Photography: self made lightbox

[IncomT65]

I just made this handy lightbox. Thought I'd share and maybe it's something to add to the tutorials?



It can be folded up neatly like this:



And here's a shot of Ordo-in-a-box:



Here's what I needed to make this:

Ikea Dröna storage box (about $6);
A white blouse that needs to be replaced anyway or any other piece of thin white (cotton) fabric;
Double sided tape (the stuff you use to tape carpets and such on the ground);
Three desktop lights. I used two (from left and from above), because I don't have a third yet, but as you can see that too gives a nice effect.

Before taking this shot of Ordo, I manually set the white balance on my camera (the 2nd from the top in this pic by pointing the camera at a sheet of white paper in the box. This way the camera know what is white under these particular lighting circumstances.

-Incom

[Darth_Anton]

Brilliant. Absolutely Brilliant. Now If I can only make one of those 4' x 8'. (I do have a 36" long roll of opal.)

[IncomT65]

Thanks man, glad you like it. It's not so different from other lightboxes I've seen on the Internet, but the big advantage is that this one can be folded up neatly so it won't take up too much space.

Whoa, that's quite a large lightbox then  Maybe you could use triplex wood for that, because carboard won't be sturdy enough for those measurements.

You could use what we call "piano hinges" (the hinges on a piano lid) for connecting the panels and still have them foldable.

I'll go out and buy some coloured A3 sheets of cardboard to serve as background. That way I'll lose the line in the back. Also, when placing figures on an object, it's nicer to have that in the same colour as your background. I should've used a small cube painted blue, then. But I threw this setup together real quickly.

[patreektherodian]

for us non photographers ...what is a light box?

[IncomT65]

for us non photographers ...what is a light box?

A light box (or light tent) is a device used for photography, to get a well lit shot of the object in question, with a nice even background. It's like a photo studio in smaller scale, actually. Pre made light boxes can often be quite expensive, that's why a lot of people make them theirselves. Just image google for 'lightbox'.

A light box also lets you have total control over the lighting and you can use it day and night, no matter what the natural lighting is.

[patreektherodian]

thanx   you learn somethin everyday

[Darth Depressis]

very informative;
 up until this i've simply been useing the overhead hologen light in my kitchen, and the 100 wat fixture above the counter for my mini studio. i'll be constructing one of these for work on EP9ROTF.