Trescher
Full Member
Trescher's Light Box
Does a lightbox make a difference when taking pictures? Absolutely!
Does a lightbox need to be expensive? No way!
I shamelessly did a google search for "lightbox photographs" and found a few winners. Here are the examples that I followed:
http://www.pbase.com/wlhuber/light_box_light_tent
http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2006/03/pvc_light_box_light_tent.html
http://mattleclair.org/blog/?p=19
http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/07/how-to-diy-10-macro-photo-studio.html
I bought some PVC piping and some various connectors from Home Depot. I measured and cut and stuck everything together. I did not glue, but might glue some of the connections before long, though not really necessary. The extra rails along the top allow me to hang the lights.
The fabric is "broadcloth" and is very white. Great for diffusing the light and giving even light everywhere. Some have used bed sheets to save a buck.
I had 2 sheets of left over 1/8" plexiglass (from my arcade machine, a different story) and used them on the top and bottom. The bottom needs something to place your items on, but the top is optional. The top allows me to store stuff on top of the light box.
The broadcloth wraps around the bottom, left, top and right panels with one sheet. It is attached from the outside with duct tape.
The second broadcloth makes the bottom and the back. Notice the ski slope from the back to the front. This is what gives an invisible horizon.
Notice how I added a hood to the front, this is to remove any reflections from the room. Very handy if you are doing silver or gold or anything reflective. Just a sheet attached at the top with a small + cut out and fit over the front of the camera. It works very well for me.
Some tips:
Buy good lightbulbs. Home Depot called them Craft Lights. They are compact fluorescent bulbs that fit in an ordinary socket, run nice and cool and are rated at 5000 Kelvin. I like them because they are bright white and look great. When buying be sure to read the package for the color temperature and get one that is 5000 or greater. 3500 is too yellow for my taste and I end up color correcting too much in Photoshop.
Buy some colored backdrops. I went to Walmart tonight and got 4 sheets and 3 of them were dual color. Silver/Gold, Red/Yellow, Dk Blue/Lt Blue, and Black. Not bad for a few dollars.
When taking pictures, use the highest megapixels. Take many pictures and experiment with macro/non-macro, flash/non-flash, manual settings (F-stop and aperature). Your best picture will always be one of the 10 that you took.
Use a photo editor to crop, adjust brightness and contrast, and then resize before posting. All of my ebay pictures are 800x600 pixels. Adjust the JPG compression level from High to Medium, while saving, if you need the photos to be less than 100k.
Let me add that a tripod is almost essential. Try without one and if you miss your shots, buy one, you won't regret it.
Also get some cans of compressed air. This helps clear the static dust that might be on your objects before the picture.
I hope this helps someone, let me know if you have any questions. I'm always here to help.
Cheers,
Paul
Does a lightbox make a difference when taking pictures? Absolutely!
Does a lightbox need to be expensive? No way!
I shamelessly did a google search for "lightbox photographs" and found a few winners. Here are the examples that I followed:
http://www.pbase.com/wlhuber/light_box_light_tent
http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2006/03/pvc_light_box_light_tent.html
http://mattleclair.org/blog/?p=19
http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/07/how-to-diy-10-macro-photo-studio.html
I bought some PVC piping and some various connectors from Home Depot. I measured and cut and stuck everything together. I did not glue, but might glue some of the connections before long, though not really necessary. The extra rails along the top allow me to hang the lights.
The fabric is "broadcloth" and is very white. Great for diffusing the light and giving even light everywhere. Some have used bed sheets to save a buck.
I had 2 sheets of left over 1/8" plexiglass (from my arcade machine, a different story) and used them on the top and bottom. The bottom needs something to place your items on, but the top is optional. The top allows me to store stuff on top of the light box.
The broadcloth wraps around the bottom, left, top and right panels with one sheet. It is attached from the outside with duct tape.
The second broadcloth makes the bottom and the back. Notice the ski slope from the back to the front. This is what gives an invisible horizon.
Notice how I added a hood to the front, this is to remove any reflections from the room. Very handy if you are doing silver or gold or anything reflective. Just a sheet attached at the top with a small + cut out and fit over the front of the camera. It works very well for me.
Some tips:
Buy good lightbulbs. Home Depot called them Craft Lights. They are compact fluorescent bulbs that fit in an ordinary socket, run nice and cool and are rated at 5000 Kelvin. I like them because they are bright white and look great. When buying be sure to read the package for the color temperature and get one that is 5000 or greater. 3500 is too yellow for my taste and I end up color correcting too much in Photoshop.
Buy some colored backdrops. I went to Walmart tonight and got 4 sheets and 3 of them were dual color. Silver/Gold, Red/Yellow, Dk Blue/Lt Blue, and Black. Not bad for a few dollars.
When taking pictures, use the highest megapixels. Take many pictures and experiment with macro/non-macro, flash/non-flash, manual settings (F-stop and aperature). Your best picture will always be one of the 10 that you took.
Use a photo editor to crop, adjust brightness and contrast, and then resize before posting. All of my ebay pictures are 800x600 pixels. Adjust the JPG compression level from High to Medium, while saving, if you need the photos to be less than 100k.
Let me add that a tripod is almost essential. Try without one and if you miss your shots, buy one, you won't regret it.
Also get some cans of compressed air. This helps clear the static dust that might be on your objects before the picture.
I hope this helps someone, let me know if you have any questions. I'm always here to help.
Cheers,
Paul
