'No Frills' lightbox build

[Allen Newberry]

For several months I have been displeased with only being able to take "good" photos when the conditions were perfect. So I decided to make a lightbox to allow me to take decent pictures regardless of the weather or time of day. After having seen what Jim Cooper came up with for indoor photography on the cheap I settled on making his " 'No Frills' $75.00 home studio tent/lightbox".

By the way, all of the photos in this thread except for the last one were taken on my phone.




The first thing that I did was make the box part out of 3 sheets of foam board (aka poster board). I didn't have any measurements so I just laid it out using my phone as a length of measure so that both sides would be the same and I used the foam board as a straight edge.



Then I cut it out using a knife (one of my pocket cutlasses in this case).



Here you can see how I cut the sides. Notice that it folds. To do that just cut through the top layer of paper and foam leaving the bottom layer of paper intact. Remember to make that cut on the opposite side of the board for the other side so that they fold in towards each other.



In this shot you can see the line where I am about to trim the part that folds in making about half as wide.



Here is the front piece after I cut it. The slits will go on either side of the flaps that were cut to fold. You will be able to see that in the next picture.

 

[Allen Newberry]

In this shot you can see how the slit and the flaps fit together. You can also see the other crossbar. For this one I just taped it on.

Now it is time to start working on the light bar:



You will need about 8-10 feet of pvc pipe and these fittings: (4) 90 degree fittings, (2) 45 degree fittings, and (2) end caps



Here is what I built with the pvc. This will hold the lights.



This is how it looks once it is finished. One thing that may be hard to see from this angle is the diffused material that now spans across the angled part of the lightbox. This diffuser material is a white trash bag. It is just taped on. The lights are 5,000K daylight compact florescent bulbs. With the clip on lights and the pvc bar you can move the lights closer or further away or angle them in different directions. Also, notice that my camera is just a little point and shoot.

And now a little disclaimer before the next picture... I haven't had time to play with it and when I shot this I was needing to take all of this down as I had constructed it on the kitchen table. So I am not really doing this set up justice.



Now I just need to figure out how to take pictures and maybe even get a non point and shoot camera.

 

[jprice76]

Awesome!
Thanks for sharing this Allen! I need to build one of these!

 

[childzplay]

This is great, thanks a lot! This'll have to be my next project.

 

[Rody]

If you want even less frills: http://picasaweb.google.com/rody.koops/lightbox#

A curved sheet of paper along the bottom and back creates an endless/invisible horizon...

CHeers Rody

 

[Allen Newberry]

Thanks guys. I am excited about having better pictures. I hate it when I have a nice knife but a photo that is so bad that it makes the knife look bad.

 

[godogs57]

I have one just like that....don't mean to hijack the thread, but what kind of bulbs are you guys using for this setup? Not happy with my bulbs and looking for suggestions.

 

[John T Wylie Jr]

Nice build , image still looks a bit dark though.

 

[MustardMan]

Harbor freight also sells a reasonably cheap portable light box setup - it's what I use to take most of my pictures.


Edit: Looks like harbor freight stopped selling the light box I have. Amazon sells a bunch of them, though, and some are in the $30 range, with a pair of lights and crappy tripod included.

 

[Allen Newberry]

I have one just like that....don't mean to hijack the thread, but what kind of bulbs are you guys using for this setup? Not happy with my bulbs and looking for suggestions.

I can't recall the brand, but they did say daylight on them. They were at home depot and were 5,000k. Walmart and lowes did not have any 5,000k bulbs when I was looking.

 

[melsdad]

I can't recall the brand, but they did say daylight on them. They were at home depot and were 5,000k. Walmart and lowes did not have any 5,000k bulbs when I was looking.

I am using the same bulbs as you. Got them at the depot. This is my setup, just cut up a large cardboard box, and lined it with poster board.

 

[godogs57]

Thanks guys...will give the ol Depot a try.

 

[hellgap]

looks good ill get some lights for mine

 

[dax51]

Thanks guys ...
You gave me the incentive to build something. Built one today for about $5. I built it into a box I had that will close up for storage. I think it works OK?

 

[melsdad]

That box turned out nice. I like the filework on that knife!!