Photo tent - am I missing something?

I've been watching with great interest all the discussions on photo tents. I seem to be missing something though. It's basically a frame with some material (sewn into a 5 sided box) suspended from it and a few properly placed flood lights. Is that it?

Well, the part that's confusing me is reading the words of all these fine craftsmen (98% of you doing nicer work than I could hope to) as they post ideas on where to BUY these simple frames. C'mon guys (and ladies). Have I missed it, or has no one undertaken the construction of a photo tent?

You are all so ingenious in constructing jigs and home made tools. Heck, Travis in going to make a lathe out of a snowblower for Pete's sake! I'd love to see a pictorial essay on building your own photo tent.

Rennie, I've thought the same thing...is this a challenge to the forum?

I've had an idea in my head for quite some time, but keep getting sidetracked. I have about 10 turnings that will be "camera ready" by the end of the week, me thinks I will make one. (unless I get distracted by spinning wood again)

Jeff Bower said:

Rennie, I've thought the same thing...is this a challenge to the forum? ....

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YES! I guess it certainly could be! Let's see what happens!

I cannot speak for photo tents because by and large the photos of work I take are too big to fit in one. For me, the sourcing of an appropriate material (translucent, right colour etc) and the construction of a mechanism that then holds that material in a crease free way that doesn't create shadow etc would probably take much much longer than it was worth when compared to the cost of buying a finished tent. They seem to start from about five quid over here and I probably couldn't even buy the needle and thread for that cost.

Ingenuity is great and the satisfaction of making your own can be marvelous but I tend to restrict mine to where I cannot get what I want or where the challenge lets me achieve something that motivates me. On that basis I ain't gonna be making a photo tent anytime soon.

Tents

I guess we/me are not big on working with fabric.

Also you can buy a quickly collaspable tent for very little $$.

I did not want to think about the fabric work and how to make it easily storable so I bought one.

Check out John Lucas the woodworkers site. I think he has plans on building your own out of PVC.

I bought a small tent, couple of 5100 temp bulbs, put them in fixtures I already had. Whole deal <$40.

I love the 5100 K bulbs. Best lights in the house. I use the often for reading and close work.

Pete Simmons said:

I bought a small tent, couple of 5100 temp bulbs, put them in fixtures I already had. .

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Pete, I'm sure it's been covered somewhere before, but where did you get your bulbs? I can't find anything over 1500-1800 lumens.

Picked them up at a local lighting supply place.

I think they were about $10 each. 35 watt compact flourensent.

Thanks Pete!

www.jamiedonaldsonwoodturner.com

Jamie is a professional photographer who would probably describe himself as retired. He is also a heck of a turner.

Check out his sight for how to build a phrugal photo set-up and how to take pictures of your woodwork. He is the author of the Phrugal Photo Studio.

I had the pleasure of meeting him about 15 months ago. Also a nice guy.

An inexpensive laundry basket can be used by cutting out the sides and taping white sheets over the openings. Any light fixture(s) with a proper bulb will suffice. Be sure to put your camera on a tripod. With mid to low end digi-cams, use the self-timer to avoid shake. I sure wish they would put cable release capabilities on digi-cams that are less than professional grade.

Frank Fusco said:

An inexpensive laundry basket can be used by cutting out the sides and taping white sheets over the openings.

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Frank, that's exactly what I was going to do, still maybe. Our laundry basket is cracked anyway, time for an upgrade. I think I will make something that is collapsable though.

Rennie, to me the main differences between a shop-made and store-bought tent is that the store version collapses down to a 15" circle about 2" thick. Sort of like one of those spring-loaded car windshield shades. The better ones also use a special fabric chosen for its even translucency and light dispersion.

Did a quick search last night and found this pdf from James Dondalson's website. This looks like it would be easy to make and pretty easy to break down to stash away...