Easy carry photo tent

SamW

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I have posted in my album "cuttings from the floor" 2 photos of the light tent I use in Reno (and elsewhere) for those interested. I first made a rectangular diffuser from transluscent light fixture plastic and made a small "foot" to hold it in the camera's flash mounting slot. Using the hand held ring light, this works fairly well by itself and I took a number of nice photos at the SCI show one year for The Engraver. By adding a piece of white sheet draped over the setup with a slot or hole for the screen you get better photos. If using the sheet, clear plexiglas should work for the rectangular plate to hold the sheet in a usable shape. I still use the hand held light when needed to help get even lighting of the areas of engraving. These are what I call working photos, made to show the engraving. They are not what might be thought of as "beauty" shots, the kind you find on covers of magazines and books, but they work well to show off your work. The trick is to move the piece around until you get a good view of the engraving. The camera won't fix bad placement. With the camera around my neck, the tripod in hand and the other items in a thin shoulder bag I am ready to go just about anywhere and take photos. Any questions feel free to ask.


 

SamW

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When you get to the forum, look at the photos at the top. The first two as of now. To get to my album click on my name above then on profile. Should find album listed there.
 

Sam

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Sam, that is very clever! Would you mind if I add those photos to your post so we can see them here? I'd also like to add it to the Tips Archive but need the photos and your post together. I like the way you're holding your diffuser in the hot shoe. Do you find that the angle is usually correct? I've seen flexible arms that mount to hot shoes if you needed to adjust the diffuser for different angles, etc. And the white cloth will kill those pesky reflections we're always trying to get rid of. Very clever!
 

SamW

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By all means go ahead Sam. The light is a Digi-Slave I bought from bhphotovideo.com for I think $150. As a ring light it works great on non-reflective items like flowers but must be diffused for metal and such and works great as shown here. The sheet in the photo has been replaced by a larger version which allows me to spread it out enough to get most of it out of the photo. The angle has worked well and was just a random selection. One must move the gun around until it is just right but you have that to do in any setup. With this setup and a digital camera one can experiment ad nausium so to speak. I recommend taking notes as remembering what settings worked and what didn't are flighty little rascals. I did demonstrate this setup in the seminar I did for FEGA a few years ago.
 

Sam

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Ok, now the photos have been added to your post and I've added the post to the Tips Archive. This is really a cool little setup. I think I'll make one for testing with my point-and-shoot camera. Thanks again, Sam!! :thumbs up:
 

fegarex

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Thanks for posting this Sam! I know it works well as most of those great photos from Reno are done by our "official FEGA photographer" Sam W.
Thanks for all the work!
Rex
 

John B.

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Thank you, Sam.
As Rex said, those who didn't make it to Reno should thank Sam for the eye candy in The Engraver.
And those of that did, for the wonderful photograph additions to our memory bank.

Best.
 

Andrew Biggs

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Thanks for that reminder Sam

I remember you showing me that setup in Reno. At the time I thought how clever it was and then promptly forgot all about it.............middle age memory!!!! :)

Cheers
Andrew
 

SamW

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Yes Chris, it is the Digi-Slave Ultra. I see they still have that model at $130. It is a small light so if you want to use it as a ring light check to see if it will fit your lens. For my point and shoot camera I have to use a homemade plastic tube holder to use it as a ring light. I mostly use it as hand held as in the photos. Check out the various sizes. Regards, S.

PS...I measured the inside diameter of the light and it is 3.6cm or about 1 7/16 inch.
 
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Kevin P.

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"When you get to the forum, look at the photos at the top"

Maybe it's the altitude but I'm not getting any photos here or at the "Tips Archive"
Help please.
Kevin P.
 

Sam

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Kevin: someone else reported a similar problem. Try again and report back to me, please. I think I can fix it but please try a refresh of the pages.
 

Sam

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Some members were having problems seeing the photos of Sam's portable photo setup in this thread so I have re-uploaded them. It should be working ok now.

~Sam
 

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