DIY light box under $10

[darinwc]

Materials:

5 foam core boards
packing tape (for fastening the foam core)
about 2-3 yards white fabric from a sheet or drop cloth, whatever..
1 large poster board. (must be flexible)

1. cut two of the foam cores into a square (save the excess to use as reflectors)
2. tape the foam core into a box.
3. tape the poster board to the back + bottom in a curve.
4. throw the white fabric over the top.

This works best with an off-camera flash so you can experiment placing it in the cube, beside it, top, etc.

Using a digicam is a great way to test lighting.

[darinwc]

Here is the finished light box and an example

[darinwc]

You can put a small camera on a mini tripod in the box.
Or put a large camera in front of the box on a full size tripod.


I made this because the commercial boxes from ritz camera etc were cheap flimsy things.

[eli griggs]

A good tutorial for a tabletop 'studio', thanks for posting. I will go ahead and suggest having some some black foam-core, paper or black primer spray-painted card-board, in various sizes, for reducing/removing light from the subject as needed.