Homemade Light Tent

[chaswp54]

I build a 30" X 30" light tent yesterday from PVC Pipe, the cheapest white fabric I could get my hands on and a few other odds and ends. Was a lot of labor but was fun. Thank God I know how to use a sewing machine fairly well to sew the fabric. Anyway, all said and done the materials cost me less than 25 dollars.
Everything comes apart in a few minutes to put away. Backdrop simply hangs and is interchangable (I use regular old poster paper of assorted colors.), and very adjustable.
I snapped off a few quick pictures of it. Links below. Sorry about the quality of the pics, I was in a hurry.

http://img75.echo.cx/img75/8429/lighttent17nb.jpg

http://img171.echo.cx/img171/6321/lighttent29xr.jpg

http://img171.echo.cx/img171/656/lighttent37ot.jpg

[Happy]

Wow! You did a nice job. What a way to keep the budget cost low.

[D Rock]

great job! u should start marketing them for $40 and make a quick dollar here and there :)

[MarcelSpijker]

I am intrested to see some photo's made with the help of this.
What light(s) do you use to shine on the canvas?

I saw such 'dome' and it came witha 500w light for about 300 Euro.
So if yours works good its intresting to try it myself :)

[chaswp54]

As soon as I take some pictures next week in it, I'll post a couple. In the past I've used regular incandescent floods and color corrected. I ordered a couple of "30 watt Trumpet Top Bulbs" to check out. I should get them next week and I'll take a series of shots using different lights that I have and post those so you can see.
Here's the stats on the Trumpet Bulbs. Maybe someone else has already used them and can give an opinion.

# 5000k daylight color temperature
# Cool
# 10,000 Hrs. of use
# Lumens 2100
# CRI >84

[down2earth2]

[QUOTE=chaswp54]As soon as I take some pictures next week in it, I'll post a couple. In the past I've used regular incandescent floods and color corrected. I ordered a couple of "30 watt Trumpet Top Bulbs" to check out. I should get them next week and I'll take a series of shots using different lights that I have and post those so you can see.
Here's the stats on the Trumpet Bulbs. Maybe someone else has already used them and can give an opinion.

# 5000k daylight color temperature
# Cool
# 10,000 Hrs. of use
# Lumens 2100
# CRI >84[/QUOTE]

I was just going to ask what kind of lighting set-up do you use.

That is a very cool light tent! What diameter PVC pipe did you use? Looks like 1.5"-2" (3-5 cm). I could do the piping, but the stitching I'd have to do by hand. Lets see... Oh damn... Is that a draw-string I see? You done good Dude!

So, I'm curious, what do you plan to take photos of?

BTW, are you going to join the photo scavanger hunt?

[chaswp54]

1.5" PVC and yes sir, that's a draw string. It was actually and after thought when my original intention did not work out. If I build another one (smaller) then I'll use elastic.

Photography has always been a hobby for me. I love natural light and/or light that I can just turn on and turn off, "hot lights" I guess they call it. I have a severe dislike for flash photography simply because I can't control it nor the costs involved for the nicer set ups. I like to improvise and being able to shoot a decent picture using poster board or things laying around for reflectors, backgrounds etc... it half the fun. I shot 35mm cameras for about 30 years so am still getting my feet wet with my digitals other than simple snap shots.
I've never used a dedicated light box like this before, so I would imagine I'll be testing the waters on a great many ideas.

I look at the "Scavanger Hunt" thread just about everytime I log on to PA, but time is my enemy this week.

[swillox]

cool,... ! I personaly use a polystirene light-"box", but because of its opacity, I'm not able to spot soften lightening besides, above, rear, under... Your job just really inspired me for something similar !!!, ... btw: aren't you affraid to get bizzare shadows from the tubes ? hope it won't !
Congrats.

[chaswp54]

I'm wondering about the shadows myself. Fortunately the box is big enough so that I have a little flexibility with light placement. I am hoping to find a few minutes this week to snap off a few pics. I'll do a few with different placements on same object/subject so that we can see what happens.