Photo Box

You know how I'm always apologizing about how my camera takes crappy pictures? Well, a few weeks ago, I saw a post in my RSS reader about making a photo light box that I thought might be useful in photographing some of my crafts and is collapsible so I can put it away easily. Anyway, here's the link to the original and here's what I did.

Materials:

- Some foam posterboard (4 pieces total for top, back, left and right) - how big would depend on how big you want the box.
- a thin posterboard for the backdrop
- light... the light I had was insufficient. Once I find some that are sufficient and cheap, I'll update this post. ( I just realized that I didn't photograph the lamp I used. oops. -- it's a small 7w ikea lamp)

Here's how I put it together:

- I cut notches out of the foam posterboards in such a way that it would connect together. What the person in the link does is a great idea. He lined up both posterboards (whereever they meet) and drew the notches that way, where he shaded opposite sides for what needed to be cut off. I always mess up on the cutting so I thought I'd mention to be absolutely sure before cutting... sorta like the whole "measure twice, cut once" saying. Also, an exacto knife or utility blade does the best cutting job here. Scissors seem to smush the foam when cutting.

- Cut the regular posterboard to the box's inside width, and create the same notches as the backside onto the regular posterboard. You'll also want the posterboard to be longer than the height so that it drapes downwards towards you.

- Put the box together. Here are a few views of it all together.

All Together

Left-Back-Right

Top
- Shine the light in. I shone the light towards the left wall and let it bounce inside the box to shine indirectly to the object. I apologize for not having a picture for this. I can't believe I forgot. grrr! I'll update soon.

- Put object in the box. Use a different back drop if you don't want all white.

-Take pictures. Here's a comparison of the light box and without.

This one is with the light box. Note that the image has dimension. But it also took in the color of the light, so the light isn't very good. The jacks are supposed to be silver.



This is without the light box and with my flash turned on. I was really close, so the flash was able to actually hit the object, and the flash was the correct color to give the true color for the objects, but the flash didn't go very far -- the background is pretty dark. Also note that the objects look a bit one dimensional with this picture.


When all is said and done, taking pictures still requires some talent, of which I seriously lack. It's cool tho, as long as I get my point across. This box will hopefully bridge that gap a bit.

Thanks for reading!