My Light Box for Photos

[Mad McGobbo]

Thats awesome Mad McGobbo! I hope you don't mind, but  I put up a link in Talk Blood Bowl.

Not at all Chairface, please pimp away!

Um, consider yourself pimped.  

Cheers

[Wristaction]

I think they are 60w spotlight bulbs in the lamps i use, the bulbs are from a old three spotlight ceiling light fixture, i got for a few pounds in a charity shop.

The way i mad the box is quite simple, i glued one side pannel to the side of the base with a slight over lap at one end for the back pannel to be glued too.
I then glued the back pannel and then the other side, and thats all there was too it.

The pannels are A4 size plastic card and i used a hot glue gun (i got in Lidels for £10.00 or less) to stick them.
With the glue gun you don't get any smell, and it drys very quickly, takes only a few minute's to do.

[Mad McGobbo]

So the tutorial worked for you then

[Wristaction]

So the tutorial worked for you then

There was a tutorial ???

 

[Mad McGobbo]

yep on my site

[Wristaction]

yep on my site

You have a site !!!

 

Only kidding, i had it built before i checked out your tutorial, i used the same basic idea of yours, but with thicker plastic card, as i'm not useing a box for support.

[Hermit]

Ah! It brings back memories of college does this talk of home built light tents    It's where I was taught (as part of a graphics course) about concentrating and diffusing light in photography.

best bet for flourescent lights are the ones I got from Argos for £15 each    

Er...    ...I don't know how to break this to you, but I've just bought a couple of them from Wilkinsons for £9.99 each  

They're quite good though, aren't they  

[Mad McGobbo]

are the same as argos'?

[Hermit]

Yep, right down to the weighted base and table clamp you get with each one

The only thing that worries me about these lamps, though, is where to get replacement bulbs  

[Joseph]

as far as I remember there was a light diffuser plastic sheeting available back in the late 80's which I often used in the highschool theater's productions... similar to the prismatic diffuser panels available at : http://www.jfreeman.com/skylights.html

somehow the idea of paper diffusers fixed to the lamps makes me shudder    but the $6.75 for the standard sizes should get the basics needed to equip two decent lamps.

[Wristaction]

Thats why i used greaseproof paper, if you can use it a oven without it catching fire, then short use on lamps is ok.
I turn them on, adjust the lamps, take the pic's and turn them off, so they are not left on all the time.

[Joseph]

OK that sounds cool  

[Lonewolf]

The only thing that worries me about these lamps, though, is where to get replacement bulbs  

check out your local Focus (hardware store) i went into my local outlet looking for some daylight bulbs with a screw fitting (still no joy) and noticed they had many many many halogen bulbs of all shapes and sizes.

just be sure to take a note of the one your after before you go

[IronAge_Man]

On the subject of flourecsent daylight bulbs, here's some I stumbled across on eBay:

2 x AVI ESLS25 Hi-Wite 25W Daylight 6,400K Studio Lamps
 

There seems to be many more examples here:
in home lighting

and here:
in photography

And an added bonus is that you can shine them on yourself if the long British winters start getting to you (a few bulbs are advertised for treatment of the aptly named SAD)

[Ray's Bat]

I found some lamps at wilkos. Only 20W at £3.99. Hope that's alright. But does the interior need to be plasticard? Wouldn't white paper not do?

[Mad McGobbo]

papers nowhere near as reflective as plasticard

[gi6ers]

papers nowhere near as reflective as plasticard

I've got a laminated A4 sheet of paper with a colour sampler on it that does the job nicely.

[Vermis]

papers nowhere near as reflective as plasticard

What about paper sprayed with GW matt varnish?

I'll have to pick up some more plasticard tomorrow, which means I'll spend a bit of today trying to put the box together.

[IronAge_Man]

Sorry for the thread resurrection, but I recently had the idea of using a photographic lightbox/light table as an alternative light source. Some cheap ones are available here. I know the larger one allows an AC input (I bought a cheap transformer to power it, but both the table and transformer are now in Argentina...), and I have the smaller one somewhere, it may use AC too, I'll have to check. Under AC power, it gets brighter and is a purer shade of white.

One box would provide a nice diffused lightsource, while sandwiching a mini between two of them (above/below or left/right) would give very even illumination. I'll get round to testing this soon(ish). The only issue is light intensity, which would be lower than a desk-lamp, but for a tripod-mounted shot, I can't see it causing a problem.

[Cheddarmonger]

I'll be running a tutorial on how to set it up very soon with lots of diagrams

Aha.  Now I know what I've been doing wrong; I haven't been using the iron or the toaster when taking mini pics...

[Wristaction]

I found that with useing daylight bulbs you don't need to cover them, but like Ian said they can be hard to get for screw fittings.
I founds three and get them all (1 spare, must get more) they are 100 watt so i have to have them futher away now.

[Fabian]

Here's mine:




literally a box with holes cut in the sides and the top with a piece of A4 paper taped inside (curved); place on my window sill, add bright sunlight, ask for advice from gi6ers and there you have it.

[Vermis]

Let's see if anyone notices this up here...

My lightbox is four squares of laminated chipboard roughly a foot square, screwed together, and with an old grey t-shirt as a backdrop.  One fluourescent white lamp angled up and reflected back with a sheet of plasticard.

It does okay, but has a few problems like storage, size (sometimes tough photographing units), having to hold that bleedin' plasticard...
Now I'm thinking of making a deluxe folding DM-screen model based on Maplin's lightbox, but I'm not sure how to go about it.  First thoughts were to go with reflective sides again - two pieces of foamboard on thin wood, maybe.  Possibly a cloth top but probably not; I usually get better results with the light brought in close.  Cloth sleeve?  Or a few more sheets of plasticard cleverly arranged.

Any suggestions?

[ink the troll]

Now I'm thinking of making a deluxe folding DM-screen model based on Maplin's lightbox, but I'm not sure how to go about it.  First thoughts were to go with reflective sides again - two pieces of foamboard on thin wood, maybe. 

If you use wood for the 'frame', maybe you could buy some small hinges. That way you should be able to fold the construction. You have to decide on the thickness of the foamboard/wood construction first though and probably visiting you local diy before you start constructing your new lightbox wouldn't be a bad idea neither.

.:edit:.

You could also use some little clamps/ clip thingies like these on top of the backside, so you can easily change the backdrop from standard white/blue gradient to something else.
You could even experiment a bit using some cardboard with mirror finish for more light, if you have only one lamp (I once used some cardboard candy container, was ok, if a bit bendy )

[Vermis]

If you use wood for the 'frame', maybe you could buy some small hinges... You could also use some little clamps/ clip thingies like these on top of the backside, so you can easily change the backdrop from standard white/blue gradient to something else.

Way ahead of you.   I've even sketched out the thing and I think this kind of thing might go best with it.  I think a bit of rubber tape on them could offer extra grip, though.  I've my eye on some neoprene tape on ebay, though 3mm might be too thick and I didn't find a better alternative - I can only put up with ebay's spastic fits for so long.   Any handy products that someone can suggest in the meantime would be greatly appreciated.

I think plasticard glued to wood board would be more practical than foamboard, even if it doesn't cover the side neatly or completely.  And having a Dad who works in a hardware shop is useful at times.