My old booth shot was about 4 years old and getting long in the tooth. So I borrow some space today indoors at a friends business and set the booth up. I decided to go minmalist on it, no small pieces, no flip bin, and just keep it simple.
Of course things have to go wrong from the get-go and after I unload everything, I realize I grabbed the wrong canopy, an old EZ-Up with exchanged parts and struts. Ah, what the hell, they won't show. I run out of room in the ceiling and wind up pushing some suspended ceiling tiles out of the way and the top gets shoved out of line. That's bad enough, but after I climb a ladder and mount three Novatron flash heads up in the top I find out I don't have the sync cord to connect to the camera. I do have the prints hung, and I've got until Thursday to work on this.
I used an on-camera flash (not the pop up type) for a few shots, and did a few exposures with the modeling lights in the flash. This is not the final image, it's just a test run or work in progress. There's some things I know need to be done, and I'd like to hear what else needs to get done. Here's the set-up, and keep in mind the lighting sucks right now and I've got some work ahead of me to soften the light and kill some serious reflections.
First off, I have no idea how come the middle left panel is lighter than the others. I'll use full lighting tomorrow and if it's actually lighter I'll turn it around or substitute another panel.
Should I drop the left bottom row a few inches and make the entire bottom row all the way around line up the tops of the frames?
Should I work with the back wall and get even spacing on the far ends?
The carpet is nondescript brown. Should I go ahead and get some indoor/outdoor carpet or just change the color in PS?
I'm using a 15mm focal length on the lens. I can use that lens on a 35mm camera and get a very much wider view and open up the sides, although at the expense of making the back wall a bit smaller. Another thought I had was to take three different shots with a somewhat less wwide view and splice them together so the sides are much more visible.
Are there any concerns about any of the work sticking out badly and not fitting? It won't hurt my feelings if someone says something is weak and needs to go.
Don't sweat the lighting at this point, as I need to find a sync cord and some diffusion panels to soften the light. Any concerns about the cables up there in the top? Should I Photoshop those out, or is okay to leave them in?
Any feedback on this will be greatly appreciated.
Comments
I agree. The wide angle lens you are using makes the browse bin look larger than it necessarily is. Also drop the middle lower picture under the large vertical so it has similar space as the ones on either side.
Try moving the browse bin to the back of the side wall under the last picture on the side. And maybe put a box under the prints to raise them up. The browse bin looks a little large compared to the size of the matted prints.
Larry Berman
http://BermanGraphics.com
412-401-8100
The browse bin softens the "sterile" look. Maybe a huge piece in the back would give the eye a point of departure for scanning the rest.
Keep in mind that this shot will still be an improvement over the old one. No matter what, you may wind up kicking yourself thinking about what you should have done while it was all set up. Meantime, you'll probably be taking all kinds of mental notes for the next one and it'll be even better.
The ideal booth shot is a moving target. Don't be too rough on yourself trying to get it perfect.
What the ?????? The image loaded and the aspect ratio is off. Either it's too tall or it's too narrow, but either way it looks FUBARed, and the system isn't letting me edit at all.
I'm now on version 3. Some frames were rearranged for symmetry, and the maroon cloth was ditched for a black one. The cloth was de-wrinkled in PS, and the image has had the snot beat out of it in PS to clean it up and straighten it up. Lighting on these things are a real pain. I was using a 4th light close to the flip bin and it still still didn't open up. I still have some noise problems, and I've got a sneaking suspicion I should have pulled out the trusty old flash meter instead of relying on histograms and LCD displays. Anyhow, here's the 3rd go around with this.
The one largest frame could be the center piece on the back wall either by itself or with a smaller horizontal under it. Think symetrically.
Larry Berman
Larry, thanaks for the feedback. I looked at that left top frame, and struggled with that one. The gap looked too wide at first with it on top alignment. I'll redo that in a day or teo when I get back in town. The center frames are the same height, the two outside ones are smaller frames but the tops are even. After I did lens barrel corrrection and perspective correction, I'm afraid the frames may have gotten a little womper-jawed out there. I think the back wall may be bowed back a couple of inches and that may have to be straighten out.
Larry Berman
Okay, here's version 2. I've not gone through all the shots just yet and these could use some more PS work and noise filtering, but the main thing I'm after at this point is how the booth itself looks as far as the layout and if any of the prints stick out like a sore thumb or anything. I've one each with and without a browse bin. The bin was sort of a desperation move to get something in there before I get the carpeted bins built.
Jacki, I have one more panel left over, so I could just substitute that one in. The legs are taller than the top part, so flipping them upside down won't work. I have a few short legged panels where that would work, but not enough th fill the tent. BTW, I just came from the photo store where I picked up another flash cord. Ach du Lieber! The blasted thing cost $29 bucks which means the lost one will show up in a week or so. I'm heading back in a little bit to rearrange the work and get rid of the small frames on the left rear.
I have a 24x36 piece that I'm thinking about placing in the mix. I know that the suggestion is to keep same size pieces, but I think if there is a common dimension it will work out visually. In any event, I'm open for suggestions. Maybe I can post Version 2 tonight :-)
Robert, I think the reason the one panel on the left looks lighter is the grain of the fabric. The grain isn't always noticable when you look at it, but it is quite noticable when a light is shined on it. For example, the grain of corderoy might not seem to make that big of a difference but when light hits it you really can see a differece. My guess is the one panel should be turned upside down. Then, the light will hit it the same was as it does all the others.
Jacki B
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