12/20/12

Intermission

I swear I'm not dead. I've been trying to combat the darkness with one of these light set ups. When it finally arrived one of the bulbs didn't work, of course. And one of my regular ones produced these results:
Which makes me wanna cry. Cuz what you see is after editing. And when I brighten and screen the crap out of it everything looks weird and ugly... So bear with me ladies until the replacement light bulb to arrives. Either that or spring.
Til then, for all your eye-candy needs, may I recommend the FlotsamTide pinterest? Just check full of drool-inducing pretties. I especially like the "Inspiration" board and not cuz a ton of my stuff is up on it. In fact, I'm rather embarrassed by that.

9 comments:

Beatnheart said...

tripped in Flotsam’s world for awhile....keen eye great taste.

Tribalis said...

Beautiful selection Kim has on Pinterest!
Fanci, pay attention because some of that bulbs lamp last just 20 min and it is expensive.. don't know if your is the same type..

gretchen said...

This set up looks good, but if you don't want to wait for the replacement bulb, I don't know if you have stores like Home Depot or Lowe's near you? or if those are just regional chains, but anyway, they are home improvement stores and I have seen full spectrum lights there- if that's what you need?
I live in what can only be called a rain forest in the Portland Oregon area and what I've used, with not too bad results, is to set things in front of a window and then also use an Ott light. They are on sale almost every week at JoAnn's Fabric stores for 50% off and on their on line site, too.
good luck!

Alice said...

I'm so glad you are not dead. It would be terribly boring without you around.

My husband gave me a light tent when I first started making jewelry. I was never able to take photos that were satisfactory to me, even after trying many different lighting combinations. Now I just set up a table in front of my North facing window with a piece of foam board reflecting the light back onto the piece. Of course during the winter season and on cloudy days it's difficult to get a good shot with this setup.

Jiorji said...

hmm yes...those boxes are shit. they don't work. Return it and what you get instead is this:
get 4 white styrofoam boards
thick tape
3 lamps...the kind that you find at the hardware store that the boys use in their shop...they have a round metallic dish and they clamp on things and stay put.
lightbulbs...i forget but get 120V(or highest V possible..don't know what V stands for) 40W or higher...COOL white. It's the easiest to use...

then what you do is tape the boards together and make a 4 sided cube..one side stays open..that's where the camera goes...then you attach 2 lights on left and right at the opening of the cube...at the top...cut a square in the middle...put another lamp up there so that the bulbs fits through the hole. The white of the boards will bounce light all sorts and you will have even light properly.

if you use an SLR...use tungsten as the white balance and there will be enough light to go up to f9.0 with 1/125 if you need. TRUST!! this is what i use at work.... you don't need a fancy ass photo store box.

Enjoy :)

Jiorji said...

PS. i'm super excited that i got to teach YOU something...you know...being a photographer and all ;) YAY!!

Juliette said...

Jiorji, thanks for the comments about white balance. I use a 'frosted' plastic storage bin for my set up (meaning instead of clear plastic it has a sort of frosted look, which has muted things out pretty well). I just recently got an SLR and am still learning how to use it. One question, do you use photographic papers in your work? I've seen the gradient ones from white to black and vice versa but they are SO expensive. Just wondering if they're worth it, and if so - paper or vinyl? xoxo Glad you're not dead Fanci and hope I didn't bogart your blog too much, man. Hah!

StaroftheEast said...

We were never able to make decent pictures with a table studio either.
But others do. Check out this girl's set up. She makes excellent
pictures in her cube:
http://www.alteredalchemy.com/2011/12/my-diy-light-box.html

Jiorji said...

Juliette...no i don't. Those are normally used for black and white photography i believe. There's a lot of stuff they have at the photo store you don't need. If you want a midtone reading on your camera when you take pictures, just point the camera on your palm and that colour is usually a midtone shade.If that makes sense... little trick i learned in one of my classes :)