Sunday, November 8, 2009

Light box for photographing

So have you ever thought what can I make with an 18x18 box, some duct tape and paper towels?

Of course you have...hasn't everyone?

Have you wanted to take more detailed photos for you ebay or etsy merchandise
but didn't want to spend a fortune on commercial photo boxes?

I got the idea from this website, although I did makes some changes


I used the following - a 18x19 box I purchased at Walmart - abt $5
1 pk of duct tape
1 pk of clear tape - we ended up using both reg tape and packing tape - we kind of chged things along the way
Plain Bounty paper towels * see below
 A light source - used a clamp gooseneck but a stand alone would be much better
ruler, pencil knife, scissors
parchment paper - or any white paper

We fold the open ends so all sides were closed. My hsb taped all the corners, then measures 2 in around each corner




The other advantage of putting duct tape all around is it'll be easy to remove the paper towels
you won't tear the box


Cut the center area out on the sides and top
We left the floor and the back whole, on the website they cut the floor out
I wanted more stability so we kept it in






Then we taped the bounty towels on
we started out with packing tape but it was difficult so we switched to regular tape



Trim as needed:

*I'm not sure I would use Bounty paper towels again s they tear at the perforation I will have to experiment with other brands and/or materials
On the website they used paper to swoop down as a back drop since my photo box is bigger I decided to try parchment paper - full disclosure - it was all I had that was long enough













I have not adjusted the following photos so what you see is either with or without the flash

Without Flash:







With Flash:



With flash:


Without the flash:


Without flash: (I didn't take any with)





So what do you think?
Which one do you prefer?
Do you see a difference using a light box?

7 comments:

  1. you can totally see that pretty glow. How creative, way to go!

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  2. Oh, who would have thought of this? Very creative.
    Be a sweetie,
    Shelia ;)

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  3. That is a very interesting post. I'm going to have to show my son who's a keen photographer. No doubt my tea chest will be 'borrowed' for the experiment. Ah well. xx

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  4. A trick of the trade. I didn't know.

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  5. Light boxes are great. Maybe you could get a roll of white butchers paper-its cheat and a you can pull out as much as you need and not have to deal with the PT sheets pulling apart.

    Cheri

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  6. It does make a huge difference. What a fabulous idea. Thanks for sharing. Hugs, Marty

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  7. I have no idea if you are just a good photographer or have a very good camera but the photos without the flash are just great!...they have a much softer glow and are much more appealing. Thank you so much for this interesting post!

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