I took some time off from my busy weekend schedule of lazing around and doing nothing, to build a lightbox for macro shots. Having recently acquired my Sony DSLR, I am still in the stage when I am pretty enthusiastic about these things. The lightbox is ready but the lighting is still not done. I have to buy 2 table lamps to throw light at the ceiling of the box to ensure diffused lighting. I am gonna be using 1 white cfl and 1 yellow cfl in the lamps. I don’t know if this applies here but according to an electrical engineer friend of mine this combination is supposed to generate the least shadows.
Below are a few shots using the lightbox illuminated with a naked white cfl and some shots with the camera flash. These are cropped to remove the shadow of the lens shade because in the Sony A300 the built in flash doesn’t open up very high and this results in a shadow of the lens shade. None of the images have been adjusted in any other manner. I also didn’t use the macro mode. I used shutter priority to let in more light as I felt that the light was less. I adjusted the aperture manually too in some photos.
I had a very few things lying around to take close up shots of as I had recently thrown away a lot of toys that I had got with McDonalds Happy Meals. I had to settle for my razor for the next few shots.
The shadows are what’s bothering me, since the lighting is not setup yet, there is really nothing I can do about it.
As my next project I plan to take out my LEGO bricks and make what they are supposed to be made into and then photograph those. That will be better in terms of a subject and better looking too. It will also give me the chance to play with depth and lighting and shadows and stuff.
Other projects/experiments:
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Abhilash is a part time blogger and blogs about photography, technology and travel. When not blogging Abhilash is either selling outsourcing solutions to companies or indulging in marathon episodes of various science fiction shows and movies.
