My New DIY Light Tent / Box - Page 2

Basically, the term "shoot-through" here just means that you're placing the lights ouside the tent, using the materal as your diffuser. Light positioning will have a large effect on intensity and shadowing -- by adding a top light you allow more flexibility in controlling shadows and have more ability to balance the amount of light hitting all sides of any object in quesiton. Of course, without an incident meter it will be very difficult for you to measure it accurately, but since you're shooting digital there's no penalty for taking test shots to measure.

ND gels are neutral density gelatin sheets that you can place over a light source to decrease the emitted light in controlled increments, although if you're using a cheaper method, just keep adding/subtracting layers of whatever material you're using to allow your front fill light to work effectively without being too over (more common in newcomers to shooting in tents) or underpowered compared to the rest of your light sources.

Since you have a P+S, you don't have to worry about mirror lockup, but still use a tripod and self-timer so you can keep your ISO as low as possible. As long as you follow that method, using your lights outside the tent should not be an issue because you can adjust your shutter speed to compensate (again, difficult to measure without an incident reading from the lit sides but you can experiment to correct it). As someone who has shot a LOT of jewelry in a crudely constructed tent, you don't need to go too far to achieve what you want -- but you'll need to play with light positioning/angling/distance until you get what you want. Ideally, no background shadows, even lighting from all sides and enough fill to show the object's front side but not so hot as to blow highlights or create unwanted reflections.

You could probably get away with one or two more lights at the least, but play with your positioning and get some stands. Versatility is really important when using a tent.

looks like a good start. i think your lights need minor adjusting and a top light to eliminate shadows in the background. i only looked at pictures and not posts so i dont know if that was mentioned.

very cool though. keep up the good work

The reason more exposure time makes it look overexposed is because your front fill light is too hot compared to the other two.