In this video, we'll be running through our top tips
and looking at how to get the most out of the popular
Foldio foldable studio light tent.
Thanks for watching guys. Subscribe to us for more photo
and video equipment reviews just like this.
Follow us on Facebook and Instagram @hypop
or visit our website www.hypop.com.au.
With all that being said, let's get into it.
Our first tip would be to use a camera tripod
or a mobile phone bracket tripod to take photos on the Foldio.
That allows you to be more consistent with your shots.
It helps with post-production.
So, when you're going into post to crop your images
as well as do any color balancing etc,
all your images will remain the same.
They'll remain in the same position.
So, on top of actually using a camera tripod,
it's best to also position your products in the same location,
perhaps even mark it down in the Foldio product tent
and using these tripods to get consistent images all the time.
So, we've got three different options in terms of camera
tripods or mobile brackets here with me now.
So, I've got a little mini stand here.
It acts as a light stand
that has a quarter-inch thread at the top.
What we've simply done is grabbed a mobile bracket.
The mobile bracket has a screw thread at the bottom
there as you can see
and you simply mount that on top of the stand.
And this can pretty much mount most smartphones.
So, all you need to do is pull on that tab
to mount your smartphone.
I've got my smartphone with me here
and you can simply mount that on there.
So, when you go ahead and take your photo shots,
you can see that'll be pretty much the perfect height
in terms of taking photos in your Foldio light tent.
We've also got the Joby tripod here.
So, this is the Joby Grip Tight Pro.
It's made specifically for smartphones.
It also has a mobile bracket as you can see there.
So, that's ideal.
The advantage of the of the Joby is that you can extend the legs
or adjust them to get lower heights there
as well as with the with the bracket on the top here,
it has a tilt function
that allows you to reposition your camera
and get the correct angle that you need for your shot.
Now lastly, if you have a camera tripod already,
I've got one set up behind me here,
you can simply look for one of these mobile brackets
that you can just mount directly onto the top
of a quick-release plate here.
So, the quick-release plate of most camera tripods
should have a quarter-inch thread,
simply mount that to your tripod.
See your camera tripod there and place the mobile bracket on top.
And you can also mount
your mobile directly onto the camera there.
So, all of these options here do have quarter-inch threads
which also match to the bottom of most cameras as well.
So, that means you can mount not only your mobile device
but even a camera if you wish to.
Okay, tip number two is to select what app to use
if using a mobile device when shooting with the Foldio.
So, there's a few ways you can go about doing this.
Firstly, is the free app that's provided by Foldio themselves
which is the Foldio app.
If you've only got the Foldio Light Studio Tent here,
then all you need is the Foldio app.
Otherwise there is a Foldio 360 app
made specifically for the 360 degree images and videos
and gifs that you make with it.
So, the Foldio app advantage is that it allows you
to take the photo and also adjust the brightness.
Secondly is you could use your native camera app.
So, the native camera app is also quite good.
So, the one on the Apple iPhone for example
has the touch to focus.
You can change the exposure levels
and brightness with that as well.
But the only downside is it doesn't have any advanced
features that most other DSLRs have.
So, if you're shooting with a DSLR,
you can change your exposure, your shutter speed,
your aperture, things like that. With the native camera app
you don't have those sorts of functions.
So, the last sort of app that we'd recommend would bean an app
that you purchase from an app store.
So, there's one on the Apple AppStore
which is called Camera Plus and that one there allows you
to adjust all those other advanced features
that other cameras would have.
So, if you're wanting to fine-tune some of your settings,
I definitely recommend to use that one there.
And secondly is if you actually are shooting with a DSLR.
So, if you're shooting with a DSLR camera,
pretty much there's no app that you would need.
All you'd need is the memory card.
You'd obviously remove that memory card
and then import that with a card reader into your computer
and take the images from there,
or an alternative would be to use a tether cable
so you can tether that direct to an application
such as Lightroom or Capture, Capture One
and basically just maintain all you images through there
and then you can edit and post process
through your computer that way.
Tip number three would be to get creative with your backdrop.
So, Foldio do provide backdrops with the Foldio 2.
There's four backdrops provided in the Foldio 2 as mentioned.
The white, the black, the chroma key green and the gray.
So, Foldio 3 only provides two backdrops.
So, it's only white and black.
So, what you could do is actually Foldio provide
inside the instructions
the measurements for each backdrop
depending on what size Foldio you get.
So, the Foldio 2 backdrop or the Foldio 3 backdrop,
and you can get creative and use your own materials
to make different backdrops.
So, you can choose perhaps cardboard paper
or some paper you buy from the stationery store
or something like that. And use that as your backdrop
if you're wanting like a plain colored backdrop.
If you're wanting to achieve like a pink or a yellow,
if you wanted to get really colorful with it,
you can definitely do that. But on top of that,
circling back to our tip number two
with the chroma key here. So, with the chroma key green,
you could actually shoot your products on this backdrop here
and change the backdrop color through the Foldio app.
So, if you're shooting with a mobile device using the app,
you can use the chroma key function there
and you can input your own image there to use as a backdrop.
So, you can use anything. You can get super creative.
You can put it behind a city landscape
or like a a greenery landscape
or even using it just as a plain colored image
such as a plain blue image for example.
If you want to blue backdrop for your product photos,
you can definitely do that.
So, getting creative with the backdrops
allows you to have more flexibility
in shooting your product photos.
So, tip number four would be all about lighting.
So, the Foldio 2 provides you with two LED strip lights here
as you can see.
I'm just playing with the dimmer knob there.
So, the default position or what it says in the manual
is to position these two LED strips
at the front here of the actual Foldio.
So, it allows the lights to come in
and it won't obstruct or create shadows at the back there.
So, what we definitely recommend is to use double
sided velcro tape.
So, they provide double-sided tape
but not double sided velcro tape.
And what double sided velcro tape will allow you to do
is allow you to reposition
the lights in different areas around the Foldio.
So, basically the two front positions there are perfect.
You can also have them position down the bottom here
if you'd like. So, as well as having perhaps
two velcro tabs on the side here,
and that will allow you to mount it vertically
and provide a strip or sort of room light
for shooting things such as product photos of like glass
or like bottles, things like that.
Or you could have it positioned down the center here.
So, one at the front here and one towards the back,
and that will allow you to sort of have a side light.
So, repositioning your lights and having flexibility
with how you have your lighting
depending on what product you're shooting is what's recommended.
Now, a final tip is that you can use the Foldio
in a variety of different ways.
So, not only can you shoot from the front,
you can actually reposition your Foldio to be top down.
So, if you wanted to shoot flatly,
you could most certainly do that like so.
So, you can shoot from top down on your Foldio as well.
So, it's perfect for things such as food photography
or if you're wanting to get creative with your flat layers
for use in social media.
It's really popular at the moment
on places like Instagram and Facebook.
The great thing about this as well
is that you can actually remove one of the flaps here,
the magnetic flaps and you can actually access the bottom here.
So, if you're doing arts and crafts and hand lettering
and things like that, you can still access
the actual flat lay of the of the photo tent here
and still shoot and continue to shoot.
So, that's a great advantage.
So, that's another reason why we do recommend
to use velcro on the lights,
double sided velcro is so that you can reposition your lights
when you're rotating your tent around as well.
It gives you that flexibility
to not only use it as a default tent
but in an array of different ways to do that as well.
So, that was a quick run through of our top tips
on how to get the most out of your Foldio.
Please give this video a big thumbs up
if you found it helpful in anyway.
Feel free to leave any questions down below
in the comment section.
Follow us on Facebook and Instagram @hypop
and thanks for watching.