frankchester

Thanks for the links though. I have read everything I can yet my pictures still do not work Also, does anyone know how to edit posts? It is really frustrating.

The colour of the mannequin isn't important. If the mannequin doesn't have high contrast with the background that's fine. It's the item on it I'm trying to represent.

Debating purchasing more lights, but this is obviously very costly, not to mention the extra space it will take up! What do you think? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-arrival-Photo-Studio-Light-Kit-SoftBox-Boom-Arm-Stand-with-4-x-115w-bulbs-/330876497573?pt=UK_Photography_Lighting_Kits&hash=item4d09c6aea5

I am still really struggling to get good photos. It's so frustrating. I spent 6 hours last weekend trying to get good photographs and they are all just terrible. I moved the lights further away which did help, and used a tripod and a longer exposure but I am still struggling to get bright, good looking photographs. I also took some photos outside of the lightcube, just against the cream wall in my flat. As you can see, they look terrible. This was after considerable editing. This is the kind of photograph I am keen to achieve, can anyone work out how this was done? What kind of lighting set up? Is two lights not enough? Maybe it's my camera? I was using my kit lense as that's all I have

Thanks, I'll try this. Just ordered a mini tripod as mine is a bit too big!

Secondly (sorry, I can't edit posts?!)... The two lights don't seem to work as they're just not strong enough, or something. Clearly as you can see from the pics it's not working too well. I have the lights on the sides of the cube but the background is still dark. This makes me think I need a third light to light this size of cube...

The thing is I already have two 5500k lights but they're not enough. I can't afford a third boom light stand (way too expensive wherever I look). So my thinking was to get a clip lamp and another bulb to make up the third light (then worry about how to make it hang over the tent later, less of a problem really. I'm thinking broom handles!

I've been searching everywhere for a cheap alternative to the lights. The bulbs (5500k) can be picked up quite cheaply on eBay, but it's the arms/stands that are the expensive part. I've been trying to find a standard lamp, like an IKEA clip one that would take a 135w bulb but obviously none do. I'm wondering if I can try to be "cheap" by getting a standard "clip on" lamp, and getting an appropriate daylight lamp and making some sort of clip on broom handle contraption with some duct tape! Ha! Lets see.

Thanks, I'll look into a third light but the expense is too much at the mo. I have a tripod, so I'll try with the longer exposure and see how that goes first.

Thanks, I haven't got a boom arm, they seem very expensive, I can't really justify spending more on another light if I can avoid it (and I can't find a boom for under £20 which would be my max sadly!) I played a lot with the exposure but I will try and see what else I can get.

Thanks for the links. I do have a grey card somewhere. I've only done a few photography classes on lighting so it's all pretty new to me. Also my lights are nowhere near as big as the ones in the videos you linked. They are still quite big though, but not enough to light the entire side. Maybe I need more?

Won't let me edit previous post, ugh. The lights themselves aren't tall enough (I have been looking for boom arm type things all morning but they're very very expensive). I could however place a chair or similar behind the cube and then put one of the lights on that, but then that would involve taking away from the sides. Hence my thinking that maybe I need a third light for the top (boom arm or simply stood on a higher surface if I can)

I'll have a play with the DoF, I was more concerned about lighting the subject correctly than getting an in focus shot though, I have to admit. This was more playing around. I haven't got the camera on a tripod, could do though. Do you think a longer exposure would work better to get more light without a white out?

Hello All, hopefully this question isn't too silly for me to ask. I recently bought a light tent and two lamps in order to take better pictures of products I make. I work in the day so getting daylight photos is very difficult, and I wanted to take more consistent photographs. I'm struggling a bit with getting it just right though, and am after some advice. First off, I think I made a bit of a mistake with the size of the tent. I went for an 80cm tent without thinking how big it actually is. It's pretty huge. It's good though, as a lot of my products are quite large and need to be laid out flat. Problem is, I can't seem to light it correctly. I don't know if it's down to not enough lights, positioning the lights, or I'm just doing something wrong. I only have two daylight lamps which I positioned on the sides of the tent, but I still get a lot of darkness at the back. I'm wondering if I need more lights, another two to light the back? Or one large one to hang over the top? Not really sure how you light something this large! Secondly, for photographing smaller items, do I need a much smaller cube? I'm thinking of purchasing a second 30cm cube and lighting it with the same two lights. Or is it just that I'm doing something wrong in terms of positioning the lamps, or my settings? Should I be using flash? I tried using my standard camera flash but this either isn't enough, or it gives a very harsh light on the image which is obviously the opposite of what I want. Here is an image I took, which I have heavily edited to try and lighten the background. Not really that great, is it? Also, I have a Sony A350 DSLR.