9) Lighting for Slides of 3-D Artwork: Sculpture & Crafts

Once the room is blacked out, you’ll need a light you can use for setting up the photo lights, changing camera lenses, loading film, etc. I found my combo drafting light useful for this. It’s the kind with a fluorescent circle tube as well as a central incandescent bulb. (These are often on sale at Jerry’s or ASW.)

With both bulbs on, I had enough light to set everything up. The fluorescent bulb provided lower light for changing lenses and loading film. To make this work, I had to buy a mobile stand for my light. This was very useful as I could place the light exactly where I needed it, out of the way of the photo lighting and close to my camera "staging area" for loading film. The stand turned out to be shakier than I expected, not at all perfect, but it has been workable and thus a blessing. I’d buy it again, imperfect or not.

"Hot lights" that stay on all the time are easier to use for photographing sculpture and crafts. You can see exactly how the lighting and shadows will look. Either 3200K photo bulbs or halogen lights will work. My photo studio is so small that the lights need to be very close to the artwork. I don’t have the extra space required to place hotter halogen lights further from the artwork.

The free Smith-Victor catalog has useful charts showing how much light various photography bulbs and reflectors cast at various distances from the artwork. This is helpful in selecting lights that will work in your space. You can request the catalog by calling 800-886-1976.

Quite a few artists recommend Lowell Tota-lites. I don’t remember why I decided on Smith Victor lamps instead. The best option is probably Photoflex soft boxes, but at the time I selected my basic lighting setup, I couldn’t imagine spending $1,000 on lighting.

I bought a bargain light kit, the Smith Victor KT900, with two 12" lights and stands with umbrella adapters and white umbrellas, a 5" light on a boom, and a case to hold all of it.

This was a start, and not a terrible choice. As it turns out, the boom is strong enough to hold a 12" light, so I can add a diffuser and have a quasi soft box suspended over a sculpture. And for someone unfamiliar with lighting equipment, it gave me a start at learning which pieces go with which, and how to use the basic items.

Warning: the inexpensive Smith Victor kits are supposed to include the simplest socket and cord set arrangements that don’t have a heatproof handle. Somehow I lucked out and my set did include handles that stay cool for adjusting the light angles. This kind of handle makes for great convenience. Having to guard against getting burned makes a shooting session more stressful. So I recommend getting the next grade up of light.

I ended up getting black covered Photogenic umbrellas, so I rarely use the white umbrellas that came with the kit.

If I were buying the 12" reflector sets again, I’d buy the

Smith-Victor A12 Adapta-Lights from B&H or from Adorama instead of buying the kit. The kit light reflectors are described as 12" but they’re really about 11 3/8" in diameter. So the Smith Victor barn door filters don’t fit them. I wasted some money finding this out the hard way. Also, if you buy the A12, you’re sure to get the cool handle.

Now that I realize how much money it’s possible to spend on barn doors and various diffusion arrangements, the Photoflex softbox total doesn’t look that much higher than using reflector lights. So I’d probably just go ahead and start with that. However, I’ve made great slides with two 12" Smith Victor lights with 3200K 500 watt (ECT) bulbs.

Most of my links to specific equipment items are to the B&H Photo site, where I make most of my orders. I’ve found that ordering from Adorama is a less reliable in terms of prompt order fulfillment. Often Adorama prices are less expensive, however, and their pages of lighting equipment show the available accessories better. So if timing is not an issue, Adorama can be the better source.

You’ll need at least two 6’ light stands. The basic black steel stands that came with my kit are fine. For a little more money, you can buy air dampened light stands. This means that when you adjust the height, there’s less chance of accidentally letting the light drop sharply, perhaps breaking the bulb.

At Wolf Camera in Atlanta, I found a cute short light stand that works well for holding a light or reflector much lower than usual. This is a nice addition.

A boom stand is useful for photographing bowls or sculptures. However, I found that a regular light directed at about a 45 degree angle to the work served very well. So I’ve used the boom that came with my kit much less than I expected.

I found that the tripod, all the light stands, the mini-boom, and the reflector holder could be stored nicely in a Rubbermaid Jumbo Wrap n Craft box made for 40" rolls of paper. (These are easy to buy just before and after Christmas. But stores may not carry them year ‘round. If not, you can find them online.) By adding some Bullfrog rust inhibiting strips inside this box, I can store these painted steel items out in my unheated, uncooled studio year ‘round.

The light dimmers were one of the very best things I bought. I added grounded triple outlet adapters so I could experiment with using 1000 watts for the main light, plugging two 500-watt lights into one dimmer. However, I haven’t experimented with that yet.

The light dimmers enable one to turn the lights on gradually – starting with them off, then turning them on low, then turning them full when ready to shoot. This makes the bulbs last longer and helps keep both room and artwork from overheating. It also makes the light sets last longer, because you’re never using the switch built into the light. Otherwise, the switch is usually the thing that usually wears out first.

They clamp onto the light stands at any height. So it’s convenient to turn the lights on and off. Little conveniences like this can make the difference between barely tolerating photography, and enjoying it.

Oil from your hands can decrease the lift of a light bulb. So use lint free gloves when changing bulbs. Clean oven mitts can be useful if you need to do something about a bulb while it’s still hot.

As I mentioned earlier, two white umbrellas came with my Smith Victor kit. You can arrange the second "fill light" so it shines on the artwork through the white umbrella to give a diffused light on the shadow side of the work. Or you can aim the light up and away from the artwork, into the umbrella, so the umbrella reflects diffuse light onto the shadow side of the work. Varying the distance between light and umbrella also changes the effect. There’s a "sweet spot" distance for maximum light on the work.

So the white umbrellas are flexible. However, when using the umbrella to reflect light, a black cover maximizes the light reflected onto the work. I bought two Photogenic Eclipse black covered umbrellas with a slightly silvery white lining, one in 42" and one at 30 or 32". Usually I use the larger one to maximize the light.

Umbrella holders came with my kit. Otherwise, they are available separately. You may only need one, for the fill light.

Having no idea what would work best, I tried a lot of different diffusing methods before settling on one that is simple and seems effective enough. A white plastic diffuser clips quickly to the rim of a 12" reflector. It’s also available from Adorama in a generic brand, for less. Both work fine.

I ended up using two 12" lights on their regular stands. The main light was one the left, where we usually expect to see it. I clipped the diffuser on the front. The fill light was on the right, aimed up into the 42" black covered umbrella.

That’s it! By adjusting the position, height, and angle of each light, I was able to get light where I wanted it – on shiny beads, for example – or on the base – without harsh shadows.

Reflectors can make a big difference in adding light to areas of the scene that are cast into shadow by the main light. I tried three colors: white, silver, and gold. My eye just isn’t refined enough at this point to tell much difference, although I studied the comparison slides carefully. White reflectors add the most light, and foam board is easy to handle and keep in place. White poster board is handy too, though it flops around more.

I ended up routinely using a white board on each side of the setup, parallel with the sides of the table. To hold white foamboard in place, I used a small table top vise that I already owned. It clamps onto the edge of the table. Poster board can be held in place by a "Page-Up" paper holder or a flexible copy holder, both often available at office supply stores.

From a photo supply store, I bought matte gold and silver reflector boards, basically heavy mat board with a reflective coating. The white reverse sides of these boards also served as white reflectors. Also I bought a more expensive reflector disc set by PhotoFlex, along with a holder for it. I was tired of struggling with flapping sheets of board, trying to hold them in place. Maybe I’ll use the disc set more as I start to refine my eye and process. But I found ways to hold a front reflector board in place, usually attaching it to the tripod just under the camera with a flexible clip. So I could have done without the disc set and holder.

I used to use a small reflector made by covering a paper plate with aluminum foil. I had one handy while taking these last slides. But it didn’t make as much difference with the scene already very well lit with the main light and fill light.

Jewelers talk about using a lot of mirrors to reflect light onto their work, to create bright highlights in just the places they choose. I experimented with this, but made no visible progress. I experimented with other very focused beams of light, trying to highlight beads. I ended up just adjusting the main and fill lights till the beads were bright enough. Mirrors and highly focused beams still seem promising, so I’ll experiment more with these next time.

I mentioned the PhotoFlex softbox setup as an option. Steve Meltzer recommends a softbox hanging directly above (and perhaps slightly in front of) as the best lighting for most vessel forms. I wanted to buy a setup but the cost deterred me. Had I realized how much I’d end up spending on other diffusers and reflectors, I might have gone ahead and bought it. Who knows, someday I may still get one.

For table top sculpture, PhotoFlex recommends a medium whitedome kit with two1000 watt lamps. This includes a heavy duty boom and stand. (This equipment is available at a discount at B&H Photo and at Adorama.) Jerry Jones wrote a helpful online review of the SilverDome kit.

Another option, especially for somewhat larger spaces, are standing diffusion panels. These can be made with PVC pipe frames. The lights are equipped with barn doors. Information on this kind of lighting setup is available online at lightingmagic.com.

It’s also possible to build a diffusion box around the artwork, as jewelers do, but on a larger scale. This is often called a light tent. I thought of several ways to do this, but decided my work isn’t so reflective that this is really necessary. PVC pipe is probably the simplest frame to build, at least for small spaces, since it can be disassembled easily. Various light boxes for medium sized work, such as the MiniCove, or the largest Cocoon, are also available to buy. This could work if you have a macro lens for your camera, and can store the photo setup when it’s not in use.

Given enough space, you can build a "drop shadow" setup so that a white or light grey background gives the effect of a graduated background, light at the base of your artwork, darkening gradually toward the top of the frame. I believe that the standing light panel setup can achieve a similar effect.