Many Hands Make Light Work
May 3rd, 2008 @ 0:12 by NormMonkey
I’ve been taking pictures for the Every Day Objects game - which has evolved into a sort of Project 365[1] for me (72 so far!).
Using a (near) macro lens means a very shallow DoF, so I end up using a tabletop tripod a lot. Trying to get everything positioned and focused can be tricky[2] with only two hands so allow me to introduce one of my favourite tools:
Helping Hands
Designed for soldering[3], this little guy is incredibly handy for macro photographers. It’s great for holding and aiming diffusing panels (a.k.a. letter-sized sheets of paper), reflectors (a.k.a. cardboard covered with paper or aluminium foil) and flags.
Sometimes I use it to hold my subject, allowing me to stick a background (a.k.a. colourful packaging and marketing material) well behind the object - and thus use separated foreground/background lighting.
… and now you see the double meaning behind the post title.
AN IMPROVEMENT
Using this a lot means I notice some of its annoyances and quirks. One of these is that the all-metal construction result in each joint having two modes: tight as hell; and floppin’ loose.
When the joint is tight, trying to wiggle the object in front of the lens into a better position is frustrating. Turn the appropriate nut or screw a half a degree loose-wise, and the whole thing falls to gravity. There is no in-between, no gentle friction grip.
Helping Hands - A Better View
Here you can more easily see what I mean. See those wing nuts? When you loosen one just a fraction, the ball joints suddenly become completely slack and everything falls over.
So I have an idea: there should be a rubber washer between each wing nut and its metal plate, so that the friction force can be reasonably varied. Each will also need a thin metal washer between the rubber and the wing nut to avoid friction when turning. I suppose I can find such washers at the local hardware store, though ones this small might be hard to find.
By the same token, each thumbscrew should be tipped with a bit of soft plastic, as a metal-on-plastic friction hold is gentler than a metal-on-metal one. I suppose one way to do this by melting a blob of plastic on the tip of each screw, small enough that it can be forced through the threaded hole.
BONUS PICTURE
Since you’ve managed your way through my post so far, allow me to present one of my housemates: Paddington.
Paddington Yawns
I took this while playing with the umbrella + stand I recently acquired. I know everybody hates pet picture postings (aside from ICanHasCheezburger.com, of course) but that yawn adds a cuteness and personality factor that’s hard to resist.
Thanks, Paddington!
[1] Project 365 is a picture a day for a year. My P365 is a macro picture of an every day object every weekday for 365 pictures (7/5ths of a year).
[2] My tripods topple over when I try to take pictures from above, so until I build some sort of PVC pipe rig or invent a selective gravity nullifier I must deal with the challenge of holding objects in front of a (mostly) horizontally oriented camera lens.
[3] You can see little blobs of solder stuck on the base from this guy’s “day job”.
