Photography softboxes any good?

I've been using one for months. 

The trick to lighting is to have a light on either side (or all 4 if you've got the space), shining through the tent sides.  The sides act as a diffuser allowing a softer, more even light while eliminating hot spots.  The more lights you have from different directions, the less shadows you will have.  Plus the more exterior lighting you have, eliminates the need for a flash, which will create hot spots and harsh shadows.

If you have a place to clamp, I suggest getting simple clamp lights from home depot or any hardware store.  Use 80-100w white bulbs (incandescents will have a yellow tint to them).

Here are a few different examples of pictures I've taken using my lightbox

-Fred

bufflehead -

There's nothing wrong with the shot you did of the tank.  I am a semi-proffesional photgrapher and the only nit (and I mean nit!) would be a little more light on the running gear which could be got with a litttle more bounce from a white card (panel) at just about table height.  Where did you see that soft box?

Also, what model tank is that? It's got German markings, but it looks a lot like a U.S. tank from the Korean/Vietnam era.

PontiacRich,  the tank is indeed an M47 Patton from the Korean War era, but its been built, painted and marked as one of the "King Tigers" from the 1966 movie "Battle of the Bulge"!  Since they didn't have any real KT's for the movie, they used M47s instead which is common in many war movies from the 60s & 70s.  Anyway, its my recent entry for the Italeri Group Build 2 in the Armor Forum.

The dark running gear is one of the reasons I'm not happy with many of my photos, as well as blurry shots (need that tripod!) and color balance.  One of the things that intrigued me about the softboxes is the quick setup as most of them just "pop" open!  I saw these softboxes on Amazon, eBay, and a few other websites that I can't remember now.

Thanks for your input!

bufflehead wrote:

Thanks for the response Gigatron!  Your photos look really good!  I really like the Hellcat and Zero!  You must be using a tripod.  I'm still taking my photos by hand and I get a lot of blurry photos!  I have the lights, just wondering if the softbox works, which it obviously does for you!

Nope, no tripod.  Just holding it by hand.  With enough light, you don't need a tripod.  It's only in low-light situations that the shutter needs to stay open longer to get the proper exposure and therfore will pick up every jitter making the picture blurry.

Plus, my camera (konica-minolta A200 DiMage) has an anti-shake stabilization system, so that helps alot.

-Fred

bufflehead -

I knew it!  I built a 1/48 Patton when I was in my teens and everytime I watch (even today) Battle of the Bulge or Patton I could swear they used the M47...now you've confirmed it!  It seems the only WWII movie from the 70's that tried to get it right was A Bridge to Far.  They even have British Bren Gun Carriers.

Now back to the Photography - Go with the tripod!  Even an inexpensive $30 tripod will work for table top shooting.  I wouldn't be too concerned about the dark running gear (as I said, it was a nit!), because there is still full detail to be seen in the shadows. 

Color balance is a function of the lights, background and camera.  If you are using incandescent lights they will give an orange cast to a picture (without flash).  Normal fluorescent lights tend to give a green or blue cast.  You can get fluorescent lights that are "color balanced" to standard daylight (which is usually given as a color temperature i.e. 3200 - 3500 degrees Kelvin). Photographic strobes (built into most digital cameras) give the correct color as do regular photographic flash (strobe) units that attach to the camera hot shoe.  Try to use a white, off-white or light grey background instead of blue, black or red.  That way the reflected light from the flash won't be color shifted by the background.

Digital cameras usually also have a color or white balance adjustment.  Check your camera manual for how to adjust yours.  And of course there's always Photoshop and the like for manipulation within the computer.

Just my

Rich -

Thanks for the photography tips!  I checked and the GE "Reveal" light bulbs I'm using are incandescent and are definitely not color balanced.  The color temperature is 2700k.  I'm going to a photography store to find some bulbs more appropriate to digital photography.  Also, I've played around with my photo setup and determined that I can reduce the shadows by better light placement and using those white panels better to bounce more light on the subject.  I also tried a light gray background and have had better luck with my photos, but a white background still turns out either pink or gray.  Oooh and a tripod is on the way from Amazon! 

Here's one I did yesterday:

Ernest -

Great shot of the Tiger...man if I could build a model like that !

You're welcome for the information...finally something I can contribute to better modelling!  Sounds like you're on the right track (pun intended!) for better pix.  You shouldn't have to do much more because the shot of the Tiger has really good detail, neutral color and very little shadow.

Hmmm....Pink photo w/a white background...sounds like the camera has a slight magenta color bias (all digitals have a color bias to some degree this includes scanners ) - the best solution for that is Photoshop or similar photo editing software.  When I have any of my photographs (film based) scanned there's inevitably a color shift with the resultant scanned image (especially in shadow regions) - even with my black & white photos.  I color correct them with Photoshop.

The grey from a white background is probably the camera's computer trying to pick the right exposure for the different light intensities it's reading...try to drop the light intensity on the background just slightly or you can play with the camera's White balance settings.

Happy shooting!

Armorama has several articles about improving your digital photography. There is also an article on how to make your own photo backdrop that costs about $5 to make. You might find some good articles there.

http://modelgeek.kitmaker.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=Sections&file=index&req=listarticles&secid=14