DIY Lightbox Project

I had been meaning to do this for sometime, but this morning, I finally got off my duff, gathered the stuff I needed and built my lightbox.

Time spent: 30 minutes
Cost of materials: zero (for me, and likely for most)

1. I used a 14" x 14" cardboard box
2. Cut two of the top flaps, leaving only the right and left flaps (when lying on it's side)
3. Cut out three of the four sides, leaving about 1" borders
4. Taped thin white translucent paper over the holes. I used table paper from the exam tables at my office. Be sure the paper is taught, to minimize funky reflections.
5. Got two discarded lamps from the basement with 75 w bulbs
6. Raided my son's school art supplies and cut up some white poster board, just enough to snug in the box with a nice smooth bend (not crease) in the bottom back side. Again, make sure you keep this clean.

Here's the temporary set up (in my kitchen, where I did this):

Here are some test shots:

I just used a 50mm F/1.8 Nikon lens. Really, any camera will work, including point and shoots.

Here are a couple of macro shots of Mikey's toys:



You can move the lights around to your desired effect, and maybe try a colored (or black) poster board, too.

The one thing I would invest in, if you don't have one, is an inexpensive tripod, especially if you will do this a lot (for selling razors or selling on ebay).

One thing I will probably change is add a third light on top of the box, and switch out the bulbs for 100w ones.