Turn on the Light

It has been raining for months where I live. Other parts of the country have had snow, snow and more snow. It’s easy to complain and yearn for sunshine and spring, but sunshine and spring will come in their own time. Meanwhile, there are things we can do, learn and photograph in the cold of winter, during the rainy days that come all year long. And so, I share … the lightbox.

Our cameras (all cameras) are boxes that capture light – Receivers. A lightbox is a Giver of light – one that we can use in many different ways. Take flowers, for example. Flowers are one of my favorite subjects, and they are absolutely wonderful for high-key images that sing on their own. They also lend themselves to further explorations with textures, line, shape and design and creative post processing.

I’ve made it a goal to learn new ways to express myself as a visual artist with a camera. The lightbox technique has been on my list and provides another option for photography on less-than-ideal weather days – when the muse is calling, and when I ache to follow that call.

This arrangement of roses was from my first attempt at lightbox photography. Arranging the petals and deciding what portions of the roses would be included was an interesting process. Tip: When dealing with petals and parts, gently using tweezers is easier than moving them with your fingers.

While other subjects can be used in lightbox photography, I’m going to start with the flowers. If someone told me I could only photograph one subject for the rest of my life, I would choose flowers. They are everywhere and offer an endless supply of beauty, even in how they fade away.  Inspired by the work of Harold Davis and his way of photographing flowers for transparency, I began this journey with my small “slide-sorting” lightbox that has been sitting on a shelf for the past 14 years, ever since I stopped shooting slides and transitioned to digital.

I quickly saw the limitations of such limited space to work with. Now, I have a thin LED light panel (17” x 24”) that so far seems to offer the right amount of “creative real estate” for me. We shall see. Even as I write this, I’m thinking of ways that I could make room for another even larger lightbox.

As I explore and learn, I see more things that play into successful sessions. As with all photography, composition matters – always. It makes a difference in the quality of your images when you think through how you hope your final image to look. The process is not a simple “plop and shoot.” Success includes Intention. Give some thought to what direction you want to go in. What is your vision? How will you arrange the blooms? How will you build your images? There’s nothing wrong with trying things that don’t work, but starting with an initial plan will lead you down a more fluid and creative path.

So, how do you get started once you’ve found your missing lightbox or acquired a new one? First, find a place inside that works for you that gives you enough room to gather all the tools you need and where you can minimize ambient light so that the lightbox is the primary light source. Get your camera and lenses ready as well as your tripod and a shutter release (cable or remote). Macro lenses work best in my experience, but remember, I’m at the beginning of this journey. I’m sure I’ll find ways to make other lenses work in time if I need to. Cut or purchase your flowers or leaves or branches – whatever you’re going to photograph. It doesn’t hurt if you plan ahead and plant the flowers you’d love to photograph. Tulips and daffodils are just coming up in my garden now, but dahlias and other wildflowers will follow as the season progresses.

Check the white balance for your lightbox. Some are set to daylight WB, but yours may be different. Get a reading on your lightbox. Take an image with your meter set at “0”  with the lightbox on and minimize the ambient light. Take the image into Photoshop, and check the Kelvin setting. Set your camera white balance to that match the lightbox setting. Just remember to reset your camera back to normal WB settings when you’re done with the session. Is it possible for you to change the white balance in post-processing? Yes, but why not set your white balance in-camera before you start.  I would highly recommend that you shoot in “Raw” file format, If you shoot in JPG format, it is even more important to start with the correct white balance due to in-camera processing that you are not in charge of.

This is just one of the tulips in the “yellow tulips” session. It is the result of a bracketed series for capturing all the tones and manual HDR processing using layers and masking.

Choose your flowers. What flowers work best on a lightbox? Typically, you want to choose flowers that have some level of translucency in their petals. Tulips, roses, poppies work very well. There is also potential for other flowers from the garden such as hydrangeas, hibiscus, peonies or dahlias. Most any flower will work as long as you keep in mind the density of petals and structure of blooms. We’re not going to focus in a singular fashion on going “transparent,” but recognize the different qualities that each type of flower offers. Consider features such as color, structure and design, and think about how you might arrange and photograph them. Are you going to focus on only the flowers and parts? Or are you going to create a still life that includes flowers and other elements, such as bottles or vases? You are in charge. Just give consideration to whatever you’re working with and where you want to go with them.

Be Aware of the Position of the Camera. For many compositions, you would want the camera to be parallel to the lightbox and your subject for maximum depth of field (DOF). That may not always be possible or practical (or even safe, if you set up on a table and have to shoot down from a ladder or chair). Do the best you can. If you need or want more depth of field for your subject, consider focus-stacking in addition to bracketing for exposure. This means adding multiple images taken at different depths of focus for each bracketed exposure. You decide whether that is important for your image to achieve the intended result. Remember, even at f/22 there are flowers and other subjects that will not have everything in sharp focus. Think of orchids and how many slices of focus it would take to get one bloom in complete focus. It would take far more than a curved tulip petal laying relatively flat on the lightbox would require.

Here is a series of five bracketed images used to create the final image below. Every subject requires its own number of frames with a bracketed series to capture all the tones.

One of the final images resulting from the bracketed series. For this one, I used Nik HDR Efex to process and selected the “Bright” preset before final editing in Photoshop.

Be Willing to Sacrifice. What??? Yes, I said sacrifice. Your beautiful bunches of flowers are on the table looking amazing and waiting for their close-up. They have no idea what’s coming next. That would be your scissors … Here’s the situation. You’ve got this amazing bouquet in whatever form in perfect condition. They are perfection and beauty in every way – color, texture, curves, flow – flawless. That is until you start your lightbox session. In the building of your images, you will find that not all flowers lay flat and some stems simply don’t cooperate. Snip, snip, and now they do. There goes perfection – sacrificed for your vision.

All flowers have curves – some more than others. We embrace and are attracted to those curves. The issue with curves and the lightbox is that making the flowers lay flat or in the direction or orientation that you want them to can be difficult – unless you cut off their heads or snip some leaves and stems. Not only that, your vision may lead you to pull them apart, rip them to pieces, press them with glass, poke holes in them and sprinkle them across the scene. So far, I’ve had the most hesitation to do this to orchids. However, it was necessary and rewarding for the image I wanted. Do what works for you.