On Sun, 21 Apr 2013 19:17:30 -0700, Gunner Asch
wrote:

On Mon, 22 Apr 2013 08:09:09 +0700, J.B.Slocomb
wrote:


A light box is handy but it only serves to light the entire object and
eliminate shadows. You can use reflectors and diffusers to do
essentially the same thing with, probably, more bother.

Try some diffusers made from thin white plastic in front of your flash
and (probably) three or four flash heads and see if you can't get the
effects that you want.

An electronic camera is nice as you don't need to waste all the trial
shots that you do with film.


Thats what I figured. Its been years since I did it with film...a
stroke got in the way..and I dont remember much about what/ how I did
it.

I know this question doesnt show it..but I used to be a fairly
competent semi-pro photographer. Shrug.

The ability to break it down and set it up quickly would be nice as
well. Im running out of floor/shop space.

Anyone have any good links to "inexpensive" slave strobes? Or anyone
have any older slave strobes that they have outgrown?

Gunner

Quit thinking strobes! It's 2013, Floods will do! If it looks good
to your eye, it will look good to the camera.

And if you really want to make it pop, get a camera that does HDR Mode
- Multiple shots, automatically bracketed exposures, and the computer
matches and blends the bright areas with the dark areas. Automatic
Dodge & Burn.

The equivalent ISO of a Digital camera is miles ahead of film - the
days where you had to use ISO-25 Kodachrome to get fine grain and good
detail are long over - Besides, so is Kodachrome.

Get a batch of 300W or 500W Quartz stand lights, I'm sure you can come
up with *that*... And for reflective surfaces you rig up some cloud
diffusers in front, or bounce them off aluminized screen fabric. Think
Windshield Spring Shades, the aluminized side.

Try to get the lamps all close to the same color temperature - the
camera can correct the color temperature, but not if one side is lit
at 5000K and the other side at 2700K - it'll freak.

For a background, new clean off-white canvas Painters Tarps. Already
sewn together, cheap, big enough to drape on the wall and then bring
out on the floor or table. And easy to dump in a commercial washer
with a box or two of Rit Dye if you want colors.

And when you're done taking pictures, use the tarps for painting. The
paint splotches will add extra pizzazz to the photos, and nobody will
steal your funny colored dropcloths - they'd stand out in even a
satellite photo. "Hey, Gunner made a batch of Tie-Dye Buckskin Tan
dropcloths like this a few years ago, and then they disappeared from
the back of his truck..."

-- Bruce --