This reminds me of my favorite trick for photographing glassware and highly
polished dishes and anything else that must be white-backgrounded. Get a
large white-laminated board from Home Depot (or wherever you get home
supplies for your "table"). Next run down to engineering and rip off a
near empty roll of Vellum from their plotter. If Vellum is not available,
go back to Home Depot and get a large sheet of heavyweight semi-clear,
slightly frosted plastic that you would cover a hole in your roof with. If
the plastic isn't frosted enough (should be like tracing paper), you will
need to buff it or lightly spray it with paint or something. That's why
plotter vellum is best.
Set your board on a large firm table surface-this is your work space. A
4x8' board/table is perfect. Hopefully your plastic or Vellum is at least
48 inches wide too. Secure the sheet under the far end of the board and
stretch it over the entire table surface. Now raise the plastic on the
camera end of the table a couple of feet. Secure it with some homemade
framework.
What you know have is something like this (view in fixed space font)
--____
O -----___________
/|\ ______________________
/ | \ | |
Now place your object to be photographed on the table under the sheet.
Exact placement will depend on lens selection and camera location, but
generally you will use a mild telephoto for this to make sure your table
edges don't show. A telephoto will keep the line in the background from
being apparent if it is in the frame too.
Place your strobe over the object above the plastic. Height above the
plastic is completely variable depending on how much of a "feathered" look
you want in your highlights. With vellum, I can place a studio strobe
about 18" above the sheet and it gives a wonderfully smooth, shadowless
lighting with just a hint of "the sun trying to break through." If you
have a problem with the background showing up, just place a second strobe
over the far end of the table and it will wash it out. Raising or lowering
the strobe and moving it towards the camera a little will all affect your
lighting composition without giving any nasty hotspots.
You may want to keep a couple large styrofoam boards handy for placing on
either side of the table if the dark shadowed sides bother you in highly
reflective surfaces, but in reality, the look is though you photographed
the object outside on a bright, but cloudy day.
Unless you are using an obscenely wide-latitude film, the white board and
sheet will completely wash out providing a shadowless setup.
Ken Norton
< This message was delivered via the Olympus Mailing List >
< For questions, mailto:owner-olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx >
< Web Page: http://Zuiko.sls.bc.ca/swright/olympuslist.html >
|