Monday, June 2, 2014

Digital photography....Lighting Set up

Ok, my many followers are asking about this. Well, at least one of you are, so here it is! Thanks for asking, Deborah. It's nice to know someone is actually reading my blog!

#1- Backdrop is graduated vinyl sheet available from Amazon.com.






















#2 - Backdrop is attached to wooden dowel with duct tape.



















#3- Foam board used for house insulation. This is the kind with a silver reflective side....buy at Home Depot or any building supply. it comes is 4' x 8' sheets. cut it into 2 - 24" x 24" pieces for the sides. The back piece needs to be 24" tall and as wide as your backdrop plus an inch. Duck tape it together.
Make a notch about an inch from the back upper corners so that you can rest the dowel there.















#4- collapsable disk made of translucent fabric to diffuse the light. (The is a photo equipment item) This rests on top of the set up. Also available from Amazon.















#5- And last, but very important, a light source that is color corrected. I use a high wattage CFL like this one also at Amazon.

KAEZI 85 Watt Studio Light Bulb 5500K CFL Day Light.

http://www.amazon.com/KAEZI-Watt-Studio-Light-5500K/dp/B00BISL11U/ref=pd_cp_hi_0
This keeps the colors true in the picture. Turn off all the other lights in the room while shooting. Daylight coming in windows is OK to mix with this light. It is good to put this on a light stand. 


















Ok , that's my set up. It is easy to take down and move out of the way. The foam board just folds up. The dowel i keep attached to the backdrop and just unroll it to use it. 

Next I'll post some tips about how to use this set up. Have fun ; )

4 comments:

TheGoldenTrees said...

Amazing post!! Thanks for share it!!!

TheGoldenTrees said...

Amazing post!! Thanks for share it!!!

howwelovegoodtomatoes said...

Would the light source you mentioned work well if I wanted to photograph paintings?

Blue Fire said...

In answer to your question about photographing paintings, yes this light bulb would work however you would need to arrange the set up quite differently for flat 2D artwork. this set up is for small-ish 3D artworks (like mine)
paintings are actually kind of hard to photograph since you want the lighting to be even across the entire surface and depending on the size of the painting the way to accomplish this would vary. what size are your paintings?