#Light table for slides how to#
#Light table for slides install#
#Light table for slides crack#

I couldn’t get a usable result from my darker slides. This process works best with bright slides and thinner negatives.Another option is to make a cardboard tube that fits around the lens hood and rests on the black card. I did this during the day, so that I could photograph the set up, but you’ll get better quality if you do it at night and turn the lights off once you start to prevent extraneous light hitting the front of the slide and reducing the image quality.It’s a quick and easy process once you’ve set it up. Now you can swap our your slides or negatives one by one. The card blocks out the light surrounding the slide or negative, which creates flare and makes it harder to get a good quality result. The next step is to use some black card or foamboard and cut a hole in it. You may have to splay the tripod legs out wide to do it.ģ. It’s easy with a copy stand, more complicated if you’re using a tripod.

#Light table for slides how to#

Now you have to work out how to get your camera close enough to the lightbox to fill the frame with the negative or slide. Place your slide or negative on top of the lightbox and focus on it. Place your lightbox underneath your camera, turn it on and set the brightness to its highest setting. Small copy stands are relatively inexpensive to buy.Ģ. Note: A purpose built copy stand is even easier to use. You can do this by eye, or better still, using a hotshoe spirit level. You need to make sure the camera is as level as you’ll get the best results when the digital sensor is parallel with the lightbox. Set your camera on a tripod facing downwards. Andrew uses sawhorses to hold his table, stabilizing it with sandbags to ensure no movement of the set.How to digitize negatives and slides step by stepġ. Now that your DIY light table is complete, set it up in your studio.

#Light table for slides crack#

Get snug with the screws, but don’t go too tight, as you’ll crack the acrylic glass. Pre-drill holes on the acrylic with a regular hand drill.ĭrill in screws on all sides. Mark the screw holes every 12 inches on acrylic (Andrew recommends staying away from the corners so you have a solid grab on the wood). Place the acrylic on top of the completed frame.

#Light table for slides install#

Install and screw in corner braces onto lumber.

The lumber will fit inside itself at the corners, so cut the two short pieces less the width of the two long lengthwise pieces. The unique advantage of a light table is that it allows light to penetrate through the product you are photographing, making it the perfect setting product, still life, silhouette, and food shoots.ġ sheet of acrylic #2447 sheeting (¼” with protective backing) cut to the table dimensions you want 24 x 36Ĥ lengths of 1×2 pine lumber (cut to table dimensions)Ĭut the lumber to match the perimeter of the acrylic sheet (creating a picture frame around it).

Not only is Andrew’s light table mobile and easily adapted for gels or windows, it’s a perfect option for professionals who want to conserve square feet in their small studio. This $60 DIY studio fix (compared to a $500 product purchase), is great save on budget and space. So, how’d he do it? Luckily for us, Andrew gave us a short tutorial on hacking the light table. It was large, heavy, immobile, and featured a sag in the middle of the table - in other words, this important set piece was failing to provide the professional-grade lighting Andrew needed.įrustrated, he decided to build his own - one that turned out to be cheaper, lighter, sturdier, more versatile, and better matched to his needs than even a commercial light table. Once upon a time, food photographer, stylist, and writer Andrew Scrivani, was not a fan of his light table.