Photo Project - Poor Man's Light Box

One of the pieces of equipment that I've been considering purchasing for a while now is a light box for shooting small things with even lighting and seamless backdrops.  Basically, a professional light box is a cube (12", 16" or 24" square is considered small) that is made from a translucent material (usually plastic) with a metal frame.  One side of the cube is opened so you can put your object in it (please, no Justin Timberlake jokes about 'Junk in the box'.  Yes, I've seen the video, yes its funny, and no, I'm not making a box for you).  Using lights/flashes outside the box, you aim them at the translucent material and when the light hits the walls, its diffuses it and evenly lights the object from all sides, virtually eliminating shadows. 

My concern has been, do I really need it?  Normally they are about $80-$150 for a nice one and that just seems like a lot of money for a box (if I don't use/need it).  So, I thought: "Hey, I've build loads of IKEA stuff and I'm pretty good with Legos, so how hard could it be to build a box!".  Caveat: I'm not really building this box to be at "professional" level, but more as a testing item to see if buying a higher grade light box would be worth it. 

So, here is my first attempt at building a light box for the least amount of money possible! 

Stage I: Locate a box

 

First step was to find me a box.  I would like to thank Staples for "donating" this lovely box to my experiment.  

Stage II: The first cuts

First thing I did was cut out the first side.  After cutting out the section, I reinforced the remaining edges with packing tape.  You want to leave at least an inch on each edge so you don't weaken the structure too much. 


Stage III: The Second Cut

The second side is done same as the first.  Leaving about an inch for support and reinforcing all cuts/edges with packing tape. 


Stage IV: Back cut

After completing the two small sides, I cut out what will become the back of the light box.  With this cut, I left about two to two-half inches (again for structure).  I again used packing tape to reinforce.

Stage V: Top Cut

This cutout on the top of the box is smaller than the other sides, because this cut is only really used when using a top-down spotlight on an object.  For smaller objects having a spotlight will increase the brightness without producing much shadow.  Again, reinforce with packing tape. 


Stage VI: Inside Liner

Once all of the cuts are complete, its time to line the inside with a white base.  In my case, I used white card stock attached via double-stick tape and tacky glue.  You could also use regular white printer paper or white paint.  I used white card stock because it was what I had laying around.  Its important to note, that this white base later is not the main white element that will be diffusing the light.  This base is just to provide an additional reflective surface for the light and neutralize any ambient color from the inside of the box (a muddled gray in the case of my box).  The next stage will provide the real background/diffusion


Stage VII: Internal fabric/background

Now with this stage, I'd highly recommend doing what I didn't: measuring!  This is really the stage that I needed to purchase anything.  I bought about 3 yards of white fabric from Joanne's Fabrics (cost was less than $5.00).  This stage had a few tricky components.  First, I cut out sections of fabric for the two sides (cutting them a little bit larger than area needed so I would have extra coverage in the corners/seams.  For the back, top and bottom I used one large piece of fabric, secured at the top with small binder clips.  I secured all of the fabric inside using double-stick tape.  I used tape so that if I needed to either a) remove the fabric or b) reposition it, it would be less of a hassle.  One trick, do not attach the bottom of the fabric to the box, let it hang out loosely so that way you will form a crease-less effect and have less shadows. 

So far, the box has done pretty well.  I've gotten some nice shots and I'm certainly feeling more comfortable about purchasing a more professional model.  I'll post some picture taken from within the box soon! 

I hope you enjoyed this little DIY project and if you have any suggestions to make this better or other projects that would be fun to make (and not cost too much), let me know and I'll see what I can do! 

Enjoy

Anthony