While it is possible to buy products that provide solutions to a huge array of problems encountered in the course of making photographs, it is often faster, more convenient, and sometimes even more effective to devise and make your own. Though of course not everyone has the inclination, skills, or resources to do so, it’s worth at least trying now and then.
Right now, I’m working on a job shooting a variety of shochu, awamori, and whiskey bottle for a beverage company, and for some of the shots, I’ll need to shoot bottles without a surface under them, in the interest of minimizing reflections. For this, the most elegant solution is a bottle support plate—a small, rigid plate that gets mounted to the top of a light stand. It’s enough to support the bottle, but not big enough to cause reflections, and it’s easy to edit out of the final shot.
I could buy one. But for what they are, they’re more expensive than they should be. I also don’t have time to order one and wait on delivery. So I made one. It isn’t especially elegant, but it will do the job and it cost me nothing, requiring only a bit of clear acrylic sheet I had lying around and some bits of hardware I already had.
First, though, I threw something together using a styrofoam disc, a camera mounting screw, and a light stand adapter.
It worked, but the material was too flexible, and the last thing I need is for an expensive bottle to go tumbling to the floor. The basic approach was sound, though.
Next, I found the acrylic sheet and cut out two squares, each measuring 9x9cm. I measured and marked it with a ruler, scored it with a utility knife, and snapped off the pieces. Next, I used some clear tape to hold the two sheets together at the edges. A better solution would have been to glue the sheets together, but I didn’t have anything suitable on hand. An even better solution would have been to use a thicker material, but all I had was 2mm in thickness.
Next, I marked the middle and used a hot knife (used for cutting styrofoam sheet) to make an initial hole in the center. No drill on hand at the moment, so that was the next best thing. I could have also used a nail, screw, etc heated up in a flame to the same effect.
Following that, I used a round file to enlarge the hole until I could fit in a 1/4 to 3/8 tripod mount bushing. Finally, I added a few washers to fix the spacing (the bushing extended beyond the surface of the acrylic) and threaded in a baby pin with a 1/4-20″ threaded stud on the end.
Is it pretty? Not especially. Is it sturdy? Sturdy enough. And will it get the job done? Absolutely. It should perform more than well enough to get through this shoot, and I’ll keep it around for future use, at least until I make something a bit more refined. I’m also glad that it’s clear, as I can adapt it to more shooting situations. It will be easy to cover it with black or white material as well, if that helps with a particular shot.
This solution cost me basically nothing, required only a few simple tools to throw together, and I literally threw it together while sitting at the kitchen table eating lunch. No additional costs for the shoot, no need to wait on delivery, and it was an enjoyable thing to figure out and make—these are the kinds of solutions I like.
In my own work, and in my days as a busy photo assistant, one thing that became very clear to me early on was the value of being able to think on your feet, adapt, and come up with practical solutions on the fly, regardless of the resources on hand.
Good equipment is great to have, but there are always going to be practical problems to solve, and the better you can get at solving them, the better a job you’ll be able to do.
