Almost free lightbox

*pingflood* · 09-21-2008, 06:33 PM

I was browsing Strobist this evening and came across a neat post on how to DIY a lightbox.
Click click

Used a roughly 12" square box and some tissue paper, and pieced it together. With a single light I managed this shot, which is promising! Hopefully somebody else will find a fun use for this dirt cheap lightbox setup.

Pete E · 09-23-2008, 08:55 PM

Thanks for posting. One of the things I have to put together.

benplaut · 09-24-2008, 03:13 AM

Gosh, that sounds so complex!

One kleenex as a backdrop, and a flashlight diffused through a second one.

Lightboxes are a ton of fun, yea?!

ftpaddict · 09-24-2008, 03:45 AM

Link bookmarked. Thanks!

JCSullivan · 09-24-2008, 04:13 AM

Gee, if I remember right, we had a couple of our own members post a tutorial right here on PF - I think Ray was one of them.

Spongefingers · 09-24-2008, 11:07 AM

Good clicky there.
I'm surprised I hadn't already thought of making one this way before.
Seeing as I have a lot of cardboard boxes lying around in the attic, I may try it myself and post the results!

*séamuis* · 09-24-2008, 11:23 AM

thanks for the link! I have many boxes lying around and I will most definitely have to try this out.

*pingflood* · 09-24-2008, 12:31 PM

Glad you guys are finding this useful!

I wanted to add a few items, most of them I think mentioned on Strobist in some places.

A glossy tile makes for a great surface. I couldn't find any tiles at Home Depot without little shiny flakes in them, but if you keep the angle low they don't really reflect visibly.

Regular white and black crafts paper works for creating a seamless background.

Cut some various size cards of black and white paper to help reflect and block light.

MShawn63 · 09-27-2008, 03:41 PM

Great link, thanks for posting it. I was looking to buy a lightbox when I read this and you saved me from having to spend more money than necessary. I used the instructions I found at Light Box / Light Tent Photo Gallery by Bill Huber at pbase.com to build mine. I liked the idea of using the 1/2 inch PVC piping over using a box since I could break it down for easy storage. I need to get better lights and work on the white balance, but I'm pleased with the current results.

Comments and suggestions always welcome.

Here is the results of my first attempts.

dazman · 09-27-2008, 06:30 PM

Bookmarked. Thanks for sharing the link

*pingflood* · 09-27-2008, 07:24 PM

MShawn: those are great! It does look like the white balance is a little off though as you said, have you tried tweaking in in PS/Lightroom? I took your third shot and made the background more neutral.

PS: got some gels today so going to try and get a little more creative with this stuff tomorrow.

Also found some DIY soft box instructions that I might try out.

MShawn63 · 09-27-2008, 08:07 PM

Hi Ping,

These were tweaked in LightRoom 2. I think part of my problem is that the lights I were using were not only not bright enough but mismatched as to type. One was using a regular florescent bulb and the other was halogen, not really a great combination. The shots I made using a blue background were really bad so I just deleted them.

After checking a few more threads on home made boxes I think I'm going to try some stronger workshop style lights, while hotter will give a much brighter light and should improve the light balance. Overall I did a little over 70 pictures of pens today trying this out. I'm going to be doing more.

Of the different lenses I tried my 50 f/1.4 worked best so I'm going to stick with that one.

Thanks for the feedback.
Shawn

silverelantra · 09-30-2008, 02:34 AM

Thanks for this great link...
Yes.. it's very cheap, it costs me almost nothing.. well I said 'almost' cause actually I give $ 1 worth of candy bar for my girl to hand me her white paperboard

.
Here's one result, I use two manual flash on the right and left side to avoid shadow, but I'm still not happy with it cause the lights are too harsh. Now I do some readings about lights.

Thanks again for this very useful tips