Joined: Wed Oct 01, 2008 11:08 pm Posts: 305 Location: San Antonio, Texas
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So we all have found tutorials online, but always seem to loose where they are. Because of this I have deciced to make a nice tutorial on how to make a simple light box. This is a great solution to taking awesome pics with even the most basic of cameras. My point and shoot is broken so the entire tutorial was made using my Kodak Zi8. Which is perfect for the end result pics.
Materials Needed
Card Board Box (w/e size you want yer box to be, mind you some of the other mats you might need more or less of because of this)
Whiteboard, Bristol Board, Posterboard (whits is the best color for this obviously, this tutoral only used 2 sheets of standard posterboard)
White fabric (the ammount on this will vary dependant on the size of yer box)
Glue
Masking Tape
The Process
The first thing you wanna do is cut off the top flaps of the box. Make sure the bottom is secure by either taping or gluing the bottom.
Next you want to cut 2" away from edges to form a frame. This pic is a good example
Basically you want to to this to all of the sides EXCEPT the bottom. The end result should look like this.
Once this is done you can begin to cut 2" strips of yer whiteboard/bristol/posterboard.
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Last edited by ironfaith on Wed Jun 09, 2010 9:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Joined: Wed Oct 01, 2008 11:08 pm Posts: 305 Location: San Antonio, Texas
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Once the strips are cut you can use glue or a glue stick to past them to the inside. This is a tedious process but is necessary.
You can either cut these to the exact size or if you are lazy just apply them and trim off the excess.
The end result should look something similar to this.
Then you can take a strip roughly the width of the interior of the box and place it inside. You want it to be longer than the box's diagonal diameter. So that it curves a bit.
I forgot to take a pic of it here, but you can get an idea of how to do it if you look at the lighted post.
The last step is to drape the fabric.
_________________ I aim to misbehave.
Last edited by ironfaith on Wed Jun 09, 2010 9:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Joined: Wed Oct 01, 2008 11:08 pm Posts: 305 Location: San Antonio, Texas
Ribbons Earned:
Here is where the white fabric comes inplay. I actually used an old white bedsheet that I have been using as a back drop for some other things.
What you want to do is cut peices that are bigger than each of the sides. Begin by applying the peice to the top. This is the side that you cu the flaps off of, or what was originally the top of the box. Secure it using masking tape, feel free to be generous
Repeat the process on the remaining sides, which is really only going to be the left and right. Secure it the same way, try not to get tape over the main parts as this will cause unwanted shadowing.
To be honest once this is done you are pretty much done. I used the left over bits of strip to clean up the front facia. Then i took a peice and reinforced the back. Ive no pics of the back but this is the finished product.
Joined: Wed Oct 01, 2008 11:08 pm Posts: 305 Location: San Antonio, Texas
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So thats pretty much it. It doesnt look like much but here it is lighted.
The fabric will be the most expensive part of this project. It will bring up the total build from about 4 bucks to maybe 7. But if you have some lying around it makes it easy. The box is great to help cameras focus and pic out details. Basically you can take something like this...
And by placing it in the box.. allow cameras to really utilize their focus on the macro mode, and really pull out details and give you a completely white background... or this...
I know the pics dont look that good, but thats because the camera I was working with does the box no justice. Ill take some video so you can get a really good idea of the difference.
Hopefully this helps people. I just thought I would share it with yall!
Joined: Tue Jun 08, 2010 12:49 am Posts: 248 Location: Indiana
Not to shabby, amigo! I have thought of making one of these but I guess I didn't really see the need! Seeing the differences in your photo...and with some white balancing...I smell awesome mini pics!
Joined: Tue Jun 08, 2010 12:49 am Posts: 248 Location: Indiana
Marsdreamer wrote:
How many lights do you have, where are they placed, and what wattage are the bulbs?
Looks really cool, I may have to try this out!
Thanks for the tutorial.
I bought a nice little 3 way bendy lamp (it has 3 arms) for 10 bucks at Target (assuming you have one of those). I placed it on the corner so one light was shining through the side, one through the top and one coming around front. I used another piece of sheet to diffuse the light coming from the front lamp so it didn't glare.
Mine needs a little work still as I used the sheet for the back drop and I don't really care for how it looks compared to ironfaiths...
Joined: Wed Oct 01, 2008 11:08 pm Posts: 305 Location: San Antonio, Texas
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Im using a single lamp with a 60w Daylight Halogen Bulb The daylight gives me a true white and placed over the direct top, i get no shadowing from either left or right.
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