DIY Light Box

DIY Light Box

Whenever I post product photos here on my blog, you’d immediately notice I don’t have enough lighting in place. I use lamps around the house so taking photos (without flash) is a little challenging.

So I thought why not make one of my own instead of drowning the entire room with bright light. Here’s the result.

Photos taken using my Canon D40 with EF 17-85mm IS USM. Click on the picture thumbnails to view larger shots. And the set up is a simple as this:

Here’s how to create your own DIY Light Box. You’ll need a large plastic (translucent) storage box which will help diffuse the light, two lamps with 20-60 watt bulbs. You also need paper (bond paper or any plain white paper) to cover the insides of the box and even out the surface.

Optionally, you can still use your camera flash to flood fill the box and totally eliminate any remaining hints of shadow cast by the objects being photographed.

Mine needs more improvement but the results are much better than the old ones.

Abe Olandres

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines. He is also a technology consultant, a tech columnist with several national publications, resource speaker and mentor/advisor to several start-up companies.

https://www.yugatech.com

16 Comments

Gsas says:

17 years ago

hey yuga! pretty creative there. I just thought maybe I can share a big secret of GuitarTutee here as well, one that’s integral to the website’s success. Here’s our own version of a low cost DIY softbox.

http://www.guitartutee.com/2007/12/30/gts-makeshift-softbox-sharing-a-secret-for-the-new-year/

Thanks!
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deuts says:

17 years ago

yeah, definitely much better than if there’s no lightbox.
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Jaypee says:

17 years ago

Cool! I’ll try this experiment when I find the time. Thanks for the tip! :D
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jayvee f. says:

17 years ago

err …

no comment :)
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acantos says:

17 years ago

nice! i like seeing nice inventions. wow.
*posted using my asus eee* yehey!
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Dave Starr --- ROI Guy says:

17 years ago

You’re on the right track here … so many bloggers use poorly lighted pictures, expecting the camera to make up for it.

A suggestion is, though, you need a third light. The lights you have on either side shold not be the same wattage. You’ll note on several of your samples there is a shadow on both sides of the subject … this is confusing to the eye.

On one side or the other you put say a 40 watt buld … this is the “key” light, On the opposite side a “fill” light about half the wattage .. this gives a natural lighting look. Then above and behind a “back” light which creates highlights on the top surface of the subject .. adds depth and texture. The back light is typically half the wattage of the fill, as a starting point.

this is a basic “3 point” lighting setup and will ad a lot of ‘snap’ to your photos.

Now, if we could only get John Chow to read this … LoL
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Abe Olandres says:

17 years ago

@ dave, thanks for the additional tips. I’m still working on the additional lights. I was actually using 60 watts for each side. I think I’m gonna need one from the top or use my speedlite to flood fill the entire box and totally eliminate the shadows.
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eric says:

17 years ago

abe,

anong lugin gamit mo pag nag po popup na yung images?

it looks cool
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Glenn says:

17 years ago

He’s using lightbox – a light javascript to overlay images instead of the usual popups

I find this funny, it talks about making a lightbox and the pictures use lightbox.js for the “pop-up” effect.

you can implement the same effect on your blogs/photo galleries.

http://www.huddletogether.com/projects/lightbox/
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Luis Cruz says:

17 years ago

More tips…

Look for CFL bulbs – they will give you almost daylight white light, are really bright, consume less energy

If you wanna stick with the tungsten bulbs, put your white balance on tungsten. That way the color on your shots will stay consistent.

If you have a strobe you can use off-camera, put it on top of the box, or bounce it from the front to the top… or even use it inside the box (I do that sometimes)

Use pieces of black or white paper or even small mirrors to block or reflect / bounce light – this will help you control shadows

That’s all I have for now. Enjoy!
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Abe Olandres says:

17 years ago

@ eric – Glenn is right, and funny that the plugin has the same name

@ luis – thanks a bunch for the tips!
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Shutter Box Philippines says:

17 years ago

Hi Abe!

I thought for a moment you shifted to the dark side hahaha… then I noticed that it was just a typo.. “Canon D40” hehe should’ve been Canon 40D ;-)
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ej says:

17 years ago

cool! thanks for the tip! this is definitely easier than this one -> http://www.flickr.com/photos/katrinasalvador/635785421/in/photostream/
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utube yotube yutube says:

17 years ago

dun sa plugin u can try to use Jquery ung thickbox.. ewan ko lang kung may plugin na ganito sa wordpress
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Bulan says:

14 years ago

nice pic !
veri simple snap the picture..
i like it :)
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Capatin says:

11 years ago

That’s a cunning answer to a chinlengalg question
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