Once I completed my very large PVC Light Tent, I was pretty certain I would need a portable one. The large one could be portable, but would likely be a pain to cart around. And I was right – just last week someone asked me to come to their location and do some product photos. That shoot should be sometime this week, so I took some time this past weekend and made a portable light tent out of PVC pipe.
I could have gone with the same plans I used for the larger one, but instead opted to try Bill Huber’s design. It is much simpler than the large one, with fewer pieces, increasing the portability. I didn’t really vary mine much from his, except that I used regular 90° elbows, and I didn’t glue any joints together. Not gluing allows me to break the pieces down for maximum portability.
When I went to the craft store to locate suitable heavy paper, I came across a higher quality posterboard that is double sided. Each piece measures 22″ in width, which is perfect for the width of this box. By using this posterboard, I have 8 different colors of backdrop – 2 shades of blue, purple, red, green, yellow, gold and silver. Following Bill’s trick of using a sheet metal or wood screw on the crossbar (drill pilot holes first before putting the screws in) and punching holes in the top of the posterboard, you get a VERY convenient method to hang the backdrops with. This also gives you added versatility. You can put the backdrop inside the frame and cover the tent with a sheet, or you can hang the backdrop so it is outside the frame. You might ask when you would need to do this, and an immediate example I can think of is a spherical object that reflects everything.
As the photos on Bill’s site attest, you can get some great results from this. I haven’t fully tested it yet, but will be experimenting a lot with light positioning, etc. when I do my product shoot in Highlands Ranch later this week. This is a very inexpensive piece of equipment though, and I anticipate using it quite a bit. I’ll be sure to post pics after the shoot.
Also, I’d love to see some other designs for light tents, as well as any other DIY projects you might think of. And you can click on any of the thumbnails in this article to see a larger version.
[...] Wine bottles and various glasses are hard to shoot. Even more so on location. I neglected to use my portable PVC light tent for this outing, but I will definitely use it next time. I also am hoping to be able to shoot [...]
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