geekhack

geekhack Community => Other Geeky Stuff => Topic started by: hashbaz on Tue, 18 September 2012, 02:27:50

Title: DIY Photography Lightbox
Post by: hashbaz on Tue, 18 September 2012, 02:27:50

I spent the evening watching Aliens and making a simple lightbox downstairs (Mrs Hashbaz refused to watch the movie with me).

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v706/AngieCMAN/Blog%20items/RipleyAlien.jpg)  (http://i.imgur.com/e7Dib.jpg)

Instructions here: http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/07/how-to-diy-10-macro-photo-studio.html

Total cost to me was < $5 (for white posterboard and tissue paper), total build time < 30 minutes.  Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

I'm not totally happy with my first round of images, shown below.  I experimented with different exposure, ISO, and white balance settings, as well as some tweaking in Gimp later on.

(http://i.imgur.com/cQFGC.jpg)  (http://i.imgur.com/E8tbh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/1AQGV.jpg)  (http://i.imgur.com/OjqjL.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/2T3vC.jpg)  (http://i.imgur.com/7hdse.jpg) 

Title: Re: DIY Photography Lightbox
Post by: jpm804 on Tue, 18 September 2012, 02:31:09

Nice lightbox...

Try using using those natural light bulbs which has more white effect to it versus normal light bulbs which tend to make things more yellow or using something like lightroom to fix the white balance..

I am by no means a photo expert but some simple tips I use.

Title: Re: DIY Photography Lightbox
Post by: jeroplane on Tue, 18 September 2012, 05:04:48

Very nice. I once made something similar under my table (which is white) after reading that exact tutorial, but have since got a real lighting setup haha.

To add to what jpm said, the key thing is making sure the light temperature is consistent all round. Make sure no other lights are on, and don't use your camera flash. Also, I can't tell from your photo, but the translucent cover of the left lamp may affect the temperature too.

Also, always use a tripod (or equivalent stabilising object).

You should be able to deal with the white balance by tweaking in-camera, but Adobe Lightroom makes things a lot easier if you can get it.

Title: Re: DIY Photography Lightbox
Post by: Matt3o on Tue, 18 September 2012, 05:13:36

thanks for sharing! (looking for a big enough cardboard box, there must be one somewhere)

Title: Re: DIY Photography Lightbox
Post by: mkawa on Tue, 18 September 2012, 06:59:17

shoot raw and use a neutral card to get the temp of your light

alternatively, you can pretty neutral backdrops at the art store and just take the temp using those.

Title: Re: DIY Photography Lightbox
Post by: hashbaz on Tue, 18 September 2012, 11:40:00

Thanks for the tips guys.  Will be playing around with this some more and posting the results!

Title: Re: DIY Photography Lightbox
Post by: SmallFry on Tue, 18 September 2012, 13:35:50

Might need yourself a good flash too. I'm not sure on how photography works, my boss did all of my pictures. :)

Title: Re: DIY Photography Lightbox
Post by: Computer-Lab in Basement on Tue, 18 September 2012, 13:37:39

Nice and simple.  I might have to make myself one of these...