I am posting this picture of my booth that I took at the Fort Benton "Art on the Levee" show last month. This is not meant to my booth shot for Zapp applications, but I thought I'd post it before I do my new booth shots in order to get your input and advice. Let me know what you think...good, bad or ugly. What do you think of my new weights?
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Looks nice, Ernie. I can't give suggestions on the photography - and wow, some great tips in this discussion!
I would share one idea which may or may not prove helpful. It feels very dark in the back currently, strictly the fault of the "light gray" ProPanels. I wonder what would happen if you moved the center rear panel forward by 10-12 inches from the two sides. You'd need to "float" it using the corner braces, while letting the two sides be attached only by the velcro straps to the side walls -- but I think it might bring a lot of light into the back half of your booth, and break up the monolithic walls.
Just an idea to play with, perhaps in the driveway rather than at the show, if you're unsure. Nice work, too!
Thanks, Brad. I like that idea. I'm also considering a zig-zag layout for the panels in order to bring all the panels inward from the canopy. The panels are way to tight against the tent frame in the current configuration.
True. We had all our walls moved forward and while it's hard to resist the psychological urge to maximize ALL the square feet we paid for... the truth is there's rarely an 8 foot deep sea of people that make so much floorspace necessary.
I think we're better off having our work easily seen, brightly lit, and close to the front so it's less of a distance for people to mentally overcome to see it. Taking 2 steps in to look at something up close seems like a smaller obstacle, when so many are already hesitant. I know when I'm looking... I tend to stay out unless I REALLY feel like I want to make that effort.
Good luck!
Another note on lighting:
I learned that when artists use bright lighting in their studio the paintings look too dark in other environments. I'm trying to paint with less light on my canvas and see what happens. Heck, the old masters often painted by candle light and look how brilliant the highlights are in their paintings.
Read about Solux lighting used by museums and galleries.
http://www.solux.net/cgi-bin/tlistore/infopages/artwork.html
Larry Berman
Thanks, Larry. Looks like I need to do some homework on lighting. I need to do something for an indoor exhibit coming up in March.
Maybe this will be my last question: at what focal length was your lens set for this booth shot? Is that what you meant when you said 55mm upthread? I think this looks more like a wider angle than normal focal length.
I looked up "properties" on the original pic and it says 10mm. I don't understand this. It is not something I set, assume the camera did it? Here's what the original looks like:
The 10mm setting you have in the EXIF data or properties corresponds to a 48mm equivalent on a 35mm camera, which is a normal focal length. In the short and sweet description it says the lens could have gone to a wider angle setting. My suggestion is to do that on a re-shoot. Your best bet is to set up in your driveway or backyard, and take your time about hanging the work. Don't hang everything, just the ones that are punchy looking and grab the eye. Get obsessive about keeping everything lined up nice and neat, bigger pieces in back and smaller toward the front. Think of the walls and your work as a page layout which might help to visualize it.
Now back to that 10mm setting; you want the camera set to the widest angle you can. Get the camera on a tripod, and measure off the 5 foot points in the front and back. Put some string or twine across those points and extend it past the front of the booth. This line is where the tripod center post is going to line up with. Set the camera lens height exactly halfway between the ground and the top of your display panels. The center of the lens should aimed at a point on the back wall at the same height. It sounds anal retentive to be this persnickety but it's going to keep you from having to correct leaning or tilting tent legs and panels later on. Now move the camera and tripod forward along the string until the front legs are just inside the viewfinder frame. At this point, the lens is perpendicular to the back wall and you should not see any converging or tilting lines or walls in the viewfinder. Your back wall is going to look a little smaller in relationship to the sides as compared to now, but the sides will open up more and you can see what's on the sides much better.
Use the twine across the panels if you need to keep the tops of all your frames straight, and pay attention to vertical alignment also. Judge where things should go by looking through the camera or at the LCD display. The thing to remember is that the booth shot can be staged and it's a beauty contest of sorts. Don't go all out "Martha Stewart" and you're better to keep it simple and elegant without any frou-frou. Keep those front tables out of the picture as that could mean to some judges that you tend to spread out into the aisles where you shouldn't. They should should see walls, work, any flip bins, and that's it. No neighbors, nobody in the booth, no names, no chairs, and nothing beyond your 10x10 space.
The wood columns are different and better looking than many weights I've seen. I would be inclined to stain and seal them to get a more polished look with them. You might consider a faux base for them to make them look like an architectural element. The same thing applies to the top of them where you could use them as a pedestal although a clamp to attach them to the front legs would let you dispense with the hanging straps. Just some thoughts there.
Larry Berman
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