Tonight my family celebrated Christmas with my side of the family. One of my presents was a CowboyStudio Photo Studio Light Tent Kit in a Box (and also Skyrim for the Xbox 360!). I have wanted one of these studio kits for a long time, but I never ended up buying one for myself, so it was a nice surprise. As soon as we got home, I wanted to try it out. I will let you decide if it makes a difference. 🙂
The kit comes with a carrying case that folds out into a soft light tent, along with two table lights, a camera stand, and four color backgrounds. It didn’t come with instructions, but after looking at the picture again on Amazon, it was self-explanatory. I had the whole thing set up in 5 minutes. Here is the manufacturer’s shot of everything together (click any image in this post to enlarge it):
The camera stand was particularly helpful, as the main arm can bend forward to minimate level, while the part that holds the camera can rotate to almost any angle. I went with the white background for my shots, so I could compare them to my usual set-up. Here is a shot of my set-up:
For my first victim, I chose a custom of Jack O’Neill from Stargate SG-1 that I have been working on. My usual set-up for photos is a sheet of white paper and a desk lamp. Here is a shot of jack with my usual set-up:
And here is one of Jack with the new studio kit:
What do you think? Does the studio kit make a difference?
I think the lighting on the figure is an improvement.
In general the diffused light that a light box gives will give less harsh highlights on whatever you’re shooting.
But the background, particularly the shadows cast from the two lights, needs work.
Not much of one, honestly. The triple shadows are annoying. What did your old setup look like? The image is crisper though.
Yeah I need to iron the background, as it is still wrinkled from being in the packaging. Also I think I need a third light, with a soft filter already on it. The old set up was just the minimate on a sheet of white paper with a desk lamp as the only light source.
I’ve got one of those photo studio kits and with a little work you can get rid of the shadows. It’s a little tricky to figure out the best light angles so that there are minimal shadows and minimal glare, but I think you can do it without needing a third light. And you might watch the temperature on the lighting also. The first time I used mine one of the lights melted the outer casing onto the bulb because it got too hot very quickly.
You will work ut the shadow issue but the lighting is MUCH better! The colors look more TRUE. good luck! -Moo