![]() My Nikon Z9 Sports Settings This is what I have found works for me.As happened to Martin Waugh, you might start taking photos and before you know it, it is ten years later and you’ve made over 100,000 frames, and you are having so much fun you just can’t stop. Buying a tabletop studio kit, consider the light tent an optional piece of equipment to use for that occasional high contrast object.Ī word of caution too, using a tabletop studio is addictive. The low contrast lighting environment inside a tent can take the snap and crispness out of a subject and leave it shapeless. However, they aren’t meant for general photography. They reduce contrast by somewhat eliminating the hot spots (glare) on the shiny surfaces. Light tents are nice for photographing difficult to light shiny objects. Many commercially available tabletop studios kits come with light tents. After making an adjustment, I take a shot and reviewing it can instantly see any change. To darken shadows, all I have to do is move the fill light farther back, to lighten them I move it closer. The left hand light is usually my main light and the one on the right my fill. With a two light setup, controlling contrast range is a matter of repositioning the lights. Watching the camera’s LCD monitor or viewing through its viewfinder, move the camera until the subject, surrounded by the background, fills the frame. Start with the objects about two-thirds of the way from the wall on the flat part of the background. With background and lights in place, next position the subject on the background. Shooting handheld there would be no way to replicate the previous frame, with the camera on a tripod, it’s a cinch. After reviewing a picture on the monitor, I may want to reposition the subject or the lights or try a different exposure. Use a tripod when shooting with a tabletop studio not just for its stability, but to have the ability to retain the framing of the subject image to image. ![]() Perhaps of greatest importance is that using a telephoto lens allows for a larger working distance between the camera lens and the subject, which makes lighting easier. The telephoto’s somewhat narrow depth of field also helps to keep the background out of focus, even at lens apertures like f/11 or f/16. First, it produces a compaction of perspective, which makes objects look more the way we “see” them than a wide angle lens would. Shooting with a tabletop studio it is best to use a moderate 100-135mm (equivalent) telephoto lens or a zoom lens set to an equivalent focal length. Initially, set the lights so they are two or three feet above the tabletop surface, on each side of the background and place the stands a few feet in front of the background. Whatever lighting you choose, it is handy to have the lights mount on stands. Another option is to do what Martin Waugh did and opt for bigger strobes he uses a pair of Vivitar 285HV flashes. These low power units work very well for most photography. Several of our advertisers sell kits of pairs of “slaved” flashes for under $100. Use accessory strobes rather than the popup on your camera. Their frontal light is downright ugly and using the camera flash allows you no way to control shadows or contrast. For a more professional look - as in the photos with this post - you can get small 11x15 or 15x22-inch vinyl graduated (black to gray to white) backgrounds from any number of online suppliers including or Electronic strobes work very well with tabletop studios too, but not the ones built into a digital camera. My tabletop studio set-up is on a table in one corner of my office and to make changing backgrounds easier, I have attached clips to the wall above the table. Then lay the bottom of the paper on the table with a gentle curve where table and wall meet. For example, tape a 20 x 30-inch piece of poster paper to the wall about 15 inches above a table. The simplest background is a large piece of white or colored paper hung from a wall and draped onto a tabletop. To emphasize this effect, the background is hung to create a horizonless 3-dimensional space, not a flat one. ![]() The background’s emptiness focuses our attention on the object photographed. The background paper defines an empty space and allows the viewer to see an object without distraction. The key to a tabletop studio is the background paper. There are two basic components to any studio the background and the lighting.
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