Products We Use: Lastolite Cubelite Studio pt. 2

After yesterday's article about the Lastolite Cubelite Studio, I realized there was a major element I neglected to include - a real world walkthrough. In about ten minutes this afternoon I knocked out a capture of a used Canon lens we took in on trade. Here's how I did it:

3:40 - Got the lens from Ryan, grabbed our Canon 1D Mark III w/ 24-70, CF card & Quantum Radio Slave 4i Sender.

3:42 - Turned on the lights that power our Cubelite Studio, a two-head pack system triggered by the Quantum Radio Slave 4i Remote. When we initially set up the Cubelight, some basic testing determined that an ideal exposure could be attained with both lights on 100w/s, with the camera set in full manual for 1/100th, f/10, ISO 100.

3:43 - Put the lens in the Cubelight, took a custom white balance with the Lastolite Grey Card and snapped off the first shot, shown here cropped but not edited:

(The greying background can easily be knocked out in post processing. Since with the Cubelite, the background lighting and main lighting are coming from the same source, they can't be individually adjusted. Getting the proper exposure on the subject is what counts.)

3:45 - Decided I didn't like the wrap around lighting that makes the edges of the lens on the left and right appear to fade out into the background. This can be remedied through subtractive lighting; Creating a gobo to block the direct sidelight. For this, I cut up a cardboard box to get the following image:

(Again, cropped but unedited. The cardboard sides block the light that hits the sides of the lens, but still allows the front of the lens and background to be unaffected.)

3:47 - I loaded the last image into Photoshop, removed the cardboard box gobo and used a quick level adjustment layer mask (the most important thing to know in Photoshop IMHO) and was left with this final result:

There it is. Ten minutes to a softly lit product shot, achieving the 'floating in white' look that is ideal for web product display. You can take more time as needed for shooting more demanding products and situations, but take my word that it is comforting to know that the lighting, diffusion and platform for product shooting are already set up and ready to go. If you find yourself shooting a lot of product for commercial clients or eBay product sales, the Lastolite Cubelite Studio is a strong choice towards creating a system for quick, straight-forward and repeatable results.

Products We Use: Lastolite Cubelite Studio

The Lastolite Cubelite Studio is the ultimate solution for product photography, and at Tallyn's, have been shooting new additions to our catalog as well as Ebay & Web Clearance items in it for over a year. The larger 37" version (left below) replaced our glass sweep table in the main showroom with a setup that takes up a third of the space and provides even more control over reflections and shadows while tying up less lights and softboxes than the glass sweep table demanded. It was such a success that we purchased the 28" version (right below) for a back room when we expanded our used equipment and Ebay sales setup.

It allows for control of the light from below and all other directions allowing you to give products that floating look with no shadows. The tensioned diffuser fabric means the reflections on even the most reflective surface are kept to an absolute minimum, while the front opening can be closed to mask reflections as well. I have experienced issues shooting lenses and other curved forms and getting excessive wrap-around, but that problem was easily remedied with a cardboard box cut to create a gobo that would block some of the side lighting.

As you can see in the images above, the Cubelite Studio only requires two heads to fully light your subject - one mounted above by means of either a boom arm or a resting softbox (as we have done here at Tallyn's with the Aurora 28x28), and an a second light mounted inside of the lower portion, best supported by a Bogen Backlight Stand 012B.

We have both the 28" & 39" versions in-stock and available now, as well as the experience to guide you through the construction, lighting and use of this versatile but strait-forward setup.