Awhile back, I realized that I needed a light box. I was trolling other people's pictures of their products and was paying attention to how the colors stayed true in their pictures and that they weren't all taken outside. I checked into the cost of buying one, and baby they aren't cheap! I looked up instructions and in about an hour had whipped up one of my own. It isn't nearly as pretty, but it gets the job done! In case you might need one too, here goes...
First, find a good sized box. Depending on what you will be photographing, you want to have enough room to set your product up inside the box. (A shoebox will probably not be big enough.) Once you have your box, using a box cutter or X-Acto knife, cut off the flaps on the top of the box. Landry got to this one first and added some nice decoration for me. :)
Next, I took a ruler and traced a rectangle onto three sides of the box, keeping a one inch border around each rectangle. The finished box will lay on it's side with the top or opening facing you. The bottom of the box will be the back of your box and it doesn't need a hole. Once you have traced your rectangles, using a box cutter or X-Acto knife, cut around the traced rectangles.
Once you have made the cuts, the only thing left to do is get tissue paper. Using one layer, lay the tissue paper over the top of the rectangles and tape into place.
Your finished product should look like this!
When you get ready to stage your product, you just lay paper on the inside of the box to create your background. You can use white, patterned, or a combo of both. Set your light box under a light and then add more light using a flashlight. You can experiment with the different angles and light source to get the best picture.
I, personally like to use this guy to hold my extra light source.
His arms get tired quickly so I have to give him lots of breaks. ;)
This is my finished product. I do not claim to be a professional photographer, by a long shot, but will say that this light box has made my photos look one million times better!
Good luck!
First, find a good sized box. Depending on what you will be photographing, you want to have enough room to set your product up inside the box. (A shoebox will probably not be big enough.) Once you have your box, using a box cutter or X-Acto knife, cut off the flaps on the top of the box. Landry got to this one first and added some nice decoration for me. :)
Next, I took a ruler and traced a rectangle onto three sides of the box, keeping a one inch border around each rectangle. The finished box will lay on it's side with the top or opening facing you. The bottom of the box will be the back of your box and it doesn't need a hole. Once you have traced your rectangles, using a box cutter or X-Acto knife, cut around the traced rectangles.
Once you have made the cuts, the only thing left to do is get tissue paper. Using one layer, lay the tissue paper over the top of the rectangles and tape into place.
Your finished product should look like this!
When you get ready to stage your product, you just lay paper on the inside of the box to create your background. You can use white, patterned, or a combo of both. Set your light box under a light and then add more light using a flashlight. You can experiment with the different angles and light source to get the best picture.
I, personally like to use this guy to hold my extra light source.
His arms get tired quickly so I have to give him lots of breaks. ;)
This is my finished product. I do not claim to be a professional photographer, by a long shot, but will say that this light box has made my photos look one million times better!
Good luck!
