I ran across
this article that describes how to make a homebrew lightbox. And it's awesome.
What is a lightbox? A box that you put things in to take better pictures of. They are used in product photography quite a bit. Sometimes they are made of cloth and called light tents as well.
Well, the process took about an hour from beginning to getting the thing set-up.
First thing I notice is that my bulbs are only 60 watt, and he recommends 100 watt. The second thing is that I think I need a second set of shop lights. I was standing in front of them at Home Depot today and decided not to get them. I guess I should have.
This is the result:
I did a little post-processing in photoshop (auto-level) because the box didn't have enough light. With more bulbs I probably won't even need to do that.
I turned off my camera flash, set it to auto, and used a remote do I wouldn't get jiggle. That's it!
All in all it only cost me about $15 for the foamcore. I already had the shop lamps, but I'll go out and buy two more and get brighter bulbs too. We're talking maybe $30 invested tops.
Everyone interested in miniature photography should build one of these babies!
