Thoughts on a Light Tent - are they rubbish or do they work...?

[theMusicMan]

Hey All

Someone sent me an email last night pointing me in the direction of a Light Tent. Now... me being very naive to all this malarkey, I wondered if these things are any good and could be used for things other than still life - such as small pets etc...?

Here's the link someone sent me to one such tent

Light Tent on eBay

So, do these work, are they worth looking into...? or should I steer well clear...?

 

[andrewc]

I think they would probably work for product photography, but for people I think a more traditional background on a roll works better.

 

[DiddyDave]

Small pets are fine in them - just make sure they are dead first

Have you been smoking too many 'odd' ciggies in Amsterdam MM?

 

[theMusicMan]

Hehe Dave... are these light tents something to keep away from then...? Are they that bad?

 

[dazzajl]

My only real worry with one of those is that the whole structure wouldn't be taught and you'd end up seeing the wrinkles if the fabric in the shots.

That would still be much easier to deal with in PP than relfections on a reflective product though.

Are you actually going to be doing product work though? If not then they make a pretty dull environment for anything else.

 

[Hoodi]

Light tents tend to give incredibly flat or at best dull light. They are neither particularly good for product shots (they're good for sitting at home pretending to do product shots, but if you're actually doing some work for someone I'd steer clear) nor are they particularly good for anything alive - too small as mentioned.

A far better, more versatile, easier to work with and often cheaper basic option for product shots is a sheet of smoked perspex. Support it off the ground at a slight angle (rig up a frame, use some chairs, whatever) and place a studio light or strobe underneath it. Then use one or two (usually two) lights above the perspex to the left and right. Tweak and control as desired, but this setup actually gives ace light, in a workable environment, and is the skeleton of what actual product photography is usually done with.

 

[theMusicMan]

Thanks all... no plans to either get one nor have I been asked to do some product work. I was simply curious as to if they were good or not.

Ta for the advice.

 

[8utters]

I have an 80cm light tent.

My thoughts:

Keeping the fabric taught is pretty hard. I'v spent ages trying to get rid of the bumps in the background. It's annoying. Plus the thing comes with it folded so you get these really harsh creases. I had to iron the sheets. Lame.

You need to use 5000K bulbs, cost about £7 each.

Even when you have it all set up, most of the photos look kinda crappy anyway, I was expecting really professional shots with a tent, but they come out kinda dull.

I did get a few really good ones tho, but for the most part I reckon I wasted my money

It was only a tenner tho, not too bad