Light tent setup (Natural light)
After some digging around in my loft for film cameras last week, I
stumbled upon a light tent that I got so long ago that I'd forgotten
that I actually owned it (reinforcing my argument that even storage
space needs to be organised, though I'm sure my husband would disagree).
Anyway, as I hadn't really got any ideas for things to shoot this week,
I thought I'd do a light test with the tent that I could use a
reference sheet when shooting product photography in future.
The shot (above) was the basic initial setup,
with one side of the tent collapsed to use the natural light from my
kitchen window. The tent comes with three sides, all made of a
semi-opaque fabric that works as a diffuser as well as a backdrop, though when using all three sides, there is only a black base rather than a white one. There
is also a foldable sheet of double sided fabric that works as an
additional backdrop/floordrop. I had a whole host of objects that I wanted to use for the test, but decided the perfume bottle would make the best subject because of it's transparent qualities.
I did take notes to match up with the light setup sketches I'd drawn up beforehand so hopefully all of the setup descriptions are accurate! There were a few rogue ones I couldn't identify though so bare with me, and also excuse my complete lack of technical language :D
1. Natural light from the kitchen window (about 3 feet away). It was an overcast day, so I suppose that technically this light was diffused, but when I mention 'diffused' light in the descriptions, I'm referring to the use of a modifier.
2. Natural window light diffused with the translucent middle of a reflector disk. (Are they even called reflector disks? Who knows...).
3. Natural window light with backdrop sheet turned to grey side and placed over right wall. The grey side reflected less of the light from the window back onto the bottle, making darker shadows and more definition on the right side of the bottle.
4. Again, the grey sheet reflected less light onto the bottle, but as I used a diffuser in this shot, there were no distinct shadows to darken.
Overall I think that the natural light worked nicely, however it created noticeable colour casts on the backdrop and didn't create any dynamic highlights or shadows on the glass of the bottle because the light source was so evenly spread, though this was improved somewhat when the bottle was laid flat.
Using natural light also meant that I had to use settings to accomodate it's dimness. This meant a wide aperture and slower shutter speed, causing a softness to the picture as I wasn't using a tripod, but also creating a smoother background due to the narrow depth of field.
If the natural light is bright enough, it works well with the light tent, even when using both diffused sides, however it does mean you're relying heavily on consistent weather conditions so that some shots don't end up brighter than others, which isn't always possible.
Using natural light also meant that I had to use settings to accomodate it's dimness. This meant a wide aperture and slower shutter speed, causing a softness to the picture as I wasn't using a tripod, but also creating a smoother background due to the narrow depth of field.
If the natural light is bright enough, it works well with the light tent, even when using both diffused sides, however it does mean you're relying heavily on consistent weather conditions so that some shots don't end up brighter than others, which isn't always possible.
I'll be posting the second set of images taken using flash next week so the posts aren't too long and text heavy.
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