Quick and Dirty Lightbox Tutorial

So say you want to take a picture of something you have made and put it on the internet. Perhaps you’re selling something, or just showing off what you can do. No matter what you’re taking a picture of, you want it to look nice because a good picture makes your “product” look better. You don’t want it to be blurry or dark, or have everyone in the world see how messy your house is in the background (or your child picking his nose). You don’t have to have a top of the line camera to get professional looking photos. I took this one with my pocket size Sony Cybershot:

So as you can see, you don’t need to have a fancy-schmancy camera. Just good lighting.

There is a trick professional photographers use called a lightbox. It is basically a light diffuser. You can buy them for upwards of $100, but I thought that seemed kind of ridiculous for hobby photographers. So I made my own for less than $10. And I took pictures along the way to share with you.

First you will need a box.

The size depends on what you’ll be shooting. I went a little large on my box choice since I shoot a plethora of random things, and never wanted the box to be too small. You will also have to have your cat inspect the box. Cats are the utmost authority on cardboard boxes.

She says this one is good to go.

Next you should tape up the bottom and cut off the top flaps and holes in 3 sides.

You can also cut out the 4th wall, if you like. That way you can put the box over stuff that is larger than the box, or can’t be moved if need be.

Now would be a good time to have your cat inspect your progress.

Then get a white sheet and cut a part off that will cover all the windows completely. You can also use tracing paper or parchment paper to the same effect. Spread the sheet around the box and pull taught. I used push pins to keep everything in place. Once in place, tape down on all sides. I was going to use duct tape, but I didn’t have any on hand, so packing tape it was.

And TA DA! You have a light box!! Now, you will want place your background inside the box to take a picture. You can use plain old white posterboard and place in the box, letting it curve in the back corner, like so:

This is how photographers get that “infinity” effect, like so:

You can use black as well for a floating in space type look. Or, if you want to get all girly (like I often do) get two sheets of corresponding scrapbook paper and it will look like this:

Isn’t my DS pretty?

Keep in mind that you will need to put your box in a VERY well lit area. I took these photos out to our balcony when the sun was insanely bright outside. If you are inside, you will need to place a very bright light on one side, or both if you don’t want any shadows. I bought a small shop light for $6 with a 100 watt bulb that can do this:

Pretty spiffy, eh? Now go ye forth to taketh awesome pictures!

Or just play with action figures like I did.

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