the flexibility a light box would bring Melanie @Beledien. It would be nice to take good photos any time of the day without any worries. We have a dull, drab day here today so no chance of me taking snaps today. I hate not being able to keep up with my listings due to the weather and time of year.
I can see how its a faff having to keep setting up the equipment Christine @coatimundi. I had thought of that, but I can’t see any other option. I will just have to get into a routine. I’m kind of taking over the house as it is with all of my craft stuff
Ive hit a quiet spell with sales too. Let’s hope it turns around for Xmas for us. I love Folksy but without sales its hard to replenish the components required to make new things.
I’ve got a light box, two, in fact and they are good for getting those pics at night. I spent about £75 on 2 lamps with daylight bulbs which my ex synced to the camera (god knows how) so that the camera picked up the right wavelength, or something. Now, I’m running the shop down I don’t use them very often, but they were certainly a good idea. They are very bulky though and getting them in and out of the storage place was a bit of a pain.
Ohhh that’s clever how he synced your lights to the camera Liz @lizdyson. I wonder how he did that??
I still haven’t ordered a kit yet lol. I’m such a faff pants
Im waiting for my other half to get home from work and he can help me. Hes the technical minded one out of both of us.
I know which light box I fancy. Its the lamps I’m struggling to fathom. How many do I really need? It could get quite pricey
I’ve read one is fine which will create a more 3D effect on objects. For less shadow 2 lamps, better still apparently a 3rd which lights the top of the box.
I’m scratching my head now in bafflement (is that even a word)
I have got one of the basic pop up light tents and it is really good for removing shadows and reflections but I could really do with some good lights and I still have to rely on daylight, putting it in the conservatory helps but its not always a very good solution. Also it is only a small one so is no good for my larger items.
A lot of my stuff is too big for a tent so I went for the soft boxes option. My kit is very similar to this one:
You do really need the lights though, as tents on their own will only be any good to you outside on a bright sunny day. The bulbs you want to look for are ones that are around 5500 kelvin which is equivalent to bright white midday sunlight (they’re special photography lamps, not the sort of thing you can pick up in the light bulb aisle at the supermarket). They’re comically huge, and epically bright. I’ve often wondered what my neighbours must think I’m doing when I have mine on after dark …
I have a pop up tent it shoots out the bag like a rocket. But it does the trick also has different back ground colours too.
I got it for about £10 from eBay great for smaller items. Easy to put away when you know how to.
I finally went ahead and bought some equipment.
I’ve got a pop up light tent which is fab and such value for money. It came with 4 different colour backing sheets. Only £7.45 with free postage from EBay.
Caution is definately needed when opening up the light tent as it bursts into life with such vigour
I watched a YouTube video to learn how to fold it back down and fit it back into the carry case it comes with.
Also I bought just one 48 led daylight adjustable lamp. I thought I would experiment with one to begin with to see how the photos came out, and I’m pleased to say I don’t think I will require another one.
The lamp is really bright and has quite a long flexible head on it so it lights up the box brilliantly.
I’m really chuffed. I had a quick try before I went to work this morning and the results were much quicker to achieve than faffing around looking for natural daylight.
Slowly but surely I want to change all my jewellery photos. When I look at the very first few things I put on the photos aren’t that good at all.
It shouldn’t take too long now with the light tent
