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rigging light at 45 degree angles

PostPosted: Fri Apr 01, 2011 11:40 am
by abroxis
I was told to light my artwork at with 2 lights at 45 degree angles to avoid glare.

Do I need to buy professional lights or can I get by with 2 100 watt regular light bulbs stuck in some kind to jury rigged light fixture?

Any suggestions on how to jury rig the light fixtures.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions

Re: rigging light at 45 degree angles

PostPosted: Fri Apr 01, 2011 1:45 pm
by sandman
thats how they do it in pornos!

Re: rigging light at 45 degree angles

PostPosted: Fri Apr 01, 2011 6:11 pm
by MBI
In what country are you located?

In the US, BH Photo Video and Adorama are decent places to buy studio equipment. If you look at the starter kits the prices can be very reasonable. The cheaper ones won't be super heavy duty, but if you buy them that way it can be a lot less expensive than buying the items one by one.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ns ... 4294550800

Re: rigging light at 45 degree angles

PostPosted: Fri Apr 01, 2011 7:10 pm
by barbarian
Take a look at the links below. Shouldn't be too hard to rig something close to this with a couple of old sheets and some 100 watt bulbs.

http://www.ezcube.com/

http://reviews.ebay.ca/EZ-Cube-Digital- ... 0002169335

Re: rigging light at 45 degree angles

PostPosted: Fri Apr 01, 2011 9:12 pm
by sandman

Re: rigging light at 45 degree angles

PostPosted: Sat Apr 02, 2011 2:58 pm
by abroxis
Thanks for the input

I managed to find a link to exactly what I needed

http://www.carlmcmillan.com/how_to_copy_with_digital_camera.htm

Re: rigging light at 45 degree angles

PostPosted: Sat Apr 02, 2011 3:03 pm
by lock-ed
I am also in the process of getting something to improve my photos.
Good find on the link!
What camera/stand are you using? I just went cheapo, and ordered these:
http://cgi.ebay.com/52-mm-52mm-Macro-Cl ... 27b8a5abc0
http://cgi.ebay.com/Copy-Stand-Camera-D ... 1e6297d9b6

The cube might be a bit awkward if you are going to take macro photos of locks.

Hope this was interesting, and looking forward to your photos.
Ed

Re: rigging light at 45 degree angles

PostPosted: Fri Apr 15, 2011 1:38 pm
by ragebot
abroxis wrote:I was told to light my artwork at with 2 lights at 45 degree angles to avoid glare.

Do I need to buy professional lights or can I get by with 2 100 watt regular light bulbs stuck in some kind to jury rigged light fixture?

Any suggestions on how to jury rig the light fixtures.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions


OK, let me see if I got this right, you should always use a hook pick to pick a lock no matter what. Wait wrong thread, this is about lighting to take pix. Here is the best book on the topic

http://www.amazon.com/Light-Science-Int ... 581&sr=8-1

But if you want the Cliff Notes blurb here is a start. Photographers talk about hard and soft light, with 100 watt bulbs being hard light, which can cause nasty reflections, even if they are placed at a 45 degree angle to avoid glare.

So what you may want to do is use some type of diffuser to soften the light. If your camera has some type of flash/speedlight then my bud Chuck has some nice ideas about how to make a diffuser as well as other stuff, here is the link

http://super.nova.org/DPR//DIY01/

You could also make a portable softbox like this one Chuck designed

http://super.nova.org/DPR/MacroDiffuser/

Keep in mind that the larger the diffuser, all being equal, the softer the light; which usually means the better the image quality. I modified Chuck's design based simply on ease of construction of the diffuser with stuff I can easily buy, here is that link

http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/927446/0#8755919

If you do not have a flash/speedlight you want to use you can simply attach a diffuser like the ones linked to on a regular room light; velcro and wire coat hangers are your friends. Digital cameras make it easy to play around to see how different lighting changes the image quality of your pix.

Hope this helps.