Plans for a Light Box for Knife Photos?

[WinDancer]

Anyone have some simple plans for a light box set up? I can't always wait for a bright day....

TIA
Dave

 

[PhilL]

I hate light boxes, they're big and bulky, and the light is flat and boring and they offer very little control. Lighting for knives calls for a broad light source, but directional gives you depth to your pics. My suggestion is to build yourself a wooden frame and stretch white frosted Mylar over it. Attatch it with hinges to a plywood board, (as your table), which you can cover with any background material you like. Prop up the Mylar screen at an angle (45º for example) and put a light behind it shining on the subject knife. With the camera on a tripod compose and focus for the best angle of the knife. Now, you can adjust the lighting for best results, move the light towards the screen for more concentrated highlites and away from the screen for a softer light. Use small white cards as reflectors to bounce light back into dark handles if needed. Most important is to really look before you snap the shutter.

For an inexpensive light I suggest Daylight Balanced Photo Floods, on a stand or clamped to a chair. You can also use this setup outside with direct sunlight as the light source. The advantage of this setup is that it's very flexable, your light can be from whatever angle you choose, as well as concentration of light. It's easy and inexpensive to build, and folds up for easy storage.

I've suggested this setup to several people. and they're always surprised at how well this works.
Here's a simple diagram of the setup.

Here's a thread from CKD's Photo Forum that shows pics of this setup in use, plus a little more discussion on it.
http://pub42.ezboard.com/fcustomknifedirectoryforumfrm25.showMessage?topicID=245.topic

 

[PhilL]

Oppps the dreaded double post.

 

[Andrew McLurkin]

Here is a link with some information on the subject. http://www.knifeforums.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=39&t=000040