Simple, Cheap Light Box Tutorial

I didn't work today and it was kind of cloudy outside, so I decided it was going to be photo day!  grrr...  I hate taking pictures of all the small things that I have.  Macro photography is not my forte.  Nor is it a fun thing for me to do... at all.  I think the main problem is I can never make them look good, mainly because I always just try to use available light and well, my apartment is a bit of a cave with pretty much zero natural light so it never works.

Today, I decided, would be different.

Enter my cheap ass light-box!

Light Box!

I looked online to find some (cheap!) ideas and found some really good tutorials which I then proceeded to meld into one, ultimate cheap-o project.  I spent $0.99.  Yay me! 

So here's how:

1. Get a cardboard box (mine is 10 x 15 x 11.5) and make sure the bottom is taped up well. Cut out windows in 3 of the 4 sides, leaving the back wall and bottom in tact.

 2. Use tissue paper (or some sort of white, see through stuff - I used tracing paper, you could also probably use a light fabric, whatever you have on hand) and cover up your "windows".

  

3.  Get a piece of white poster board and cut a strip as wide as the bottom of your box.  (This is where the $0.99 comes in.  I'm sure you could find it even cheaper, but I just went to the convenience store across the street because it was, well, convenient.)

Tape the poster board to the inside of your box, at the top, back edge. 

4.  Experiment with some different "outside of the box" (haha, funny pun) lighting options, or even just test out  your flash with your camera inside the box.  I know some people are cringing as they read that.  FLASH?!  A tutorial on how to take better pictures advising the use of flash.  Sometimes it works, ok?  Get over it.

Just see what works best for you and your camera for clear, consistent results.

Do you want to light from the side of your box?

Perhaps you'd like to light from the top?

**tip: if you're able to, manually set the white balance on your camera.  If not, that's ok too, just play around with your setting until you find something that works.  A little knowledge about the camera your using can go a long way!)

5.  Once you find something that works, you're done!  Hooray!  Mine is turning out some pretty fantastic results which will make me a very happy camper indeed.

Light Box product before any editing

Light Box product after about 30 seconds of editing. 

So now that mine is all done, I was going to take picture for hours and hours until they were all done but my camera battery died, so it'll have to wait.  Have fun making your light box! (seriously. life. easier.) and tell me how it goes.