Someone asked me today about setting up a book to be photographed. ..and I am not a very good person to ask about this..my images always have shadows in the wrong place etc.. .not that I CAN'T do a kick ass image, but usually the books I am shooting aren't worth the time and trouble - and if i do set up the perfect place to shoot, I have to take it own before something with 4 feet wanders through the zone. I did find that you can troll the internet for some really fabboo ideas on setting up a well lighted place.
For example this is soo wicked cool, I am jealous I didn't think of it. From Foxhollow Jewelry and ostensibly to shoot jewelry but hell I have TON of translucent containers around the joint. I am so gonna try this today.
And from Flickr there is a wicked simple DIY Light Box-Macro Photo Studio from Jean Labelle, worth checking out.
These ideas are all well and good, but books are even more difficult, if you google "photographing books" everyone is offering helpful advice from Book Think to the Conservation Online archives. What I was really cruising for is an image of set up. Perhaps that is the super secret unsharable. I will keep looking.
Perhaps a shallow lectern or picture frame holder inside the light box is the key. Personally I am gonna just try a bean bag - I still have those lentil book weights which should work nicely. As for an OPEN book photograph, polyethylene strapping is the way to go, if you can adjust for glare. It comes on rolls and isn't cheap. But it can be easily made from slicing up polyester dust jacket protectors into strips.
Anyone have anything better they would like to toss in the mix, I am all ears...well all fingers. |
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2 comments:
Lifehacker has a post about building light boxes on the cheap. While the item discussed in this post might not be to your taste, it contains links to two more lightbox projects:
http://lifehacker.com/software/photography/diy-photo-softbox-245882.php
As for the stand, I discovered a very cheap one. I put up some wire shelves and had an end piece that was only about a fist wide. I bent it backwards to put in the trash, but found it makes an excellent bookstand. The forward lip of the shelf became the place where you rest the book.
As an alternative to the book weights or polystrips, have you considered a piece of nonglare glass? This is what our media services department uses on its copystand, when I let them. Obviously with some books you don't want a large heavy object mashing down. I'm eager to hear about any good, simple solutions. I would do more book photography myself if I could get decent results. Happy holidays... MIKE WIDENER
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