Fake It ‘Til You Make It

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Fake It ‘Til You Make It

Posted on 12 March 2007 by Judie Stanford

I’ve said for far longer than I care to admit that I am a reviewer but not a professional photographer; what a cop-out! Not only were some of my review pictures sub-par, some were downright embarrassing. It’s not like I have an in-house photographer here to take all of the pictures for me, which means I need to do it – and I need to do it right.

So enough excuses! With the guidance of Jerry & G-A, I decided to get a Canon Rebel XTi / 400D, which I unboxed a little while ago. Today I am going to show my new light kit which I’ve just unboxed and set up. Will it make my photos better? I certainly hope so. Anything has got to be an improvement over my breakfast nook’s spotty lighting.

The photos you are about to see are hopefully some of the last that will ever be posted on this site from my little point and shoot…

The box that the Smith Victor KLB-2, Two Light 1000 Total watt Photoflood Light Box Kit with 28″ Shooting Tent arrived in is huge! It took a while to unpack the two inner boxes, and then to remove all of the included parts and pieces.

I knew it would have the two lights and the shooting tent, but somehow I missed that the shooting tent would be so humongous and that the kit would also include…

…a tripod! My first!

So here is my camera and the new Canon Speedlite 580EX Flash that I also bought. Holy cow…I almost look like I might know what I am doing. Okay…maybe not quite yet. Ha!

You’ll notice that yes, I have also attached the neck strap to my camera (which I said I wouldn’t do) because I decided it would be better to look like a dork than to drop my baby.

Okay…now all I have to do is figure out how everything works so I can take the XTi out of “Green Box” mode. My new camera is one of the coolest gadgets I have, and I am really looking forward to getting out with it and taking pictures – in addition to the hopefully vastly improved indoor shots I’ll be doing for my reviews.

If you have any beginner photography tips, be sure to share!

This post was written by:

Judie Stanford - who has written 1699 posts on Gear Diary.

I started Gear Diary on September 30, 2006, and my goal was that this not be an easily labeled site. We all have gear that we use daily – some of it electronic and some of it organic. I think it is fascinating to explore the equipment that makes our lives easier, more entertaining, more productive, and more manageable. My hope is that Gear Diary visitors will find this site to be a comfortable and friendly place to discuss interesting topics – and not only those that are tech related, as well as a location to discover various types of gear – whatever that term may end up implying – that they never knew existed. My specialty is in-depth reviews written in a layman’s terms, because everyone can understand technology, sometimes it just takes a little translating. +Judie Stanford

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Pingback: Girls Gone Mobile » Judie’s new photography kit
http://www.leggnet.com LeggNet
Congrats Judie on the new rig. Good choice in going with Canon I’ve got a few brief photography and Photoshop tutorials on my site you might want to check out:
http://www.leggnet.com/labels/tutorial.html
Your first step away from the “GREEN BOX” mode would be to go to PROGRAM (the P setting) mode. This will still be fully automatic but give you some more control.
Cheers, Rich
http://www.geardiary.com Judie Hughes
Rich, I just got done looking at your site and I am blown away! I’ve been admiring your pictures on Flickr for ages…but your site’s tutorials are FAB! Thanks for sharing; I’ve added you to Gear Diary’s links.
“P” setting soon…must master the green box, first. haha
Kismet
That’s one helluva kit, can’t wait to see the amazing results it’ll produce.
Pingback: Girls Gone Mobile » Finally took the plunge
http://www.bostonpocketpc.com fyiguy
Nice Job! Now all you need is a rotating turntable!
I tried a pop up kit like that once, but my camera picked up all the wrinkles in the tent and created shadows bumps,etc that table shots do a good enough job. Setting up a tent takes a bit of time.
If you want really good shots a huge roll of white paper or black paper from a craft store mounted on a back drop setting stand or homebrew PVC pipe setup with the paper suspended from 90 degrees to a flat surface gives great results with no creases. Most people use the same process for keyframing green/blue screen work. With the proper lighting it looks great.
Remember light is your friend in photography and it looks like you have more than enough now! Just be careful those lights get really hot. Let them cool before handling.
Also I use quick release straps on my camera from Tamarac. It allows me to switch to wrist support, backpack clips, to neoprene boomerang neck straps quickly and take them off for tripod use without getting in the way. Makes for better portability as well as reducing the “camera dork” factor.
My wife loves using the N-15 wrist support one.
More info here:
http://www.tamrac.com/g_camerastraps.htm

Happy shooting, can’t wait to see the new pics!!!