DIY or Do It Yourself is the best way to get something when you can't or don't want to buy at the moment. I've been preparing some material for a new article coming soon about stock photography and I thought I shouldn't spend so much money on Light tents/boxes. We use them to shoot not too big stuff that somebody or even you might use someday in designs. The lightbox gives you total control of the ammount of light hitting your "subject", what will the background look like (white is most preferred) etc.
So, how can you make a light box from stuff laying around your house?
STEP1:
Take a somewhat big box and carve an opening on one of the sides from which you will shed light.
I used an old cardboard box that was laying around in the closet and scissors to carve the opening.
Note that you can use multiple openings and get multiple light sources. I decided to go for just one.
STEP2:
Put a semi-transparent material on top of the opening and fix it in position.
I used baking paper and glued it to the box, but I also used some duck tape on top of it just to make sure. You want this baking paper to act as a diffuser of light - The light that comes in the box will disperse upon entering. You can use any thin white paper or even white plexiglass - but beware the plexi is rather expensive.
This is what I got:
STEP3:
When light enters the light box, you want it to disperse from walls of the inside. You also want to have universal background and "flooring" for it. I used regular A4 printing paper for this. Just glue it to the sides and bottom of the box. In this preview I glued it just so much to cover the "shooting area"
STEP4:
You need a light source. Now remember, this is a low budget light box and you can use any kind of light that you have available in your house. Use an ordinary lamp that you use for reading, or maybe use a bit stronger light like I did. Some time ago I purchased a cheap construction reflector for 30€ that fits a 500W halogen bulb in it. That's a lot of light. Point the light source(s) into the window(s) and shoot.
For my first test shots I previewed in the top, I used my Canon 7d with Canon 85mm f1.8 lens. Since my light box is a bit narrow it's much better that I used a longer focal point lens. You don't want a wide angle lens to shoot with. If you have 100mm macro or something like that - it's perfect. But, once again - you can use any lens. If you are a Canon user like myself, you can use 50mm 1.8 lens (around 100€) or even the 18-55mm kit lens. Be sure to zoom it to 50mm or 55mm. I also used different settings in order to get a bit more varied feels to the photos. I took my 50mm lens shot with a wide aperture and slow shutter speed and I got a blown white background. However on other shots I used a bit closed aperture and a faster shutter speed so my background wasn't white but more of a greyish with some natural gradients of light on it.
Feel free to improvise, test and shoot. If you have any questions and comments feel free to use the comment section below or just Tweet me.
 |
| Some test shots I took using my homemade DIY Light box. Various settings. |
So, how can you make a light box from stuff laying around your house?
STEP1:
Take a somewhat big box and carve an opening on one of the sides from which you will shed light.
I used an old cardboard box that was laying around in the closet and scissors to carve the opening.
Note that you can use multiple openings and get multiple light sources. I decided to go for just one.
STEP2:
Put a semi-transparent material on top of the opening and fix it in position.
I used baking paper and glued it to the box, but I also used some duck tape on top of it just to make sure. You want this baking paper to act as a diffuser of light - The light that comes in the box will disperse upon entering. You can use any thin white paper or even white plexiglass - but beware the plexi is rather expensive.
This is what I got:
 |
| I wanted to have 1 opening. Use scissors and put Baking paper on top of it. |
When light enters the light box, you want it to disperse from walls of the inside. You also want to have universal background and "flooring" for it. I used regular A4 printing paper for this. Just glue it to the sides and bottom of the box. In this preview I glued it just so much to cover the "shooting area"
 |
| Glue some white paper to the bottom and sides of the box. |
You need a light source. Now remember, this is a low budget light box and you can use any kind of light that you have available in your house. Use an ordinary lamp that you use for reading, or maybe use a bit stronger light like I did. Some time ago I purchased a cheap construction reflector for 30€ that fits a 500W halogen bulb in it. That's a lot of light. Point the light source(s) into the window(s) and shoot.
 |
| Point the light source at the window. I used 1 light source in this example. |
For my first test shots I previewed in the top, I used my Canon 7d with Canon 85mm f1.8 lens. Since my light box is a bit narrow it's much better that I used a longer focal point lens. You don't want a wide angle lens to shoot with. If you have 100mm macro or something like that - it's perfect. But, once again - you can use any lens. If you are a Canon user like myself, you can use 50mm 1.8 lens (around 100€) or even the 18-55mm kit lens. Be sure to zoom it to 50mm or 55mm. I also used different settings in order to get a bit more varied feels to the photos. I took my 50mm lens shot with a wide aperture and slow shutter speed and I got a blown white background. However on other shots I used a bit closed aperture and a faster shutter speed so my background wasn't white but more of a greyish with some natural gradients of light on it.
Feel free to improvise, test and shoot. If you have any questions and comments feel free to use the comment section below or just Tweet me.
No comments:
Post a Comment