Thread: Light Box that most people have

We maybe most people have them. Microwaves. I grabbed a desk light. It didnt work as well as id hoped but maybe ill try a different light maybe invest half the time needed to make this setup work and just build one lol.

I also tried a cabinet.

I'm no photography expert or anything but mostly what the light box is doing (if I understand it right) is diffusing the light. The microwave idea is pretty cool but your getting too much off your lamp. Try putting some tissue paper between the light and what your lighting up that would help eliminate those bright spots.

Just a suggestion,

Michael

Thanks - Ill see what I can do. I think i also need light from both direction not just one side.

Originally Posted by simpleman

Thanks - Ill see what I can do. I think i also need light from both direction not just one side.

As a budding photo amateur, I don't know much, but I can tell you this:

You need a good light source, an umbrella or reflector to diffuse and direct the light on your subject as needed or desired, and the right background. This can be as simple as a home depot work lamp with a 500 watt bulb, a $35 handheld reflector, and a bed sheet or curtain stapled against the wall and draped over a night stand. Plenty you can do short of a full-blown pro studio setup....

There's some real good free websites about learning photography, you can google terms like "what is aperture" or "digital photo lighting". I've found it very valuable to understand things aperture, exposure, shutter speed, etc., - also settings you might want to play around with in your stills. Oh, and for stills of razors and so on - little tripod!

Photographing small items like razors and watches is easily done without expensive setups! For soft diffused light on the super-cheap, cut the bottom out of a plastic gallon milk jug. Lay on it's side, handle up. Set a white 3x5 card against the "back" wall to hide the hole. Place a 100 watt desk lamp on each side, directly to the left and right of the jug. Turn off all other lights in the room. The white plastic diffuses the lighting, you vary the intensity by moving one or both lights nearer or farther away. Have fun, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at how "professional" the results are.

Simpleman: It looks to me like your main problem is what the blade is reflecting. Your lighting for the scales is great - that is because you are getting nice diffuse reflected light off the inner surfaces of your enclosures. This is especially true for your microwave shot - if you look at just the scales, they are perfect.

What I have found from both looking at lots of photos of razors and taking lots of photos of razors is that you get the best photo of the actual blade if you are reflecting a well lit, white surface. Taking photos with the razor open as you have it (scales parallel to the "ground" and blade partially open) makes this difficult. If you hold a razor that way and move around in front of it, you will see the stuff you are reflecting is whatever is right in front of and below the razor (if you are standing and hold the razor at face level, you'll be reflecting your face, chest, and maybe some of the top of your legs in the very concave section below the spine). This means that, if you are photographing a full hollow razor with the scales parallel to the floor, you would need a white surface everywhere from the camera lens downwards.

To try to do this, I used to place a paper towel under the razor and hold the other end of it up to the bottom of my lens (with the razor also in a lightbox and good lighting). Yes, it worked ok, but it was annoying because I had to shoot with one hand (tripod makes that easier, but I don't like tripods because I like to be able to move around) and I had to move a lot of stuff when switching from one razor to another.

My solution was to simply shoot with the razor perpendicular to the ground. That way, instead of reflecting objects in front of and below the razor, I'm reflecting objects to the side of the razor. Much easier, because if the razor is near white wall, you're done. You may be able to do this in your microwave. I find a microwave is too small (and mine needs cleaning....) so I used a night table. Check out my thread here: http://straightrazorpalace.com/gener...ate-style.html

You may have to play around a bit with full hollows, but I have found two general solutions.

1) Razor on the left side - move the razor back into the "box" more, and put it very close to the "wall." Turn the razor a bit towards the wall (blade back, scales forward) and you can get a great reflection of the wall. The downside is that your photo isn't straight on at the razor, so you may not get the best view of the blade.

2) Razor on the right side - just taking the razor to the opposite wall makes things much easier, because of how the curve of the full hollow reflects objects. This works extremely well and lets you take straight on photos, but the downside is you may have to move your light (as well as your camera and whatever you lean the razor against), so it can be annoying if you are taking lots of photos or don't have much time.

Im just going to have to play around with it and get another light. Im sure if i had razors that where photo worthy it would help

I think your first photo in post 8 shows what I'm talking about quite well. You can see where you are getting the card reflected in the razor. That makes it quite clear that the curved lines farther out are the rings on the bottom of the microwave. So if you wanted to aim for a uniform reflection, you'd need to cover the things in that area with something uniform. Putting some white paper or tissue paper on the bottom of the microwave would address that.

Then again, not everyone aims for a uniform reflection in the blades. I use it because, for my purposes, I want my photos to show every detail (imperfection) in the razor.

Oh i see what your saying now with uniform reflection. Its all starting to make sense LOL