Mini Home Photography Studio

This morning is starting off as those perfect summer days. Sitting on the porch reading the paper and listening to the rain fall.  It also gives me a few moments to catch up on a few indoor activities like writing this article as this afternoon is forecast to be sunny and 28c (85F).

If you live in a climate that gets -40c (-42F) in the winter and snow, then the summer is not a time to be indoors too much, which includes computer time. Also the fact that I got a 150cc Vespa scooter a couple of months ago is keeping me constantly on the road. I did throw the camera in the back a few times and drove to sections of the city looking for interesting shots. Great view and easy parking.

Home Photography Studio
For the SoFoBoMo 2010 project this year, I decided to use a few items I already had (light box & light tent) and built a fabric holding frame out of PVC tubing for seamless backgrounds.

The PVC tubing is the regular beige-ish 1/4” plumbing tubing cut to lengths and pressed together into a frame.  I haven't glued the frame together as it makes it easier for storage when taken apart. It's reasonably strong but may come apart if handled roughly.

Image of cut tubing & joints and assembled frame

Image of individual pieces

Light Tent
The light tent is made of Corplast sheets for frames and mylar sheets. Corplast are coloured or translucent plastic sheets made with square tubing format. This makes them somewhat rigid and ideal as a light box frame because it still lets some light through.

One frame with cutout for mylar paper and laying on a cutting mat.

The assembled frame and light box is shown below. Each of the frames, four (4) for a three-sided box, is held together with the green masking tap (easy removal) for quick setup. This makes it easy to remove panels or place at strange angles.

On the right side of the light tent you will notice there is an extra whole corplast sheet used to block a little more light. Extra panels between tent and light box.

Light Box

The light box was actually made of a light table for my 4x5 or 120  film negatives but I quickly found other uses. The box consists of a;
square ceiling light box with dual U-tube florescent blub (broad spectrum),
wooden frame to encase metal box,
foil lined inside to bounce more light back and diffuse source intensity,
white (5700c) 1/2” plastic translucent sheet to cover light box surface and provide for diffusion of light direction. (This is at the bottom of light tent, as I liked the slightly reflective surface)

Light box opened showing fluorescent tubing and aluminum foil lining

In the above image, I am using the fabric PVC frame as a stand to hold the Mylar light tent panels with small clamps.

With just a few materials, which can be configured in many ways, creative lighting sources and light modifiers can be setup easily.

2005- 150 ET4 Vespa scooter (box is aftermarket purchase)

 
Niels Henriksen