Please help me setup the lights.

[yanz]

Hi everyone. I built a lightbox from pvc pipes and i have white paper around it. I have 2 alien bees on each side of the box and sometimes 430ex in background. The problem i am not getting good results. I have been trying for two days already with no luck. Please let me know what you think. Here is one example only converted from raw and saved as jpg.
http://images33.fotki.com/v1137/photos/5/55129/3411285/IMG_0048_1-vi.jpg


I am just not getting the contrast. I guess i can fix it in photoshop but i really want to learn how to do it with lights. I can post the pic of the lightbox if needed.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!!

Yan

[Nitrogen]

Are you using a gray card and a custom white balance to properly expose your picture. Or do you have your camera on auto white balance?

[yanz]

Thanks for the reply. I am setting the white balance when converting from raw. Right now i am actually concerned with lighting. I have the whibal card that i will use when i get the lighting right so i can get the white balance right.

Thanks again,
Yan

[Amfetamyne]

Too many variables to consider. What are the specifics of your setup: position of lights, the settings that you're using for each light, your papercomposing the lightbox (maybe its too opaque)?

[Amfetamyne]

Also, try this book: Light: Science and Magic (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0240808193/ref=nosim/coffeeresearch5545-20), if you don't already have it.

It's like the modern bible of learning lighting. I recommend it highly!

[Jim M]

Also, try this book: Light: Science and Magic (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0240808193/ref=nosim/coffeeresearch5545-20), if you don't already have it.

It's like the modern bible of learning lighting. I recommend it highly!
I'll second that.

Remember with glass you aren't really photographing the glass, but what is reflecting in the glass or what can be seen through the glass. If you don't have any dark reflections or dark tones seen through the glass, then you won't see any dark tones.

Light boxes are designed to give generally soft, even light. Shadows are minimized.

Definitely get the book. Definitely.

[SnlpeR]

white on white is pretty hard to shoot
change your background color

[martinsmith]

It looks out of focus to me.

[yanz]

Thank you very much for everyone's responses. I am actually in the process of reading the book. I had an idea that i wanted to shoot and went ahead to try it. In the end it didn't work out so well with milk all over the living room rug. After that i just took down the lightbox and now I gotta go back to the book and start over. I am sure i will try it again in a little while. This time i am going to build the lightbox with more care instead of just rolling white paper on top of pvc pipes.

Thanks again,

Yan

[Nitrogen]

I know that this is another expense but you may want to use a polarizing filter so it cuts down on the reflectance of the glass.

[nadtz]

Ill third Light: Science and Magic. It has a great chapter about shooting metal and glass. A book every aspiring strobist should buy borrow or steal! Check out http://flickr.com/groups/84897717@N00/ to see peoples results after reading.

[SYS]

Ill third Light: Science and Magic. It has a great chapter about shooting metal and glass. A book every aspiring strobist should buy borrow or steal! Check out http://flickr.com/groups/84897717@N00/ to see peoples results after reading.

Yup, that's a great chapter. Wow, I didn't even know that there was a group devoted to that book at Flickr! This book is a must read.

[yanz]

Thanks for everyone for the responses. I will definitely continue on reading the book.