Homemade lightbox
Discussion
I did something similar a while ago for another forum's photo competition being "still life".
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.
What I did was similar to you:
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 my local graphics store 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:
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/fabric 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.
Sample pics:
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.
What I did was similar to you:
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 my local graphics store 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: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/fabric 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.
Sample pics:
I can see this working with insects 
nice!
all looks rather flamable tho :-)
the traditional use for this sort of thing is photographing reflective objects. jewelry etc.
for your pine cones you might want to try firing some un-diffused hard light in there to add a bit of texture. the two qualities of light contrast really well.
all looks rather flamable tho :-)
the traditional use for this sort of thing is photographing reflective objects. jewelry etc.
for your pine cones you might want to try firing some un-diffused hard light in there to add a bit of texture. the two qualities of light contrast really well.
Scho said:
nice!
all looks rather flamable tho :-)
the traditional use for this sort of thing is photographing reflective objects. jewelry etc.
for your pine cones you might want to try firing some un-diffused hard light in there to add a bit of texture. the two qualities of light contrast really well.
I did turn the lights off immediately after taking a set of shots as I was a bit worried about the heat from those lights. Thanks for the suggestion about the un-diffused light, I'll give that a try.all looks rather flamable tho :-)
the traditional use for this sort of thing is photographing reflective objects. jewelry etc.
for your pine cones you might want to try firing some un-diffused hard light in there to add a bit of texture. the two qualities of light contrast really well.
TypeRandy - you beat me on cost, I spent £2.80 on the sheet.
I bought a light tent a while back, but have never been able to get the lighting correct, probably as i dont have the right lights!!
What lights do people suggest to use? I like the idea of the worklights from the OP and have found some cheap ones but am wondering if i can do better?
I guess the other requirement is a tripod?
I will be taking photos of printed circuit boards.
What lights do people suggest to use? I like the idea of the worklights from the OP and have found some cheap ones but am wondering if i can do better?
I guess the other requirement is a tripod?
I will be taking photos of printed circuit boards.
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