Now I Have A Light Box

This was not as simple/easy to do as I thought it would be. I managed to cut reversals, glue things to the wrong side, cut edges with raggy bits ... BUT 75 pictures later I am pretty happy.

This is the 'after' taking 65 pictures using my new light box' result below. I used 3200 and 6400 ISO depending on the light I needed. LOVE this photo. Edited all the photos using Picmonkey.

The making a light box idea is from Oh Mrs. Tucker. Great tutorial on her blog. She has clear photos and instructions. I strongly suggest you follow her directions if you try this project for yourself.

I made small additions to Mrs. Tucker's light box instructions. I cut the back width by 2 inches and added 3 velcro attachments on the back/side joins (instead of 2). 

First (below) I tried with 2 white foam boards. Inside, house lights, used 3200 and 6400 ISO depending on the amount of light I needed. Not bad, quite a bit of shadow but better than usual.

I had some unstructured time last Saturday afternoon, picked up my supplies at Staples and Michaels. Bought way more than my list indicated but had fun looking and picking and thinking about making things. Mini holiday.

I bought 5 pieces of white foam board, 1 piece of black foam board, 4 pieces of vellum paper, a roll of sticky backed velcro and a piece of black poster board.

This Saturday I set to work. Got the suggested tools ready. Cleared off the kitchen table.

I managed to stick the velcro on the wrong areas so I was glad I had bought extra. Quick fix was adding more velcro in the correct areas. 

Cutting the hole for the vellum (1/2 inch smaller than the sheet of vellum) on the first board worked fine so I traced the cut out and ... cut in the wrong part of the second white board. Flipped it and used the outside with all the pencil marks as the inside (and added the additional velcro). The removable top piece (lid) was measured to centre in the space then cut out. I glued the sheets of vellum on the outside of each 'window' foam board pieces.

I used one piece of foam board as the base. It isn't attached. I did find I had to put one of the 'cut out' pieces underneath where the back line showed, to raise the bottom board to diminish the 'line' in photos. 

Sunday I decided to cut 2 inches off the width of the back piece of the 'box' and add extra velcro to the middle joins for stability. 









Below: Back view of light box with lamps.

I had one clip-on light which I put on the back of a chair pointed to one vellum 'window'. For the other side I stacked some books on a chair and used my white (painted) lamp without its shade. I didn't have a light for the top. (On Sunday I picked up a suitable gooseneck lamp from my booth and brought it home to use, just what I needed).

Below are front views of the light box with the lights on.

I found that the kitchen windows let in a lot of 'glare light' on many of my photos. I will change the position of the 'light box' so it is facing a wall of furniture for daytime shots. The photo below was taken Sunday with the box turned away from the window light.

The box comes apart easily and the pieces can stand in a small space beside a table, behind a chair... until needed.

Saturday I tried out the large piece of black poster board (on the back/base inside the light box) and fell in love.

A few well aged sea shells joined the party.

I haven't had so much fun making something for ages. Well, maybe the best fun was setting up my camera on a tripod and switching out 75 beautiful items in the white box and taking pictures.

Check out We Are: Camco to see a 2 foam board simple white background/base for taking photos.

Thanks for visiting. 

I will be back again on Thursday with a new post.

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