Some new toys :-)

I was having a problem with some flash triggers so headed off to the store to get the problem fixed.  The problem with this behaviour is that I always seem to end up buying more stuff.  Yesterday's excursion was no different to any previous trip and I came home with a product table and light tent.  I have a few small products to photograph next month, so thought I'd try out these "gadgets" to see if I'd get better results than the "Heath Robinson" approach to product lighting I'd been using to date.

Elephant in a light tent

The first thing I wanted to try was an even light in the light tent.  These tents are pretty easy to make out of cardboard boxes and tracing or greaseproof paper, but I wanted something I could transport, hence the acquisition.  The first shot in this post was taken in the light tent.  Two studio lights, one on each side of the tent, were used to illuminate the elephant and I must admit to being quite pleased with the result; a very even, soft light with shadows just under the elephant.

Pen in a light tent

The second shot was of a pen.  I noticed that as I moved the pen up and down the base of the tent I could get a greater or lesser degree of a "graduated" background.  Something to experiment with further!

I did mention that I bought a product table too.  The idea here was to get something on which I could get some nice reflections.  The third shot in this post is of the elephant again, but on a polycarbonate base.  I'm just playing with this stuff you understand, so the protective wrapping is still intact, but it does give an idea of the types of reflections that can be achieved.  I had a Speedlight under the table, but for some unknown reason it didn't fire.  Lots of experimenting to do with these new acquisitions I suspect!

Elephant on product table.

Oh, I almost forgot to ask ... are you impressed with how clean my sensor is now?  I didn't notice any specs of sensor dirt in these shots, did you?