Steve Weinrebe's Mode Studio

Whether you prize clutter or neatness, tabletops of various types probably abound in your photo world. The most flexible tabletops are made from a pair of sawhorses and a flat surface to throw on top of them. Whether wooden or pre-fab plastic, sawhorses are terrific tools to keep around. When assembling a studio set, the location of a table top is generally dependent on what’s going on in the rest of the studio at any given time. So it’s incredibly convenient to grab the nearest pair of sawhorses, roughly position them where you need the set, and then put a table top on them. Sometimes I place a case or box on top to raise the tabletop up higher, depending on the POV I want. Clamp on the background, place lights around the set, position the camera and away you go. The sawhorses really are an anchor, of sorts, to the everyday tabletop set.This post begins the new “Irreverent photo tool of the month” feature. The weeks have flown by for the previous “Irreverent photo tool of the week” entries, and what I really want is for readers to send in your own “Irreverent photo tools”. From here on I’ll be posting my “irreverent tools” feature monthly. If you enjoy the series, email me a JPEG and description of your own “irreverent photo tools”, those gizmos, gadgets, garbage finds, or household items (you get the idea) that make your photography life easier, for me to post in the weekly column (with an attribution, of course). Look forward to hearing from you!Posted by Steve Weinrebe