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  #1  
Old 19th May 2021, 11:45 AM
John King John King is offline
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Default Studio work.

I work part time at an industrial museum in Co Durham (Not Beamish) and do most of their photography. I have been presented with a task which is a bit out of my comfort zone, where I have been asked to photograph the archives. (long overdue). There are some 2000+ small and medium sized items to photograph and need to set up semi permanent studio.

I would appreciate advice on lighting and plain backgrounds, as I said I am out of my comfort zone. I have access to basic flash, reflectors and have a small amount of cash (read miniscule) from the management to buy backgrounds etc.

The construction of a light tent is also on the cards for the smaller items. What would you suggest for a design?
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Old 19th May 2021, 02:17 PM
Richard Gould Richard Gould is offline
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I can't halp much with light set up, I have done a bit of table top work,, but mainly using window light, For what you are looking at, small objects, is it possible to use a window, that and a couple of reflectors. ( crumpled cooking foil on cardboard works a treat as a reflector, I have 3 that I use, if no window then what flash do you have?, I have at times in the past used 2 old Metz 40 series hammer head flashes, and remember with an sort of flash for this you also need a flash meter, if you need diffuser's on camera flash then bubble wrap around the flash head again is a cheap and cheerful diffuser and again works well, I keep it permanently attached to all my camera flashes, I have a collection of Minolta AF cameras, and flash units like the 54 or 56 hs you can use off camera with wireless, so you can position the flash where you like, this is with the si range, I don't know if any of your cameras have something similer, but again, works well, as for a flsah tent, a frame is cheao and easy to construct, and muslin to cover it is cheap even a couple of the very cheap net curtains work, I always used either black or white backgrounds, I have a wall at home painted white with a piece of thick black cloth rolled up on a old broom handle that I can simply drop, and pice of same material as a base, with an old worn out white sheet for a white base, these are cheap and cheerful methods I use for table top, cheap,easy and they work, Hope this helps you, and good luck with your project, working for this can be fun, I do a lot ,or did before Covid, of photography for our Heritage Trust, which should start again this year, and it is good fun, and I get access ton a lot of things, including Victorian glass plates, which I sometimes get asked to print for special events that they put on, and it,s nice great to be part of the vast army of unpaid people that help to keep our heritage alive
Richard
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Old 19th May 2021, 03:03 PM
TonyMiller TonyMiller is offline
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Not sure how far your budget stretches but I would look at hot lights - continuous lighting is easier to work with. Getting the items forward from the background does away with any distracting shadows (if you don't want shadows that is?)
I know its probably not what you want to hear but if its out of your comfort zone it might be easier to find a photographer who has done product shots before and bribe them to do it.
When I worked in the hire department at Calumet we had companies coming in to hire lighting for the weekend so the office junior could do product shots with his new digital camera - never worked out and they ended up paying a pro.
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Tony
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Old 19th May 2021, 03:13 PM
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Bill Bill is offline
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A possibility, depending on the size of objects, may be a light tent similar to https://www.amazon.co.uk/90cm-Photog...dDbGljaz10cnVl

They come complete with backgrounds. You can light from outside with either flash or continuous light for shadowless lighting if that is what is needed.

Lots of market material stalls have offcuts/short lengths cheaply if you can find a suitable contrasting colour to the objects. Cheap LED panel lights would be OK.

A chap called Martin Henson on YouTube has some example videos of how he sets up still life shots which may help.
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Old 19th May 2021, 03:39 PM
big paul big paul is offline
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what do you already have and how big is your budget ,and will you want to use this gear for other things like portraits ect if you buy a strobe studio flash they come with modelling lights to help out with cheeking for shadows also a white roll of seamless paper and some reflectors that you can make with white card ,and a soft box to fit on your flash that will give a even defused light .it can all be bought cheap second hand on ebay and can be used for other thing photographic
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Old 19th May 2021, 04:07 PM
TonyMiller TonyMiller is offline
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Just to add - my comments are made in light of there been 2000+ items to photograph. Once you are set up thats still a lot to get through.
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Old 19th May 2021, 05:51 PM
John King John King is offline
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Default What I have as a guide

Duplicate post Mods please delete

Last edited by John King; 19th May 2021 at 06:02 PM.
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Old 19th May 2021, 05:54 PM
John King John King is offline
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Default What I have as a guide

What hey do want is virtually shadow-less lighting for the smaller items which is why I asked about a light tent. I will be using digital because of the cost although I did say B&W negatives assure a guaranteed longer life, but no, that would take me too long and expensive so digital it is.

I have two quite powerful Nikon flash guns dedicate for digital, bearing in mind the larger portion of the items are indoors and smaller in size, they should be adequate so long as the light is adequately diffused.

The larger items indoors such as the heavy machine tools will have to be photographed in situ because they are bolted to the floor and weigh several tons! We also have two monster lathes which have beds of between 12 feet and 18 feet long.

The budget? If I said it was small, I would not be exaggerating, that is what I am up against. The museum is a registered charity and we have to be self sufficient, but we are also an accredited museum which is why this work has to be carried out to retain the accredited status

I have not costed anything yet, but I am envisaging a plain roller backdrop over a table or support of sorts to place the exhibits before I photograph them. That should be cheap enough to be covered with what money is available. The joinery shop would be able to construct a roller to hold a roll of the paper to be keep out of the way when it is not being used.

Externally there are some very large exhibits which are moveable, they will have to be included but they will be right down the list of priorities.

'Hot' lights are certainly a proposition. Now we can buy cold light (Daylight) LED bulbs easily, two or three of these with suitable reflectors may be what is needed so long as they can be moved and positioned easily.

Thanks to all who replied, that has given me some points for thought, I will have to 'talk' to the management when I have put my ideas together.
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Old 21st May 2021, 12:24 PM
Terry S Terry S is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by John King View Post
'Hot' lights are certainly a proposition. Now we can buy cold light (Daylight) LED bulbs easily, two or three of these with suitable reflectors may be what is needed so long as they can be moved and positioned easily.
Hi John,

an LED daylight bulb set up with a light tent, are what I would go for. I have a set of two lights with umbrellas and stands myself, and took them to my photo club in the past to set up two portrait stations, with one light at each, so it shows what they are more than capable of.

And even with a small budget, they are very affordable.

As an example. take a look at the following links.

First is a general search and includes all the various bits you need, which would be two lights, stands and umbrellas / soft boxes and a light tent. It is possible to get what you need for less than £32.00 from sellers in the UK:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/19590/i.h...lights&_sop=15

And the second link is the cheapest in the UK for a basic set up, similar to the one that I use. Remember you ideally need two lights:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/224408871...4AAOSwraRdJYsK

There are also a couple of second hand kits being auctioned (that's how I got mine, but prices were a bit higher then), with this being one of them. I'd be willing to try this route if the budget is really tight, as these items sometimes go for the opening bid of just £0.99!:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/234015941...AAAOSwaYtgpVA1

All you then need is a digital camera (with which you can calculate the exposure) and a tripod, as to get a good depth of field the shutter speeds may be a bit low.

I hope this helps,

Terry S
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Old 22nd May 2021, 10:15 AM
JOReynolds JOReynolds is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Terry S View Post
An LED daylight bulb set up with a light tent, are what I would go for.
Hi Terry and John

I agree. I had the task of photographing my late father's sculpture for a book: most would fit into a foot cube and I invested in a cheap digital SLR with 18...55 zoom, two studio flash heads and a light tent. I was advised to save the results as TIFF on CD.

The light tent produced lovely soft shadows but I would suggest not to use balanced light from left and right - the shape detail is contained in the shadows. Reflected light from the unlit side will prevent empty shadows.

The flash created problems because it defined the aperture. If the object to be photographed isn't going to wriggle or escape, continuous light allows longer exposure with a small aperture where needed, or selective focus at full aperture to emphasise details. There were two concrete murals and I invested in an Arax shift-and-tilt adapter to get detail in the close foreground while keeping the background in focus for context. I suppose I could have just stopped down but even then the depth of field would not have been good enough. That's one aspect of the tiny lenses fitted to mobile phone cameras.

I also shot a roll of Delta 100 6x6cm B&W negatives and a 150mm Sonnar with an extension tube - again, to avoid distorting portrait heads by poking the lens up noses. A few were enlarged onto 42" rollpaper by the local college.

Non-technical observers noticed the difference between the crisp large B&W prints made from film negatives and the noisy, slightly blurred digital color prints through a cheap zoom.

I have not used the Kood light tent since then. If you would like it, let me know how I could get it to you.

Jonathan

Last edited by JOReynolds; 22nd May 2021 at 10:20 AM.
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