Sunday, December 7, 2008

Jerry's 5 Cent Photo Light Tent


I had a terrible time sleeping last night. I was thinking about a simple and inexpensive way to disperse and diffuse light falling on our coins as we photograph them. Earlier in the day I had looked on the web and found a light tent for about $250 dollars. That was terribly discouraging and I knew I could make one just as well. My kids had bought me a tent last year and it just did not work well so I returned it to the seller.

I have spent months working with frosted plastic and fabric with pretty good results. Suddenly I had one of those light bulb moments and it hit me, use paper! I thoughtfully continued to work on the design, as I lay awake for hours. I continued to simplify the “tent” until it was simply a matter of cutting and taping once I entered my studio this morning. Within minutes I had the tent cut, taped and assembled.

I knew it would work and work well. After assembly I chose a couple of coins that would normally present photographic problems. I photographed and you see the results above. I will explain the process in detail although it is very simple.

Cut a sheet of ordinary copy paper to the following dimensions. Leave the paper the length it is, 11 inches. I trimmed the paper to 6” in height. I then rolled the paper into a cylinder and taped it with clear tape. That is it! That is the light tent. I used 22-pound paper. I think 20-pound will work well and I think 24 pound paper may be a bit thick. Regardless, I am very happy with the results and I think anyone can construct the tent in a matter of minutes. By the way, I overlapped the paper by 1 inch and that creates a 3” diameter cylinder. Here is my setup and you will see the tent on my copy stand:
http://tinyurl.com/585mvg I hope the simplicity of this setup is simple enough to cause all to want to try. I would like feedback as to what kind of success you have with the tent. Remember, you have a good tent but you still must get to know your camera. Thank you reading, bookmark and visit on occasion. God Bless.. Jerry..

1 comment:

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