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aloy 3T WIS 
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I've read in several posts the term "light tent". I naturally assume this is some sort of photography lighting tool. What exactly does this do? Is it effective? Does this help reduce direct glare and/or reflection ... something I have a great deal of trouble and frustration with? Also, is this something one can purchase and if yes, about how much does it run please? I also read that this week's 1st place Pic of the Week prize is a digital camera lighting system. Sounds intriguing ... and expensive! What exactly is it and would it help me? Which is better or would/could they work together? Once again, about how much would it run please? Any other suggestions for me puleeez? ;) :D Any insight would be hugely appreciated! Many thanks in advance!! :) Alina Last edited on Wed Dec 3rd, 2008 03:22 am by aloy |
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paulorbvalley 3T WIS 
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Hi Alina If you search"light tent " on Ebay there are quite a few some come with the lighting equipment too and are called "studio in a box" The light tent gives you a seamless background to your pics. I don' know much about photography but i am thinking of investing in a light tent myself for the photo's on the website. PaulCamera_photos.gi:D |
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pallet spoon Guest
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It disperses the light so you don't get hot spots and reflections. Especially useful with watches due to reflections off of the crystals. Ususally very cheap. Another neat, cheap, picture taking tool for getting rid of even more reflections is a circular polarizing filter (lense). Like 10 bucks on EBay. |
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aloy 3T WIS
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Thanks so much Paul and pallet! I'm going to try both. Wish me luck! ;) :)  |
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Paxman 3T WIS 
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Light tent. Full spectrum lights. Polarizing filter. Tripod. Patience...  The best light is always out doors but dang it be cold now!! De Pere, WI 54115 Conditions as of 6:53 pm GMT  CurrentlyFair (night) Temperature14 F, feels like 0 F |
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Skipdawg 3T WIS 
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I'm a sunlight guy too. LOL  |
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anders213 3T WIS 
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Practise Practise and Practise mate. There is a saying in photography, what matters most is the 12" behind the camera. |
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oagaspar Site Founder 
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Anders said it best....all the equipment in the World won't help if you don't practice and know how to use your camera,angles to avoid reflections,lighting etc. and developing an eye..... the more pics you take the better you get....practice makes perfecthand6.gif |
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pallet spoon Guest
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True, but practicing without at least the basic equipment can be very frustrating. Also, let it be said that no one 'just takes' a great picture. I would venture to say that any pic on here that has made your heart skip a beat has been dragged through at least one 'photoshop-esqe' type of software. |
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aloy 3T WIS
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Paxman wrote: Light tent. The light tent blocked the best light I had - the track lighting in my bathroom - I ended up back in my tub again!  The lights did help for some shots. The only problem was they got so hot they made the watch too hot to touch and actually burned a corner of the watch pillow!!! The CPL worked GREAT!!!! smile8.gif The tripod was really helpful for some shots too! :D A challenge to navigate in a tub though! Couldn't find Patience on eBay!!!! ;) :D I know, I miss sunlight. It was the easiest, best lighting source. Too cold here too - temp right now 27 degrees, but not for long - SEVERE WEATHER ALERT
HIGH tomorrow - 3 above (w/out wind chill)! YIKES!!!! coyote2.gif So my pics are improving! Many thanks for all your great advice! :) Last edited on Sat Dec 20th, 2008 08:51 am by aloy |
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aloy 3T WIS
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oagaspar wrote: Anders said it best....all the equipment in the World won't help if you don't practice and know how to use your camera,angles to avoid reflections,lighting etc. and developing an eye..... the more pics you take the better you get....practice makes perfecthand6.gif Thanks Anders and O. I know practice is key. I used to be into photography big time years ago. I had an SLR and used the manual mode. I loved getting really creative and was really into it, but I took pics of landscape, scenery, nature, and panoramic shots too. This is a whole different ball game. It's not learning the camera for me, but the nuances of as you say O, avoiding reflections and for me, mainly avoiding shadows that frustrates me the most. Argh!!!  |
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Paxman 3T WIS
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You do have the lights outside the tent, don't you?Practice, practice, practice... |
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aloy 3T WIS
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pallet spoon wrote: True, but practicing without at least the basic equipment can be very frustrating. I have to agree. Although practice is very, very important the new equipment I've been using has been very helpful. Especially the CPL you suggested. That has been the biggest help of all. Thank you so much for that! :) So you mention photoshop. I wonder if that is what you use ?? I'm not familiar with that. I wonder how that works ?? A friend of mine is a photo editor. Yesterday he recommended a program called photoscape. I wonder if you or anyone else has heard of it and how that rates ?? I never knew about photo software before. I bet that helps a lot. Thanks again hun! :) |
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Paxman 3T WIS
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Look here! http://photo-editing-software-review.toptenreviews.com/ |
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oagaspar Site Founder
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Alina your camera should have come with some sort of editing software ....photoshop is an extremely hard program to learn...I gave up years ago :D.... light tents,editing software,etc. are all tools just like your cam and all require practice which takes time.....you still need to take a good pic imho so be patient and continue taking pics as with each one you will see improvement hand6.gif |
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aloy 3T WIS
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Paxman wrote: You do have the lights outside the tent, don't you? Yes sir, the lights are outside the tent. They wouldn't fit inside. I know you're right. Just like learning all the settings in a manual mode SLR and special effects. It took so much practice ... so much time - I'd forgotten! Thanks again so much for your suggestions and encouragement. You're the best! :)  |
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aloy 3T WIS
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Paxman wrote: Look here! Hmm ... that's odd - I didn't see Photoscape listed! :shock: I did see Picasa. He recommended that too. I told him I missed the crop feature on my old digital camera program. (My old camera had more features!) Picasa has that. He suggested those two because they're free. Thanks Pax. I was able to check out Picasa and the other software available out there. :) BIG THANK YOU !!!! smile8.gif |
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aloy 3T WIS
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oagaspar wrote: Alina your camera should have come with some sort of editing software ....photoshop is an extremely hard program to learn...I gave up years ago :D.... light tents,editing software,etc. are all tools just like your cam and all require practice which takes time.....you still need to take a good pic imho so be patient and continue taking pics as with each one you will see improvement hand6.gif O, your reassuring words are a tremendous incentive. Thank you so much for boosting my confidence. You truly are a prince. |
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oagaspar Site Founder
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Alina the simplest of tools is a tripod which will help tremondously on your still shots...also when shooting high polished watches wear black as the reflection in the case will be near non existant and practice placement of the watch...move it in different positions and angle your cam and use your zoom in macro mode so that glare is kept to a minimum or not at all visible as the case and crystal will pick up reflections including yourself...just a few of the easiest tips that were passed on to me when I started watch photographyhand6.gif |
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pallet spoon Guest
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Yes, a tripod is CRITICAL for taking watch photos (or any real close-up work actually). I use a room in my house that has 2 full walls of glass with a western and southern exposure. The best light for me is from sun-up until about 2PM. You always want to use INDIRECT, or difused sunlight if you can ... like outside, but in the shade on a really sunny day. In my 'room' there is no fixture on the cieling. When I shoot, I always make sure my watch crystal is pointing straight up. This means the only reflection I have to deal with is an undetectable white ceiling. Looking at your watch crystal from your cams point of view is very important ... and adjusting your CPL at that point to minimize the reflections. Remember, what you see reflected in the crystal, is what will apear in your photo. Minor flaws can be fixed ... major ones just waste a lot of time in editing and are sometimes better tossed in lieu of just taking a better shot to start with. I also use another trick for taking shots when the watch really needs to be tilted. I use a piece of white poster board and hold it so that the entire crystal (or whatever reflective surface) is blocked from reflecting anything but that board. Black sometimes works best for taking pix of chromed (ie, polished) surfaces to give a richer appearance. Here are the same shots, one with a 'white' reflection, and one with a 'black' reflection. White:  Black:  ... think of photography as 'painting with light' and it does become quite a bit easier :) . Lastly, I use a pretty simple little photo editing program ... it has to be complex enough to do the job, but I don't like being baffled looking for certain functions either. What I use is 'JASC Paint Shop Pro Studio' . It can be found at http://www.jasc.com ... their latest product is Paint Shop Pro Photo X2, so old copies of the Studio software I use can be had for cheap (about 25 bucks). As I stated in my other thread, this is where the magic happens. Investing the time to learn a piece of software will pay BIG dividends in your photos. If you like messing around on the computer and photography in general, the learning experience can be pleasant :) . If you can learn to play with brightness and contrast, as well as removing all the little specs of crap that will inevitably end up in EVERY pic you take, you will be well on your way. Here is a shot I just took, just as described above, of my new green Orsa ... still waiting for the special strap I ordered to arrive:  // |
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pacifichrono 3T WIS 
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I'm still exploring, but here are two light tents/boxes I've used. The first is just a clear plastic storage bin from Target covered in white tall kitchen garbage bags. The second is a white nylon tent I bought on eBay. It still takes lots and lots of shots from different angles and different exposures to get a few "keepers."  |
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teddyhanna Guest
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Sh*t I have the best tool ever. I just get my maine coon cat "ROCKY"..... |
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