Photographing metal, or any small object, for that matter, can be an absolute pain in the backside. So when I saw that a well-respected commercial photographer had developed something to help with that, I decided to try it and see how good and easy it really was.

Spoiler alert: I loved it 🤦‍♂️ and I’m going to keep using it. It’s got a place in my studio now, and it will increase workflow on specific items that I do. So thank you, Karl.

🎥 Obviously, you can watch the video below to see the results and how easy it was to use.

Now, this sort of material is nothing new, and I’ve certainly done videos before showing the use of cacoons and lightboxes. However, this has the added advantage of portability and storability, with the latter being the most important to me. The other ones I’ve had before haven’t been easy to dismantle, or the light hasn’t been as smooth across the object as they were square or had sharp corners; this is where this design really excels, and the gradients that you get are absolutely beautiful.

This is also probably a product that not many people (photographers) are talking about or promoting. Photographers probably don’t want to admit they are using something like this, as it almost feels like cheating, or they don’t want their clients to know how easy it is to take a decent photo. Still, we must evolve, make our lives easier, and grow with the industry. I would also welcome any of my clients to use this product if it’s going to get the desired result they need and they have the time and passion for photography to use it; it will help them get the results they want easily. I also appreciate that most of my clients won’t want to use it themselves as they wish to concentrate on their speciality and employ an expert, and if I can turn around images quicker and easier for a client, then it’s a win-win.

If you would like to find out more or buy one of these cones, then the links are below (these are not affiliated links, just direct links)

➡️ USA: https://vflatworld.com/pages/light-cone-karl-taylor

➡️ UK: https://lightingtools.co.uk/collections/frontpage