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meczilla
Addicted
Joined: Sun Jul 23, 2006 10:37 pm
Posts: 742
Location: Dallas, Texas
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 FCI Balzac Obakes/MacGyver Light Tent I've been looking into taking clean studio-style shots of my toys for a while and everything was pointing me towards a light tent setup. A Smith Victor two light kit runs about 100 bucks. When I added "DIY" to my Google search I found some very practical and extremely cheap ways to get the same effect.
I used:
-A compact 6.1 megapixel Nikon S1 point-and-shoot camera.
-Mini tripod (10 bucks) - You could use a stack of books or boxes too but you'll be restricted to 90 degree angle shots.
- A banker's box (Free) - Cut windows out of the sides and top. Cut all the way to the back of the box on top so you can affix a...
-Chip Clip (pack of two for a dollar)
-Backdrop (Free) - I used the back of a Borat mini poster. Colored posterboard would probably work well too.
-Paper towels (cheap) - Drape them over your box windows.
-Two desklamps (Free-$???) - You probably have some laying around. I used 60 watt flourescent bulbs for nice cool light.
Experiment with your camera's exposure settings, lighting angles, camera placement, and framing your composition. Toys are very patient and will put up with your artsy wankering. Be careful about those paper towels though, probably flammable if you are going for a marathon shoot.
Turn the flash off and use the self-timer feature to minimize shake from your hand pressing the shutter button. There should be a way to adjust the timer to something minimal. Check your manual. In my case it's 10 seconds.
Presto! Fresh out of the camera with no Photoshop.
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| Sat Aug 25, 2007 4:05 pm |
 
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WAND
Toy Prince
Joined: Sat May 19, 2007 12:39 pm
Posts: 231
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those look great.....awsome pics
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| Sat Aug 25, 2007 4:06 pm |
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el word
Comment King
Joined: Sun Mar 12, 2006 6:20 pm
Posts: 1295
Location: Seattle, WA
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Cool tutorial. Thanks!
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| Sat Aug 25, 2007 4:29 pm |
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akum6n
Prototype
Joined: Sat Nov 04, 2006 12:03 am
Posts: 6162
Location: Shima
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I like the paper towel idea. Results look good!
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| Sat Aug 25, 2007 4:38 pm |
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pickleloaf
Super Deformed
Joined: Wed Apr 11, 2007 5:19 pm
Posts: 5861
Location: durham/chapel hill
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very nice! do you mind if i put this on my blog? i will credit you of course
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| Sat Aug 25, 2007 4:42 pm |
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dr0ss
Toy Prince
Joined: Thu Nov 02, 2006 1:35 am
Posts: 395
Location: Los Angeles
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Nice shots! Those obakes are sweet. I've been resisting collecting those for a while. I think the temptation is too great now.
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| Sat Aug 25, 2007 6:11 pm |
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Autopsy
Line of Credit
Joined: Tue Jan 30, 2007 8:54 pm
Posts: 1936
Location: I'm Right Behind You!
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Prop on your lighting setup - sweet pic
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| Sat Aug 25, 2007 7:50 pm |
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toybotstudios
Die-Cast
Joined: Sat Jul 01, 2006 11:40 pm
Posts: 8096
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very nice!!
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| Sat Aug 25, 2007 8:03 pm |
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silent killer
Line of Credit
Joined: Sat Dec 30, 2006 10:38 pm
Posts: 1981
Location: FL
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haha MacGyver Light Tent very funny
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| Sat Aug 25, 2007 8:31 pm |
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meczilla
Addicted
Joined: Sun Jul 23, 2006 10:37 pm
Posts: 742
Location: Dallas, Texas
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pickleloaf wrote: very nice! do you mind if i put this on my blog? i will credit you of course Spread the word brother! Put your household clutter to work!
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| Sat Aug 25, 2007 9:49 pm |
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The Burger Lord
Toy Prince
Joined: Tue Jan 09, 2007 2:32 pm
Posts: 215
Location: Atlanta, GA
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I love it! The results are great! I'm definitely going to give this a try
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| Sat Aug 25, 2007 9:54 pm |
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---NT---
Super Deformed
Joined: Tue Feb 21, 2006 2:51 pm
Posts: 5615
Location: PDX
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Nicely done! I've never had the patience to do this - generally the only time I take photos of anything is when I sell it and I just wanna get it done quickly.
But one of these days I'll have to make one of these and have some fun. It's been years since I've done any photography...and haven't experimented with digital at all. (If anyone in the PDX area wants to buy darkroom equipment hit me up!)
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| Sat Aug 25, 2007 9:56 pm |
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decypher
Comment King
Joined: Mon Mar 19, 2007 4:34 pm
Posts: 1150
Location: Vancouver, BC
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Thanks for the tips dude! I'm going out tomorrow and putting this together.
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| Sat Aug 25, 2007 10:10 pm |
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Winu
S7 Royalty
Joined: Mon Jun 25, 2007 12:49 am
Posts: 3578
Location: San Diego, CA
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Those shots look awesome!
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| Sat Aug 25, 2007 10:30 pm |
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wing_clipper
Post Pimp
Joined: Tue Mar 06, 2007 5:25 pm
Posts: 2538
Location: illinois
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nice post and photo tutorial!
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| Sat Aug 25, 2007 10:52 pm |
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hypermook
Addicted
Joined: Sat Jun 09, 2007 2:02 pm
Posts: 889
Location: San Francisco
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I like that you have pics OF YOUR OWN CAMERA.
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| Sun Aug 26, 2007 12:01 pm |
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meczilla
Addicted
Joined: Sun Jul 23, 2006 10:37 pm
Posts: 742
Location: Dallas, Texas
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hypermook wrote: I like that you have pics OF YOUR OWN CAMERA. Far out, right? Yeah, the first two pictures were taken with my fancy dancey digital SLR but I just wanted to illustrate that with the right setup you can get nice results with a modest cheapo camera too.
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| Sun Aug 26, 2007 12:27 pm |
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Secret Space
Addicted
Joined: Mon Jul 30, 2007 1:43 pm
Posts: 806
Location: Los Angeles
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that's friggin awesome.
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| Sun Aug 26, 2007 11:02 pm |
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