TableWar MacroMats

My photography kinda sucks, I know.

Working on that, but it's largely due to lighting in my workspace and my poor ability to have good lighting.  Alternatively you can think of it as my good ability to have poor lighting - whichever is a greater positive in your mind.  I do have a full studio light set, but nowhere to really set it up and leave it so I can get work done with it.

TableWar Designs MacroMats comes neatly packaged in a bag...inside a box.

I've got small lamps, but can't seem to find the right bulbs to do the job.  The only bulbs anyone seems to carry are off-white and...well, that's another story.  Today I want to talk about steps I'm taking to fix the problem.

The contraption, disassembled.

One thing I never really had was a background that was small.  Yeah, there's an 8ft screen but I don't have spare room to set it up anymore...right now.  And anyway, these days I'm not filming 6ft of people on a screen, but 35mm or less on a tiny backboard.  I thought I'd check out TableWar Designs' MacroMats to see if I can actually be helped.

Warm background, with Frostgravy bois.

I took it out and after some flummoxing it for a bit I figured out what I was supposed to do just by looking at the pictures.  It set up nice and easy and I must say I'm happy that it came with a carrying satchel.  This will probably remain together most of the time if I can find a good place for it's footprint.  Then again, it will hang easy in the closet in the satchel.

Cool background, with more snowy-based minis.

I actually like that I can set it up for the correct height or width I need for my shots.  I've been playing around taking shots and I think this has already proven it will be a great boon for photos here on my blog going forward.  Now I just have to work on my lighting...

Light background, with rather suspicious looking ruffians lurking in the snow.

As far as endorsements go, I'd say if you plan on taking a lot of photos of your models then this is a must-buy.  The MacroMats set has everything you need in one handy kit, and you can't beat the convenience it provides with photo setup.  Also, you could definitely use whatever backgrounds / materials on it that you'd like for your composition.  This tool is now one of my 'essentials', for certain.