A Humble LigthtBox
Updated: Jan 18, 2020
I am going to show you how to build a super easy and super portable studio Lightbox to take your product (or whatever you want to photograph in a Lightbox) photography to cleaner and crisper levels.
This is a great tool for lifestyle and freelance photographers, if you do product photography for an Etsy page, or for my MONAT girls who want to show off their great vegan hair products in a clean and simple background, do demos or maybe you just want to get a nice photo of your bunny eating a carrot (like I did).
Why a Lightbox?
Think of a lightbox as a mini photo studio. You can control the light, background, and arrangement of your subject.
To build your very awesome Lightbox you will need:
Materials:
1. Cardboard box (size of your preference) or 5 foam boards
2. Wax Paper
3. White or Black Posterboard
4. Packing Tape
5. Box Cutter
6. Scissors
7. Ruler or straightedge
8. Pencil/Pen/Marker
Now that you've gathered your supplies follow these steps:
Step 1. Build Your Box
Step 2. After the box shape is former, use your ruler and pencil to draw a square on three sides of the box
Step 3. Carefully use the box cutter to cut out the windows you marked
Step 4. Cover the windows by taping wax paper over them and making sure there are no uncovered spaces left
Step 5. Place your white or black poster board inside the box so that your windows are to the right, left and over it
This is what mine looks like:
You can use two table lamps or even your iPhone flashlight as a light source. Place the light source outside your box and move them around until you get the lighting you want on the subject inside your box. You can change the background as your creativity guides you!
A lightbox is also handy when shooting outside on extra sunny days. You can get soft shadows instead of the harsh ones you might get when there is no cloud cover.
These are some shots of Bou Bunny eating a carrot inside the box. Enjoy!
Follow me on Instagram @itskeila.d and show me your Lightbox photography by tagging me!
Happy Photographing!