Baby Spinach & Tomatoes on a Lightbox

[travis4567]

My second session of photographing life on a negative lightbox. Can't wait till spring when I can shoot some colorful flowers with this technique.

[Karm Redland]

Travis, I like the first one. The spinach leaves have a sense of falling. You might want to experiment with different arrangements and see what effects can be produced. I think if you try this the only way of testing an arrangement is to take and process a picture.

karm

[travis4567]

Thanks Karm, I kept trying different arrangements with the spinach but every time I turned my back my Jack Russell, Rocky would sneak up to the lightbox and steal some of the greens.

[Mike Buckley]

It's great to see you continuing with this kind of lighting. Nicely done! You might want to consider trying other styles that include soft shadows falling on the tabletop and grounding some of the vegetables to part of the frame.

[travis4567]

Thanks Mike, I am just learning how to do this. My lightbox is only 12 x 12 inches. I think I'll buy a larger one to expand what I can do with this technique. Interesting comment about shadows..there were some shadows particularly on the tomatoes but I cloned them out...will have to rethink that.

[Mike Buckley]

You mentioned a light box. Is it the kind of light box that you would use to review mounted slides? If so, you could buy a piece of translucent white acrylic and a compact flourescent lamp with a 10" reflector. Rig anything to hold the acrylic, such as two sawhorses, and place the lamp beneath the acrylic. You'll also be able to use the piece of acrylic and the lamp for all sorts of other lighting schemes, whereas the light box is more cumbersome for use in other situations.

When I mentioned the soft shadows, I was thinking of using an opaque tabletop. It could be made of anything that is white if you want to retain the light effect.

[bnnrcn]

Hi Travis,I like the spinach leaves very much

[Wavelength]

So nice images..... love both of them

[travis4567]

Thanks Binnur & Nandakumar. Mike, great idea about the acrylic. You're right, I find my little lightbox a bit constricting. I can get a translucent piece of white plexiglass for real cheap and having the lights already..this could be the way to go with this technique. Thanks, this is why I love this forum.

[Jeffbridge]

Stunning shots! Especially the first one, a WOW shot!

[Mike Buckley]

Travis,

Your lightbox is designed to provide relatively even light across the entire background. Sometimes you want that but sometimes you don't. Another benefit of using acrylic and your own lighting system is that you'll be able to control the light.