The Incredible... Macro Box!

I've been asked a few times about the right way to photograph an object alone, like most of the commercial products you see nowadays, especially when it comes to marketing. If you want to take an isolated photo of an object, it isn't always simple to eliminate completely the background and still manage to control the lightning you want.

You can't simply place an object on a table and expect it to look good. So what's the trick?



A few years ago, me and some friends did some research about a home made system that could provide us basic control over both the object, environment, and lightning. Without spending a lot of money, of course, and by a lot of money I mean anything above €15!

So... we created a box.






Yep, this is it. An old micro-wave box which can wonders. But you need to modify it, in order to provide some basic (good) lightning and color control.

Step 1) Get a box. A big one, if you're using large objects. Place it so the opening will be facing you.

Step 2) Cut 4 holes in each side of the box: two on the side, one on top and one on the back. These holes should be large, it's where our light will come from; but should still be small enough to be covered with an A4 size sheet.

Step 3) We could leave our holes as they are, but the light would be too harsh and we need to diffuse it. Paper will do just fine. So get 4 A4 pieces of thin white paper and cover these big holes from the outside.

Step 4) Cut the flaps on the opening, you won't need them.

Step 5) This is important as it teaches you how to get the infinite background effect. You simply have to place a LARGE piece of paper inside the box, in a curved shape (NOT like the photo above!!!)

Here's a sketch, using side view (yes, my drawing skills are extremely unique):



As you can imagine, shooting this object from the front will simulate an infinite horizon, and no one will be able to tell you've used a sheet of paper to get the effect.










Step 6) Lightning. You will need it, and lots of it, wether it's natural of artifficial. And this is actually the fun part. I prefer using artifficial light because I can control it better, and placing colored sheets in front of white lamps gives you a natural control of coloring. I usually use two lamps coming from the side, other times I use one on the side and another one coming from the top.

For natural effects, ONLY use white lamps, not yellow.

Optional Step: Use black cardboard or black sheets in order to create dark effects (see Porsche image above). You can do whatever you like, depending on the effect you wish to create.

Optional Step 2: Mirrors! It's amazing what a simple flat mirror can do. Simply place it as the "floor", and be careful not to shoot it's edges while composing the frame. This works better with dark environments.

Optional Step 3: If you don't have a mirror large enough, you can use black silverware plates filled with water.

Optional Step 4: Macro rings. If you can't afford a macro lens, or don't have a camera capable of changing lenses, look for a small dioptry macro ring and put it in front of you camera. This will reduce your field of view and enable you to shoot closer, comfortably.

Optional Step 5: A tripod will make your life a whole lot easier.

Optional Step 6: Use closed aperture values (f8.0+) and shoot longer.

And that's pretty much it. It all depends on the lightning, and how you play with it. I'm only giving you my best way to control it, but it's still up to you to find the correct values to play with. Keep in mind that different materials and color completely change the way your object will look like

Passage

Today, while reading a few blogs, I discovered a tiny game (not quite a game, but keep reading) that changed my state of mind, and probably speeded up my heartbeat rate for a while. It's called Passage, and it's an old-fashioned side-scrolling game with a unique characteristic:

It represents your whole life during 5 minutes.

The game itself only lasts 5 minutes, then you die. It's a simple, yet complex maze where you control a young character. Eventually, this character will grow old, slowing down, and at the end, die. You can read the author's notes to become fully aware of what this game means, in it's full complexity.

At the start, you have the possibility to team up with someone else (your wife). But you can choose not to, and your character will walk faster and manage to get through mazes you couldn't reach with company. But if you team up, you'll walk side by side (in love!) through the whole thing.
You begin in the left side of the screen, and the right side (which represents your future) is a giant amount of blurred pixels. As you walk by, you can search for treasures in complicated mazes, increasing your score. But you won't live to see all the scenery, and just walk around freely with your love. As you get near the end, you're already on the right side of the screen, not much future to look up to, and the left side of the screen is now the blurry part... your past.
And you begin to think if your score is really that important.

You get the idea of the game, but you really have to play it to feel what it has to tell you. I was shocked when I felt that the "life algorithm" could be recriated in 5 minutes alone, and altough impressed, I'm now afraid of playing this game.

Download it here, and don't forget to read the author's notes.