Lightbox - Looking for Tips, Suggestions

[Gulf Coast Girl]

I made a homemade lightbox out of some Whiteboard, Muslin fabric & Masking Tape. Nothing fancy, but I'm happy with how it turned out.

The lights I'm using are from a lighting kit I bought. The two side lights are 500 Watts each, the top light is 250 watts. In the photo below the lights are NOT in their final position. When I shot my object, I moved the lights right down about 2 inches from fabric.





I took some shots using two different White Balance Settings. 1st round using the setting Incandescent and the 2nd round using a custom measured WB. Both seemed to come out dark (seemed dingy) and in need of adjustment in Post. I'm VERY surprised by this, given the wattage of the bulbs and how bright it was inside the box when I shot the items.

Here are 2 examples of the same photo.

This one is out of the camera (only cropped and re-sized). Seems WAY darker and dingier than it actually was.







This is the same photo, edited to brighten up the whites.



EXIF:
Camera Nikon D90
Exposure 0.001 sec (1/800)
Aperture f/5.6
Focal Length 48 mm
ISO Speed 200
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash No Flash
Light Source Unknown
Exposure Program Manual
White Balance Manual
Lens 18.0-105.0 mm f/3.5-5.6



This is one I took with the White Balance set to Incandescent. This HAS been edited to brighten it up. The original was darker just like the perfume picture.




Camera Nikon D90
Exposure 0.001 sec (1/800)
Aperture f/5.6
Focal Length 24 mm
ISO Speed 200
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Exposure Program Manual
Light Source Tungsten
Exposure Mode Manual
White Balance Manual
Lens 18.0-105.0 mm f/3.5-5.6


Here are my specific questions:

1. Is it normal for photos shot in a lightbox to need THAT much brightening in post?
2. Is my ISO too low for lightbox shots?
3. I normally do not change the exposure compensation. For lightbox shooting, should it be bumped up to say +2 EV?
4. How can I prevent the reflection showing in the perfume top (showing the lightbox sides). The only thing I can think of is turning off the top light, but it seems then that I might end up with an even darker photo.

Any other comments, tips, suggestions are greatly appreciated. Give it to me straight, I can take it.

Thanks

[zona5101]

1,2 &3 are all related...you need to think about what your meter is trying to do... it's trying to make eveything a nice 18% gray...it thinks everything has the same reflectivity. But as you know that is not the case, your background is white, not gray. You need to manually expose or use your exposure comp dial.

#4 is the light position & diffusion...first thing I'd try is backing off that top light so there isn't the circle of brightness. Alternatively you may want to add another layer of diffusion material to get it spread more even.

[inkista]

Or you could roam the aisles at Ikea.

Hamper Light Box
IKEA | Laundry & cleaning | Laundry baskets | SKUBB | Laundry bag with stand

I actually kinda like this one (16 gal. is deeper):

IKEA | Bins & bags | Waste paper bins & baskets | SORTERA | Recycling bin with lid

And for small objects, I use this, shooting from above:

IKEA | Bins & bags | Waste paper bins & baskets | FNISS | Wastepaper basket

This way, your entire box is diffuser material.

[Gulf Coast Girl]

Originally Posted by zona5101

1,2 &3 are all related...you need to think about what your meter is trying to do... it's trying to make eveything a nice 18% gray...it thinks everything has the same reflectivity. But as you know that is not the case, your background is white, not gray. You need to manually expose or use your exposure comp dial.

#4 is the light position & diffusion...first thing I'd try is backing off that top light so there isn't the circle of brightness. Alternatively you may want to add another layer of diffusion material to get it spread more even.

Thanks for the help. I went back and tried a few more times manually adjusting the exposure as well as trying some just using the exposure compensation dial. I could tell the difference, but still needed some to adjust in post. I think a big part of my problem is trying to shoot a clear bottle on a white background. So I tried a few shots on a black background, I like the results better than the white background.

I wasn't able to get the reflection out of the perfume top, even when I turned off the upper light or backed off the side lights. Kinda weird, but with the black background there is still reflection, but not as noticeable that it is the lighbox in the reflection. I'm sure there's a lesson for me here on how light reflection works.

Overall though, I'm happy with the results. I'm a beginner so everything is practice, practice, practice.

Here are a couple more after making adjustments in exposure and background.

[Gulf Coast Girl]

Originally Posted by inkista

Or you could roam the aisles at Ikea.

This way, your entire box is diffuser material.

Thanks for the idea Inkista, I actually like the lightbox I made and unfortunately I think the problem is the photographer, not the box