Light Tents

[Walt2]

I need some advice from some of you guys with light tent experience. I have tried some homemade stuff and have not been real happy with the results. I have been looking at a thing called an Ezecube. My question is which size would you guys reccomend to use for knives, 20"x20"x20" or 30"x30"x30"? Thanks for any advice.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Depends on the knife size. 20X20X20 would work fine for simple photos of most general knives (catalog photos).If you think you will be doing big bowies,or want lots of background items,then the larger unit would be best (Knife book photos).
A 2X4 foot sheet of cracked ice fluorescent light cover makes a great diffuser.I'll give a super short build-it guide.
Take a 30X30" piece of plywood and mount two 24" pieces of 2X2" on it,24" apart.Bow the piece of 2X4' plastic diffuser and stick the ends inside these cleats.It makes a big arch.Take two 24X24" pieces of the same diffuser material and set them against the ends.Use some tape to hold them in place if needed (they stay just fine usually).Mount four gooseneck lamps on the corners,and put photo type bulbs in them.Take one of the 24X24" panels and make a 3" hole in it with a door hole saw.Make the hole about 8" up from the side,centered.That way you can take the photo through the hole at a low angle or flip the panel for a high angle shot or side angles.Move the lamps up and down to create the lighting you desire.The whole thing can be stored as is or the dome can be popped out to store flat.Costs less than $70,mostly for the lighting.

 

[Walt2]

Thanks Stacy.

 

[rfrink]

and put photo type bulbs in them

I think this is my major problem. My white background always looks yellowish with some bulbs and blueish with others. What are these Photo bulbs....and where do we get them?

 

[B . Buxton]

Rob, I use Philips Daylight 50 bulbs from Lowes or Home depot, if I remember correctly they cost about $15 ea.. Be sure to set your white balance on your camera to eliminate off coloring.

Good luck,

Bill

 

[Gary W. Graley]

Get the 30x30 here is a shot taken just the other day
I used a piece of white paper to help throw some light
back along the bottom edge of the knife's blade and handle

and for those that have high speed internet, here is that image but a larger
version William Henry Attache B15


and he's a large bowie, part of the reason for needing the larger EZ cube light box;

The EZ cube works great, I had a single strobe up and behind it to provide the lighting.
G2

 

[Walt2]

I received the EZ Cube and tried it today. I'm having one of the same problems with it that I was with the homemade stuff. The top of the cube has wrinkles in the material and on the polished blades, the wrinkles reflect on the blade, causing discoloration. Have any of you who use the cube had this problem? I am using the daylight flouresant bulbs.

 

[tmickley]

I received the EZ Cube and tried it today. I'm having one of the same problems with it that I was with the homemade stuff. The top of the cube has wrinkles in the material and on the polished blades, the wrinkles reflect on the blade, causing discoloration. Have any of you who use the cube had this problem? I am using the daylight flouresant bulbs.

I had the same problem and I finally quit using it for any mirror polished blades. You can buy some white foam board (wally world, office supply) and cut it into squares/rectangles for the knife to reflect into on the mirrored parts.

 

[Gary W. Graley]

That shot I did I used what Tracy mentioned, in that case as I looked through
the camera I angled a sheet of white paper so the 'reflection' on the blade
sees the white board, otherwise yep, you'll see the old crinkly looking sides...
G2