camara and light box questions. need some input

[nevinm]

i see so meny people with light boxes for their pics. but theyre all white with white backgrounds. is there any way to make one that is all black. i havent even tried this, i figured it would be a waist of time till i get some suggestions. ive been taking pics of the animals ontop of black silk and its been fine, but i thought there might be a better way.

and any one that has some tips for the sony cyber shot camara i would appriciate it.

thanks everyone
nev

 

[Milwaukee Reptiles]

You absolutely can make one all black. It's more difficult to get it lit well, but it's possible. A lot of photographers will use black velvet or any other solid black material. You also need to make sure the subject is lit a lot brighter than the background, which will help the camera to black out the background. A little bit of practice and experimentation and you should be able to get it.

Another suggestion - it might be worth placing the animal on a piece of plexiglass to get a nice dark reflection as well... something to play with.

 

[nevinm]

thank you very much brian. thats what i really need, a place to start.

thanks again
nevin

 

[TokayKeeper]

I'd stick to your sides being white. That's you means of even light transmission and the entire purpose of a light box.

What you can do is get black (or any other color) poster board to use as your background. The use of a white background just allows for better illumination of the animal from another angle (underneath).

A few people in the green tree python community will use 4 sides of white (left, right, top, bottom) and use the back of the box as another color. The reflection of lights, either outside standing lights or separate flash units, will allow for one to illuminate the animal evenly.

If one wants to get artsy-fartcy fancy they can adjust the angle of the lights, which side has light, coloration of light, etc.

 

[nevinm]

thank you tokay, this is something else i will have to work with