Thursday, June 3, 2010

Instant miniature studio - How To

Two weeks down the Nikon D90, its so tempting to keep it down and she hates it. :-) Last weekend I got a Shrek toy as part of the Happy Meal. Soon after coming home, I wanted to take few snaps of it. So quickly thought of home studio lighting setup to take photos.

All you need is
- A note book, preferably plain white sheets in them.
- Alternate source of light, like table lamp.
- Tripod (preferred)
Nikon D90 on the tripod + table lamp + note book with 50mm lens as the subject
Place the note book like a slanting 'L', this gives white flooring and white background (laptop and few white sheets will also do). It would be nice to slide a paper over the edge, so that there are no sharp curves on the background. Make sure there is no folds in the paper that's used (since it will caste shadow). Set the tripod in front of the notebook with the camera mounted. Now place the table lamb between the tripod and notebook, such that it does come inside the frame of the camera. Also make sure the table lamp does not flare the lens. No place the subject in the tip of the paper that stands sliding and start shooting.

Keep the light at different angles to the subject to get various effect on the subject and control how the shadow is cast. Prefer using the timer shutter to avoid any chance of camera shake. 

Here are some samples and more photos at flickr

Go ahead and comment your feedback and questions.

16 comments:

redthil said...

nice one... atb for ur studio to grow BIGGER!!!!
and check out this...
http://redthilphotos.tumblr.com/post/579166986/dual-rose
this was taken in my office, with my chair as bg, and little xtra light towards the white rose using the torch facility in my mobile...

Jency said...

good post! got the idea wen u had mentioned you used white sheets, read the post to confirm :)

Anonymous said...

oooh nice. what Tripod do you use? I've been meaning to buy one for a while. Also, what lenses do you use? I hear Abi bought you a new one? :D

Vijesh said...

@red Nice work.

@jency, Thanks

@chinkurli
Tripod http://amzn.com/B000V7AF8E
Lens Nikon 18-105mm, Nikon 50mm 1.8, Yeah she sponsored them.

Tom Praison said...

You can also try something like this with a torch light (spot light effect). http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/photo.php?pid=2223961&id=573663696 ...

sagopal said...

This is awesome Vijesh.

You are gifted.

Vijesh said...

@Tom It looks nice on Gloria.

@Gops Thanks da. :) You can also try it.

Abirami Rajendran said...

when did you take these pics? was i around?

they are nice, i wish you'd posted your shrek toy pics.

Vijesh said...

@Abirami
They are Home Alone assignments. :) Sure go ahead and post the pics, what else better channel can I get to market my snaps. :P

Anonymous said...

thanks, I have some Qs:

The tripod seems a bit lightweight, is it stable enough?

Where did you order it from?

I'm currently looking for a stable-but-light tripod, because I have a back problem. There seems to be no good one that meets this criterion of mine. Any suggestions?

Vijesh said...

@chinkurli
Yes that's a valid question. Even I don have a good medical record with my back. Yes they are light weight aluminum body. But they are good to hold a body and lens upto 70-300mm lens. But again care needs to be taken when lens barrel is fully extended. So upto 1500 gms they are good to hold.

But these tripods are excellent for travel, anything more than that would trouble your back.

I ordered it from Amazon. But there are good vendors in India too who can give at a good price.

Anonymous said...

Awesome pics! You do photography like a pro :)

Vijesh said...

Thanks @ajay

damodarakkannan a said...

idea sir ji :)

Abirami Rajendran said...

i like the template make over.

good one!

Pradeep Prem Kamal said...

NICE PICS VIJESH ;-)