homemade light box
Discussion
This one?
www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=10...
I eventually replaced mine with one of these (though Maplin had them on offer at half price at the time)
www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?moduleno=38260
www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=10...
I eventually replaced mine with one of these (though Maplin had them on offer at half price at the time)
www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?moduleno=38260
The homemade one worked pretty well. If you already have a couple of suitable lights then it only costs pennies to get one going. I bought the one from Maplin to replace it as that one folds down and is easier to store. Depending on the object being photographed and the angle of the lights, the cardboard box version could give shadows from the 'frame' of the box - a little more optimisation with the stanley knife was really needed.
I built one for £0. I used an old vacuum cleaner box, cut out three sides and replaced them with tissue (yes, kleenex type). Works just fine.
I will say that it's a bit of a pain to store, and the maplin one looks better in this respect. However I guess I could modify mine by cutting the joins so it folds down, then tape it up when I need it.
Also, the advantage of a carboard box is that it can be made to pretty much any size, depending on what sized boxes you can get your hands on.
I'm not a pro and shoot at home in the lounge, so the 'rough and ready' appearance of the apparatus is not a problem. I don't think many pro's shooting on location would take one with them though, so the shop bought one might be better if you're concerned about presentation of your kit.
I will say that it's a bit of a pain to store, and the maplin one looks better in this respect. However I guess I could modify mine by cutting the joins so it folds down, then tape it up when I need it.
Also, the advantage of a carboard box is that it can be made to pretty much any size, depending on what sized boxes you can get your hands on.
I'm not a pro and shoot at home in the lounge, so the 'rough and ready' appearance of the apparatus is not a problem. I don't think many pro's shooting on location would take one with them though, so the shop bought one might be better if you're concerned about presentation of your kit.
I did this...
As usual I searched the web and frankly was stunned at the prices of some of the prices people are charging for "boxes with lights" or collapsible tents. While these may be the pro's option or good for ebay sellers wanting good pics I just wanted something cheap to play about with the odd time so set off to build my own.
I got a bit of help from a random article on the web somewhere but can't locate it now. Anyhow, what I did was:
1. Got an old sturdy removals box and cut a hole in the front of it for my camera leaving about 2" around the edges
2. Went down to Bradbury Graphics and got 2 sheets of white Bristol Board (69p each). It is basically thick artists paper, almost card like.
3. Cut the Bristol Board to fit down the 2 internal sides of the box.
4. Finally cut the other sheet to slide in one piece down the back of the box and across the floor. This leaves it in one piece with a gentle curve so no join is seen.
5. Get a good light source. For this I used my bedside light as it is a long strip of LEDs. This provided pretty decent uniform light for what I wanted.
Time spent - 20 mins making. 30 mins taking pics The end result looked like this:
I'm not going to post pics of the subject just yet as I am keeping them for this months competition but they turned out much better than I expected and I was able to fool some people in work into thinking I had a studio car shot last night
Some downsides of my "DIY mini-studio" were noted, but with a little tweaking I hope to fix these.
1. Because of the shape of the box, sometimes you can see the joins to the sides of the box. A bigger box would be better though as you would have more space inside to photo.
2. My light was quite intense and left strip reflections on the subject - you can see these on the front wheel arch above. A brighter regular shaped bulb would be better and probably a sheet of thin paper over the lid of the box would help diffuse the light.
3. A regular shaped bulb would probably help eliminate the slight shadows I picked up here and there as it would be less directional than the LED strip light.
Most of these things can be corrected with a bit of touching up in photoshop though. All in all I am quite chuffed though and for the grand sum of £1.40 it kept me amused for an hour or so
As usual I searched the web and frankly was stunned at the prices of some of the prices people are charging for "boxes with lights" or collapsible tents. While these may be the pro's option or good for ebay sellers wanting good pics I just wanted something cheap to play about with the odd time so set off to build my own.
I got a bit of help from a random article on the web somewhere but can't locate it now. Anyhow, what I did was:
1. Got an old sturdy removals box and cut a hole in the front of it for my camera leaving about 2" around the edges
2. Went down to Bradbury Graphics and got 2 sheets of white Bristol Board (69p each). It is basically thick artists paper, almost card like.
3. Cut the Bristol Board to fit down the 2 internal sides of the box.
4. Finally cut the other sheet to slide in one piece down the back of the box and across the floor. This leaves it in one piece with a gentle curve so no join is seen.
5. Get a good light source. For this I used my bedside light as it is a long strip of LEDs. This provided pretty decent uniform light for what I wanted.
Time spent - 20 mins making. 30 mins taking pics The end result looked like this:
I'm not going to post pics of the subject just yet as I am keeping them for this months competition but they turned out much better than I expected and I was able to fool some people in work into thinking I had a studio car shot last night
Some downsides of my "DIY mini-studio" were noted, but with a little tweaking I hope to fix these.
1. Because of the shape of the box, sometimes you can see the joins to the sides of the box. A bigger box would be better though as you would have more space inside to photo.
2. My light was quite intense and left strip reflections on the subject - you can see these on the front wheel arch above. A brighter regular shaped bulb would be better and probably a sheet of thin paper over the lid of the box would help diffuse the light.
3. A regular shaped bulb would probably help eliminate the slight shadows I picked up here and there as it would be less directional than the LED strip light.
Most of these things can be corrected with a bit of touching up in photoshop though. All in all I am quite chuffed though and for the grand sum of £1.40 it kept me amused for an hour or so
Scott328i said:
At the back of the box where the 2 bits f card join (the bit for the bottom and the bit for the back) how did you get away with no shadow from the crease?
Cheers
Cheers
Andy888 said:
4. Finally cut the other sheet to slide in one piece down the back of the box and across the floor. This leaves it in one piece with a gentle curve so no join is seen.
HTH. 
Strange.
Is your company quite strict with regards to internet use?
Just tried accessing the site via it's IP but as i'm a newbie to webdesign, I may need to activate this manually somehow.
I'll rehost the images in this thread for you on imageshack.
http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/3130/lightbox11...
http://img379.imageshack.us/img379/351/toyr8122189...
Is your company quite strict with regards to internet use?
Just tried accessing the site via it's IP but as i'm a newbie to webdesign, I may need to activate this manually somehow.
I'll rehost the images in this thread for you on imageshack.
http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/3130/lightbox11...
http://img379.imageshack.us/img379/351/toyr8122189...
Edited by peterattheboro on Thursday 8th January 16:13
Edited by peterattheboro on Thursday 8th January 16:14
Gassing Station | Photography & Video | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff