How to make a photography box. Lightbox for product photography at home. Foam light box

For some reason, many photographers, especially beginners, believe that subject photography is only possible in a good studio, and only if it has special equipment. But this is absolutely not true. They are deeply mistaken. Even at home, you can perfectly organize a small photo studio in order to photograph objects. This is exactly what our article today is dedicated to.

So let's get started.

Stage number one. Equipment we will need

Option one. Creating a stage

This option is probably one of the simplest. It is well suited for photographing small objects and even still life photography. It’s not at all difficult to build such a home object table. Any photographer can do this, even a beginner and inexperienced one. To do this, we need a sheet of white cardboard of a fairly large size, approximately the size of a sheet of Whatman paper. We will also need a support for our stage. Anything can serve as such a support: for example, some large thick book, some dishware, a children's toy, or even an old shoe or felt boot. All the same, this support will not be visible in the frame; it will remain outside its boundaries.

It is best to organize such an impromptu place for subject photography on a wide windowsill of your home. At the same time, it is very important to pay attention to sunlight. If the subject you are photographing happens to be in a band or patch of bright sunlight, it will cast deep, rough, dark, and unsightly shadows on the walls of your stage. And this, you understand, will not decorate your photo at all; you will not get the desired result. It is for this reason that it is best to arrange a subject table on a window facing the shady side. Or, as a last resort, wait for another time to work, such that the sun goes to the other side of your house.

Option 2. Homemade photo box for product photography

Modern special photo boxes for product photography are quite expensive, and buying them for one-time work at home makes absolutely no sense. Let's try to make such a photo box with our own hands from what can be found in every home. Well, at least from an ordinary cardboard box and a sheet of Whatman paper. In this photo you see one of the options for making such a homemade photo box.

Some amateur photographers manage to build similar photo boxes right on their computer desk. They do it all from the same sheet of Whatman paper. True, to work with such a photobox you will need quite a lot of lighting devices.

Option 3. Just a background

In some cases, it is possible to photograph objects, especially small ones, not on the windowsill. It’s not even necessary to build a stage or photobox. You can do without them. Some Photographers do it much simpler. To do this, you need to choose the brightest corner in your room, or at least a well-lit section of the wall. If the wall in your room is not a single color, then you need to hang a background on it. The same sheet of whatman paper or a piece of fabric of a suitable color can serve as such a background. The object that you decide to photograph must be placed on a stool. This stool, you understand, needs to be covered with the same material from which you made the background for photographing your subject.

I would like to give one more clean practical advice. If you decide to photograph jewelry at home, for example, your wife’s favorite ring or her most beautiful earrings, these items can be placed on a polished granite tile for shooting. The reflective surface of this noble stone will further highlight the beauty of the jewelry itself.

Stage number two. We organize lighting

Lighting for home subject photography primarily depends on what equipment you will use for shooting. If you decide to photograph objects on a window, your main light source in this case will naturally be sunlight. A reflector can be used as an additional light source. It is also very easy to make yourself from cardboard and foil. As a last resort, for this purpose - illuminating an object with reflected light - you can simply use a sheet of ordinary A4 writing paper, or cardboard. Any light surface can serve as a reflector. Even an ordinary newspaper or... a friend in a white T-shirt.

If you decide to use a homemade photo box for product photography, you will need at least three light sources. These sources will illuminate your subject through the walls of the photo box from the top and sides. This will help you create very good lighting in your photo without harsh or harsh shadows. In some cases, if you try hard enough, shadows can be avoided altogether. As such light sources, you can use table lamps or any other lamps that you can easily find in every home.

Stage number 3. Photographic equipment necessary for product photography

In order for your pictures to turn out clear and sharp, and this, you see, is very important in product photography, you must use a tripod. This simple accessory will allow you to avoid camera vibration when shooting at long shutter speeds. As a last resort, the camera can be mounted on some fixed support. You will also need a remote control remote control camera, or at worst, a cable in order to release the shutter without contact.

Stage number 4. The subject photography process

Well, we have everything prepared to start work. Now we need to beautifully arrange the subject that we will photograph on our improvised mini-film set, in other words, shoot into a beautiful composition of the future photograph. Also at this stage you need to set up the camera correctly.

Naturally, subject photography is best done in manual mode. If you take photographs in automatic mode, exposure errors are most often inevitable. Especially if you are shooting an object that is bright in color and placing it on a dark or even black background. It is also important to correctly set the white balance and light sensitivity of the matrix. The ISO value should be no more than 200 units. The lower your ISO value, the less noise your image will have. In product photography this is also important. After all, the subject should be shown in the photograph as natural as possible.

Don't forget to turn off the flash on your camera. In order to get a high-quality photograph of an object, light from a window or a table lamp will be quite enough.

Well, it's time to take the first test shot. Look at it carefully and analyze the result of your work. If you see exposure errors, unclear sharpness, lighting, or anything else in your photo, correct all these flaws by changing the camera settings or lighting scheme and shoot again. And if everything turned out well, as you planned, feel free to continue working. Everything should work out for you.

For photographing objects in good quality it is necessary to observe the conditions of proper lighting, without the slightest shadow falling. One of the main additional elements In the work of a photographer, there is a photobox or lightbox with your own hands.

The design of the photobox is a square with fabric sides. The design has a very rigid and stable wire frame. The left, right and top sides of the square have a translucent surface, and the front wall is completely absent. Thanks to the photobox, light rays from the lighting source pass through the walls of the structure and are scattered.

Photographers use lightboxes to prevent shadows and highlights from appearing in photographs. However, despite the simplicity of the design of the photo box, this element is not cheap at all. That is why many photographers and craftswomen are looking for ways and methods of making such a special design with their own hands from improvised means and materials.

We study a detailed description of the process of creating a photobox with your own hands

This photobox option is perfect for subject photography, for example, products using the scrapbooking technique.

To make such simple option photo box, you will need to prepare with your own hands a cardboard box of the size that you ultimately want to get a design for photography. It is worth giving preference to boxes made of dense and thick cardboard material. You will also need to purchase a large piece of medium weight fabric white. A good option would be to use muslin fabric. Don't forget to purchase wide adhesive tape or tape that you will use to secure the fabric.

You will also need a sheet of white Whatman paper or thick white cardboard for work. To illuminate your photo booth, you will need a powerful table lamp. Use light bulbs with pure white light.

In order to make an original lightbox with your own hands in our master class, you will need the following tools:

• roulette;
• glue;
• ruler;
• sharp scissors;
• a simple pencil;
• stationery knife.

First you need to mark up your future design. Step back about five centimeters from the edges of the cardboard box. Draw lines so that you get a square inside the structure. Repeat the markings on all sides except the bottom and top. Next, using a sharp utility knife, cut out the windows in the box according to the markings made. Remove the top cover flaps. The bottom of the box should not be touched. You should have four windows in the photobox design.

The next step is to glue strips of paper to the inside of the cardboard box to cover the material and make the inside white. Make sure the side of the strip of paper where you marked the lines is facing the cardboard.

Now you need to make a background for your design. Cut out a blank for the background from a sheet of whatman paper. The width should be the same as the inside size of the box, and the length should be much longer than the box.

Place the strip of paper in the box so that it curves smoothly. Do not bend the sheet or make a fold line. Trim off any excess paper from the top of the design.

Now you need to mark and cut the white fabric so that it covers the windows from the sides and back, except for the front wall of the photo box. Then cut a piece to cover the top.

Secure the fabric to the sides of the box with adhesive tape. Then cover the top and also secure the fabric by wrapping the tape around without going over the front wall.

Now you need to install a desk lamp over the top of the box and you can begin the photography process.

There are many options for shooting. If you are missing one light or have problems with shadows, use additional lights to shine through other sides of the box. If you experience vignetting or flare, use a lens hood or move the camera further into the housing. Photoshop also helps remove some imperfections, such as specks of dust on the matrix.

Video on the topic of the article

We invite you to watch several thematic videos on the topic of the article. In them you can see in more detail the process of creating a photo box for high-quality photography with your own hands. We hope that the proposed material will be useful to you. Enjoy watching.

If you don't want to spend money on something you can do yourself, then you're like me. One day I was in a store and saw pictures of these accessories. They consisted of a folding base covered with white fabric with a hole in the front wall. Photo boxes are used to capture subjects in a photo studio (like this chocolate reindeer).

I was going to buy a photo box until I saw the price of $100. Spending $100 on a few pieces of sheer fabric and a frame?! All this can be done much cheaper. So, I built my own similar light tent (that's what they are also called), and it turned out quite well.

Necessary materials:

1. Cardboard box.

It can be of any size, depending on what subjects you are going to shoot and what the power of the light sources is. I prefer boxes that are cube-shaped or close to it. Boxes can be found everywhere for free. I brought mine from work, where they throw them away anyway. You can also find boxes in the backyards of various shopping centers and stores. Boxes made from thicker material are better.

2. Fabric

You can use any white fabric. For this box I used white muslin. You need to buy enough to cover all the walls. I spent $4 on fabric. Some people use other fabrics such as nylon or white fleece. It is better to use one type of fabric from one cut, otherwise there may be slight color variations and the end result may disappoint you.

3. Adhesive tape

I use duct tape to secure the fabric to the sides of the box. Thus, you can easily change the fabric to another if necessary. I use masking tape ($1 a roll).

4. Glue

You can use any glue to glue the strips of paper inside the box

5. Thick white paper (Whatman paper)

Thick white paper or whatman paper will be glued in strips to the inside of the box to make the surface white and will also be used as a background. I suggest buying 2 or 3 sheets so you have enough for both. Whatman paper is sold in office supply departments and is used for drawing or drawing. If you want to use colored backgrounds, you will need to purchase similar colored paper.

6. Lighting

The most expensive thing you need for a photo box is lighting. It's good if you already have a fairly powerful table lamp. In my opinion, lighting is the most important component - without it you won't get the picture you want. I went to the nearest store household appliances and looked at what I could buy for this purpose. I ended up buying a light fixture with a 90W equivalent energy saving bulb. Beware of using incandescent lamps as they give off a yellow tint. It is better if the lamp has a round reflector.

7. Other tools

You will also need a tape measure, ruler, scissors, knife and marker.

Step by step

1. Mark up.

Take a tape measure, ruler and marker. Leave the edges of the box about 2 inches (5 cm) Draw lines to create a square inside.

2. Cut out the windows.

Repeat the markings on all sides except the bottom and top. Then use a sharp knife to cut out the windows in the box according to the markings. Remove the top cover flaps. Do not touch the bottom of the box. You should now have four windows.

3. Cut strips of paper.

Mark lines on the Whatman paper every two inches. Then cut the strips to size internal sides boxing

4. Glue strips of paper.

Place strips of paper on the inside of the box to cover the cardboard and make the inside white. Make sure the side of the strip of paper where you marked the lines is facing the cardboard.

5. Making the background.

Cut out a blank for the background from whatman paper. The width should be the same as the inside size of the box, and the length should be much longer than the box.

6. Place the background inside.

Place the strip of paper in the box so that it curves smoothly. Do not bend the sheet or crease it, as this will be noticeable in the photo. Trim off any excess paper at the top.

7. Cover the windows with cloth

Mark and cut the fabric so that it covers the sides and back of the windows, except for the front wall. Then cut a piece to cover the top.

Structurally, the device is a frame covered with diffusing fabric with a background inside, and illuminated by 1-3 light sources. The simplest lightcube can be put together in literally twenty minutes from a cardboard box and tissue paper, but if you want something more substantial, you will have to work hard. Luckily, various photo blogs have detailed instructions.
Most authors recommend making the frame from PVC cable-duct boxes. Ok, Bartimaeus said to himself and went to the hardware store.

So at first I had:
- a sheet of Whatman paper size A1.
- PVC box 16x16 - 4 pieces, 2 meters each;
- jointing block 15x20mm - 6 pcs. 1.2 meters each;
- spunbond, aka geotextile - 1 pack vka, 1.6 x 10 meters.

I cut 12 pieces of box 35 cm long. In four of them I made a slot on the side, in another four I spread out the “ears”. Looking ahead, I note that this is a very clumsy job. The cable channel is not intended at all for creating structures from it, and it certainly does not forgive such an attitude.

To cut the box, I thought of using garden pruners. :) And for the connection, use Lacrysil “Tougher Than Nails” construction mounting adhesive, in the hope of compensating for profile unevenness and cutting flaws. Looking ahead, I note that hopes were only partially justified.

However, pretty soon I became the owner of two 35x35 cm frames. All that was left was to connect them into a cube, with “eared” pieces.

Forgot something? Surely! The most important thing is light!
This is what a lightcube looks like “in combat positions.” For lighting I used two table lamps Ultraflash UF-301. These are the first pictures. As you can see, they look more than decent. Despite the fact that it was not possible to completely get rid of the shadows (the spunbond is still too thin, you need at least two layers), the quality of the photos is an order of magnitude higher than those that I took with the light from the window.

Excellent cutting with a hacksaw for metal...

My lightcube 2.0 is a parallelepiped 30x35x45 cm. Looking ahead, I’ll note that I missed a bit - the length of the module should have been 42.5-43 centimeters. I will explain why below.

I made one more important addition to the design - I glued it to the inner surface of the upper corner LED strip. For front lighting. I found this solution from the Chinese from Aliexpress.

While the glue is drying, you can build the diffusers. According to the new concept, they should be removable. I made 2 stretchers from a crossbar. 30x35 cm and 1 pc. - 35x45cm. I put PONGS ceiling fabric on the sides, and two layers of spunbond on the top. For fastening I used power buttons with caps, but regular ones will do.

As we see, this time all the efforts paid off. A piece of whatman paper fit inside like a glove, if my photo box was shorter, 43 centimeters, then I could easily use the ready-made A2 format. The ceiling fabric diffuses light well, despite the fact that I installed powerful Gauss 15W light bulbs, 1400 lumens each, into the “tabletops”. For the overhead lighting I used a clothespin lamp"Svetkomplekt" E50N with a 590 lumen lamp, although a regular socket on a tripod will do.As you can see, results have been achieved. The highlights and shadows are gone, the only thing that needs to be worked on is correcting the white balance, but that's another topic.

A visual demonstration of the results of LED strip illumination. The "without backlight" option is on the left. As you can see, the result is very much worth a couple of extra rubles spent on the tape and block.

Summary. Lightcube is an effective tool for a subject photographer. It’s easy and simple to make it with your own hands, the main thing is to decide on the size and choose the right material for the frame.

P.S. All I have to do is wait until Santa Claus brings me an “adult” camera, and then I can try my hand at photo stocks...
P.P.S. The original article was originally posted on the Otzovik website, but due to administration policy it had to be moved here.

A photobox is a box for storing photographs and memorabilia. Can be used as unusual idea as a present. A person sees a beautiful box, opens it, and there are your common pleasant memories. A wonderful gift loved one, parents, girlfriend. They are often used instead of a children's photo album. There are options for boxes with cells, you can label each one by month, and you will get a wonderful memory of the first year of your baby’s life. A great idea also for those who are into photography. You can place large orders in such boxes, which will become the master’s calling card and make good advertising. Moreover, making a photo box with your own hands is not at all difficult, especially some of its variants.

Box with a secret

First, you need to decide who we are making the photobox for - as a gift or for yourself. If this is a gift, then for what occasion, what design and form will the recipient of the gift like. At the same stage, we think about the materials from which it will be made.

A photo box can be made from a box. In this case, you can take a ready-made box (cardboard, wood, iron), or you can make it yourself from the same cardboard. How to glue it, we look in detail in the video:

The shape of the box can be square, rectangular, curly, even round. Choose the one that seems most interesting and suitable to you.

The interior design is also different:

• just put the photos in the box;

• we make cells for each or for several pieces at once;

• glue the photo onto a long folding piece of cardboard;

• We come up with an unusual arrangement of photos in the box.

The material for decorating the box can be paper, cardboard, fabric, leatherette, genuine leather. You can simply decorate an iron box and not paste it with anything; you can burn or cut out a design on a wooden one. For decoration we use the scrapbooking technique. You can use both special sets and improvised materials: ribbons, stickers, bows, buttons, beads, sparkles, rhinestones, lace, shells, pebbles, small watches, pendants, etc. Next, we decide how the photo box will be closed. For example, you can tie it with a ribbon or use magnets.

In the latter case, we take into account that a small recess must be cut out of the base for them, and also positioned correctly so that they attract each other and do not repel each other.

After all the materials have been collected, we begin collecting tools. You need to think about what materials you will work with. What is suitable for working with paper will not be suitable for leather or wood. Standard set of tools:

• pencil;
• ruler;
• scissors, including those with curly attachments;
• regular hole punch and with a figured template;
• heat gun or glue.