posted on October 11, 2000 08:45:36 AM
I sell on ebay. I have an apartment whic faces north... I am not getting the light that I did in the summer for great pictures. Being disabled it is hard for me to shoot outside but not impossible. Has anyone set up lights in their home. Have put up a few lamps around the item but didnt work. All help appreciated... Preppylady
posted on October 11, 2000 10:30:45 AM
Hi preppylady, I have this same problem. My apartment is very dark and I know my buyers are getting very tired of my patio pictures. I am not sure what kind of lights to buy or how to use them.
posted on October 11, 2000 12:37:10 PM
I have a couple of the inexpensive lights you buy at the hardware store, or in Walmart. They are basically a cord and socket, with an aluminum reflector around the bulb. There is a pair of pinch clamps attached so you can clamp the lights where ever you need them. I think I paid $5 each for a couple of them.
I put light bulbs in them that are special type--they give off 'white light', and is similar to sunlight. You can also buy these at Walmart, they aren't much more expensive than regular bulbs. I think people buy them for their plants.
It's not a professional lighting set up, but it gets the job done inexpensively. I aim both on the object to be photographed...one on the left and one on the right. It works OK.
posted on October 11, 2000 01:03:24 PM
Quite often, the inexpensive lighting will cause glare, change of color etc. I checked into good lighting, what a shock !!!
It was well out of my price, but the people told me that to cut the glare and color change, when using regular lighting, to place a small single ply piece of toilet paper, (yep, toilet paper, even quilted works.) over the actual lens! I tried it and it truely works. It's hard to get a small pice to stay, because of the size, and I use scotch tape. But it does give you a much truer picture.
Good luck.
One of the keys to taking excellent indoor photos is indirect lighting. What you have to do is create a “zone of light” from at least two sources. This reduces glare, removes shadows and cuts down on reflection. It helps if you have a space that has a white ceiling and wall that you can “bounce” light off.
If this is not the case, you can set up a couple of pieces of white foamcore or hang a sheet and illuminate behind the sheet. The trick is to create an illuminated area without shining your lights directly on the object. You don’t mention what type of objects you are trying to photograph, but assuming they are rather small, it also helps to use a controlled background. I set up a box that has only four sides: bottom, back, left and right. Over that I drape a couple of yards of velvet. The velvet drapes nicely and provides a non-reflective background. Use black velvet for light objects and white, tan or gray for dark objects. This whole thing is easy to set up and store and the velvet background make a BIG difference in the quality of your photos.
Here is a sample of a photo taken using this technique:
soldbyj: I would be real interested to see what your “toilet paper pictures” look like. Against my better judgment I tried that, and all I got was a blur. (Mavica FD88). I have used a piece of nylon net over the lens to give a subject a slightly diffused appearance (the “Cybil Shepherd filter”) but the toilet paper over the lens is a new one.
posted on October 12, 2000 07:05:00 AM
corrdogg,
I will be placing things in auction tonight, just add a dot at the end of my name, and you can look up my pictures.
posted on October 12, 2000 07:44:06 AM
I bought one of those desk lamps that comes on a long bendable neck. The bulb is at the top with a small bowl-shaped metal shade. This works very well because the neck is long and bendable, and I can move it wherever I want it. I also find it helpful to use a black T-shirt as a background for light colored objects, and a white polyester/cotton shirt (the all cotton white T-shirt shows the wrinkles!) for the dark colored objects. With my now portable photo studio, I can move it all into different rooms at different times of the day to catch whatever natural light is available.
posted on October 12, 2000 12:28:03 PM
Preppy Lady,
When I sold clothing, I called all the camera outfits in town asking for help. I found a guy who was willing to give me some pointers, and he told me what works best for digital cameras. You need a muted background, light grayish blue or a beige/tan, *NOT* white. He suggested using a colored cloth and tacking it up. I used a light dusty blue jersey fabric, and it was FANTASTIC, the stretch and weight of it makes it hang nice and smooth. (8 bucks at the local fabric store) Then you need two HIGH watt light sources,(I used two 250 watt soft white bulbs) one on each side of the room, aimed 4-6 ft. With the subject in the center. shine one toward the upper areas, and one slightly downwards to reduce shadows. There are also SPECIALTY "blue light" bulbs that diminish "yellow" if that becomes a problem. (the blue background helped reduce that in my case) I did this for quite a while, and it worked excellently...I used cheap office floor lamps with the bendable necks, got them from walmart for 12.00 a pc. For a little over 30 bucks I had a photo studio!..Hope some of this helps! Good luck!
posted on October 12, 2000 01:48:01 PM
What great suggestions. Thanks for the pointers on how to get rid of glare. The Cybil Sheppard filter has me cracking up!
posted on October 12, 2000 02:05:19 PM
If you use the hardware store cheap lamps it helps a great deal to crinkle up a big sheet of aluminum foil and bounce the light off that on to your subject. You can mount the foil on a box or piece of cardboard to give it stiffness. If you have this indirect light fron 2 sides it will make a real nice imaige without shadows.
For putting things over the lens a lot of old photographers stretch a piece of ladies nylon over the lens to make a "soft" look.I have heard of putting paper over the flash lens but never over the actual lens the camera uses to take the pic!
I put about 4 layers of frosted tape over my Mavica flash to "knock it down" a bit. I had never heard of the toilet paper over the lens either until this morning. My brain cells told me that there was NO WAY it would work, but I tried it anyway. And you know what I got? A r-e-a-l close-up-blurry picture of a single ply of toilet paper.
The only GOOD thing was that I proved to myself that the world works the way I expected it to!
(edited to add an "s" to "...brain cells". I do have more than ONE!)
posted on October 12, 2000 05:41:46 PM
We use 2 4-foot 3500 lummen 85% natural light fluorcent bulbs inside difusers. You can get really close without causing reflections.
We purchased two portable 4-foot fluorscent lighting fixtures with regular wall sockets on them for the bulbs.
By using these 85% natural lighting bulbs, it eliminates the need to purchase blue filters for your camera. Our digital camera is self-correcting on the color balance.
The only draw-back to these lights is that it can take hours for the gas inside the lights to warm up to the point where they are not flucuating, which can make your digital camera crazy trying to constantly correct.
All in all, we do not have to do much in the way of color corrections when the image is ready to be cropped. Perhaps a litle extra lightness and contrast, but that's usually it.
