Items used:

– Cardboard box (found around the house)

– 23 watt day light energy saving bulb from n:vision with light output (lumens) of 1200. (Purchased 2 for $8.00 at Home Depot)

– white satin fabric at the dimensions of three sides of the cardboard box (Purchased 1 yard for $6.00 at JoAnn – a local chain fabric/crafts store)

– sheet of thick white artists paper (I had this stuff at home, but I picked this up for a dollar or so at Michaels crafts/art store)

With all the materials gathered, I cut the box on four sides. After cutting, I taped down the satin fabric around the three sides of the box as seen in the picture. And as simple as that, I was finished. Since I’m only using 1 bulb, and I did not use anywhere near a full yard of fabric, the total costs for this light box is approximately 7-8 dollars.

Now for a few quick test pictures. I took the following pictures with the single light bulb setup:

The following pictures have absolutely no post editing. The blue tint in the G3’s pictures are due to using the "tungsten" setting for the white balance. I changed the white balance setting to "daylight" for the Haruhi pictures.

This Post Has 2 Comments

  1. willow

    Hi,
    Great job on the light box! I am trying to take picts. of earrings for Etsy (a site to sell handmade items)
    and I’ve been having a lot of problems with the lighting so I’m going to build your light box!
    Can you explain about the white balance. What does that mean??
    Thanx for you help!
    Willow

  2. GameraBaenre

    White balance is a setting on your camera that adjusts to different light sources. So sometimes you take pictures indoors and you get pictures that look yellow or blue, this means the white balance is off. Most digital cameras have a setting that adjusts for white balance. Find that function and using the same light source, take multiple pictures with different preset white balance settings; the differences should be very stark. Good luck with etsy, I have a friend that sells on that site too.

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