I often get asked questions about my photo set up…..Do you use a light box? What do you use for a background? How do you get your beads to look like they are floating in mid-air?
I don’t claim to be an expert by any means. Some days I am much happier with my photos than other days. Anyway, I thought I would share what I have found to work for me. It may take some experimenting to find what will work best for you.
When I started selling online several years ago most of my photos were taken on a piece of white printer paper with a light on either side. Well, that method creates lots of glare on shiny beads. So, I taped a piece of tracing paper over the the light for a filter. That helped, but these were desk lights that I used when working and it wasn’t convenient to move lights around every time I wanted to take a photo.
I started researching light boxes and found several options including hand made versions. At the time, the commercial options were more than I wanted to pay and I wanted it now. The light box that I ended up making and have used for the past 3 years or so is shown below.
The light box itself is a plastic tote. It is see-though, but not completely clear. It has a frosted look, which makes it a great light filter. The lights are what I call shop lights. I found them either near the light bulbs or in the auto department of my local Wal~Mart. The light bulbs are the daylight/natural light ones. It is draped in a piece of light colored fabric. This serves a couple purposes. One, it helps reflect the light back where you want it. Two, it keeps surrounding walls, items, etc. from being reflected on your items to be photographed.
The background I use is a printed black to white gradient, which works well with just about everything. The beads sit on top of the clear acrylic stand. The space between the stand and the background soften the look of the background and creates the illusion that the beads are floating in mid-air.
Next, I’ll talk about taking the photos and editing.
What’s the red thing at the top, Chris?
BRILLIANT! So simple yet it produces stellar results! Thank you very much for sharing. I look forward to the subsequent posts.
Jael, it’s a heavy duty clip that holds the wooden dowel in place that the lights clip onto.
Thanks Di!
Hi Chris,
thanks for sharing this info. Isn’t it amazing what some creative juices can produce?
I use the same type of lights. We picked them up at Lowes. Any of the big-box home improvement stores will have them.
How many watts are your light bulbs? I’ve got the daylight fluorescents in my work lights so they don’t get so hot. I’m using tracing paper as diffusers, but I think your plastic box works better.
Did you buy the gradated paper or did you print it yourself. I think I could format one with my photo editing program.
Thanks again!
Hi Regina,
) and they are 25 watts, which is equivalent to 100 watts for incandescent bulbs.
I’m using the compact fluorescent light bulbs (doing my part to use less energy
I just printed the gradient paper myself. You can easily create one, just make sure it’s saved at a high dpi for printing.
I will find my gradient file sometime this weekend and post it for those who don’t know how to make one.