Borrowed a light tent and lamp - now what do I do?

I have borrowed a light tent and a massive lamp thingy to go over it.
I plan to have a go at taking some pictures for the 'household objects' theme.
This is all completely new to me so I'm not sure where to start and I'm going to have very limited experimenting time. So can anyone offer any advice to get me started?
Will one massive lamp from the top be OK?
What would be the best lens to use?
Any settings better than others? High/low f number?
Is there anything else I need to know?

Thanks!

Oooh - can't help you I'm afraid, for me it's a lot of trial and error but I'm sure you'll get some fabby results!

xx

Hmmmm! Only had half an hour and it took me nearly that to set it up!
I'll have to have another go tomorrow!

This question is a little bit like, I just bought a racing car, how do I drive?

Lets start with the light, experiment with lighting from the top and side, the shadows, although subtle with a lot of light, will change the look and feel of the object.

Lens, well, you have to poke it through the light tent, so it will have to be a lens that will focus fairly close.

F-Number, think about it, do you want a big Depth of Field, or as shallow as you can get? (shallow will hide the creases in the light tent more lol)

Is the light source constant or flash? remember to set your white balance accoringly or the light will cause all your images to have a strange colour (orange or blue normally, green if its fluourescent)

Use a tripod, then you have much more shutter ranges to use, so you can stop down the aperture if required. You will get sharper images because you will have no camera shake.

Don't put the object right at the back of the tent, you'll get shadows and will be able to see the tent.

Hope this helps.
Alan.

Great help thanks!
I'll have time for experimenting one day, just not before the 25th - I guess I was looking for a shortcut (as usual!)
I'm after a sharp, crisp bright image.
I'll see what I manage tomorrow.

Some good tips from Alan there LM.. and just experiment, you'll come to learn what works best for the type of result _you_ want in no time

Look forward to seeing the results!

Sigh.
Its not going well.
I think the objects I am trying to take a picture of take up too much room so all I can see is seams etc from the tent.
and then I have no idea what to do with this one massive lamp - on top? to one side in front?
Its all very fustrating - especially as I have an image in mind that I am trying to create.
I think I might have to abandon the tent for another day when I have more time to fiddle.

Sorry I can't offer and help as I've never used one.

I'm sure you will figure it out in your own time though - then I can pick your brains.

A few steps to try.

1. Move the lens as close to the object as possible.
2. Move the object as far to the front of the light tent as possible.
3. Use maximum aperture. The combination of being very close, and using max aperture will reduce the depth of field to a minimum, hopefully blurring the background.
4. If the light is too bright for maximum aperture, move the light away, remember light falls off quite rapidly, so moving the lamp 1 meter will reduce the light significantly.

Hope this helps.
Alan.

Thanks Alan. That is a great help.
For this particular image I am trying to take a picture of a collection of objects so I think I'll abandon the light tent for now - there are just too many bits spread out to be able to deal with the background.
I'll come back an experiment another day with single objects.
Thanks again - advice is always appreciated.