advertising picture of a watch or bottle or basically anything small enough, the shot very likely
was done by placing the object in a light tent.
So, what is a light tent?
It is nothing more than translucent material that surrounds the subject and is used to diffuse the
light. Most advertising type photographers couldn’t live without one and most photographers
heading outside to shoot insects and flowers, etc. have never even considered using one!
But, I’ve got TWO uses for a light tent in your macro photography that make having one with
you very worthwhile. Reflections and wind.
First – what does it do?
In the above photo, we see a light tent set up indoors on a desk for a still life photo. As you can
see, it isn’t very big and the lights are outside of the tent shining through the translucent material.
Why would you want to do this?
It diffuses the light allowing it to wrap around the subject – lightening and filling in the shadows
and helping to eliminate specular hot spots.
It can also eliminate unwanted reflections...
Eliminating unwanted reflections in glass objects is a major use for light tents. If you have ever
taken photos of highly reflective surfaces and had the finished product show an unsightly
reflection of you or your studio lights, you know how hard it can be to avoid them.