Studio Lighting - Super Simple Light Tent

super simple light tent I was inspired to do this project after seeing the PVC light tent posted on the MAKE blog. This light tent uses a cardboard box and some white material (Tyvek) and allows you to take reasonable photos of products such as bottles, watches, jewelry, small objects, etc. There is lot's of room for improvement but for the sake of 15 minutes I hope you will agree it's pretty good :)

Select materials

First thing to do is find your self a usable box. The box I used is a half of a resin plastic shelf. The dimensions are roughly 16" x 15" x 15". This size has handled most things I have put in it, however I think something a little wider would be easier to use.Materials used- Masking tape or other heavy tape (Duct, packing, etc)- X-acto knife- Ruler- Glue Stick- Semi transparent white material (Tyvek, White suiting/Ripstop nylon, bed sheets, etc)

Cut the box

1) Lay the box flat

2) using the ruler add a 1" to 1-1/2" border to all sides of the box (top, bottom, left and right) - Essentially you want to cut a hole in all sides of the box.Tip: don't forget to add a line on either side of the center of the box as it lays flat :)

3) Cut out the four panels of the box using an x-acto knife and cutting on the lines.See the images below if the above is unclear.

Assemble the Skeleton

1) Open up the box and close the bottom of the box

2) Tape down the exterior and interior seam.

3) The Bottom of the box will serve as the platform for placing your objects.

Wrap the box

1) Using the semi-transparent material you have chosen wrap it around the box so that it covers 3 of the four sides

2) I used sign printing grade Tyvek and attached it using a glue stick.

Add continuous background

This is part of the magic of the light tent, creating a continuous background in your images. To do this we add a piece of Bristol board (or polypropylene sheet) cut to fit the box.

1) Use the depth of the box + the height of the box as a rough measurement.

2) cut out a piece of Bristol board that matches the dimensions above.

3) This creates a nice white platform to shoot your images against. Try using other colors, Blue, Black, etc. You can see a similar idea in the cheap studio article.

4) Insert the Bristol board into the box so that the edge of the Bristol board is placed against the front of the box and the card board is allowed to curve like a wave, half-pipe, you get the picture (I hope :) )As usual the pictures will make it all clear. :)

Add light and enjoy

1) Now that you have the box wrapped, and the continuous background in place you are ready to take some photos.

2) I used a desk lamp, and a couple of Ott lights (13watt) for the apple shot in the beginning of this article.

3) For better/different results I am switching to the simple clamp style fixture used in the PVC light tent with 100 watt bulbs.

4) Experiment with light location and diffusing the light that shines through the top of the box with other semi transparent material, nylon, etc.The light entering the box will be diffused and the shadows will soften or disappear...

NOTE: At this stage (or perhaps before) you can and probably cover the inside of the box with white as well, at least the frame. Or you could switch the white material from the outside to the inside. I bring this up because It was pointed out over at DPReview.com that there is a black reflection in the photos produced using this box.... I hope that will fix it :)

End Result

Here are some examples of shots taken with this light box.. I am by no means a photographer but to my untrained eye these shots look pretty good.

If you have used the DIY Light Tent in this article, please post a comment with a link to your structure / photos - show off!

This article was contributed by Bill Wilson from www.steadywinds.com who is not only a potent photographer, but is also great at kite making

make money by selling your photos

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Comments

Thu, 2007-01-04 01:27 — Shianne (not verified)

Super Simple Light Tent

Thanks so much Bill for the great instructions! I'm starting my own website for my jewellery but haven't been able to take great photos ... until now that is (well, certainly better than we were taking!).

My husband and I put it together in one afternoon and by the evening I was snapping away. A few tweaks here and there on Picasa and voila.

Here are a couple of photos of the light box (I used a white sheet to line the inside of the box):

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b321/dkcrooby/IMG_0044.jpg
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b321/dkcrooby/IMG_0045-1.jpg

And here are the results ... and please don't hesitate to email me at dkcrooby@onetel.net if you would like to purchase an item of jewellery :-)

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b321/dkcrooby/IMG_0032-1.jpg
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b321/dkcrooby/IMG_0033-2.jpg
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b321/dkcrooby/IMG_0036-1.jpg
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b321/dkcrooby/IMG_0037-1.jpg
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b321/dkcrooby/IMG_0038-1.jpg
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b321/dkcrooby/IMG_0040-1-1.jpg
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b321/dkcrooby/IMG_0041-1.jpg
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b321/dkcrooby/IMG_0042-1.jpg
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b321/dkcrooby/IMG_0043-1.jpg

Thanks again Bill!
Shianne

Thu, 2007-01-04 10:40 — udijw

Jewellery

Hi Shianne,
This is a great light tent. well done! I have two small comments:
- The jewellery pictures look a bit out of focus. are you using tripod? you should also set a small aperture to gain maximum Depth Of Field.
- your picture are under exposed. look how the white is medium gray. you should use larger exposure times.

All that said, you have great jewellery, I wish you the best of luck selling them. (you can look at the jewellery pictures I shot for a friend using the cheap studio method.

Thu, 2007-01-04 14:29 — dkcrooby (not verified)

Super Simple Light Tent

Hi and thanks for your comments.

I only have a little Canon Powershot A20. We mainly use it as a point and shoot camera. I don't know much about photography at all. Since taking those photos last night, I see that the camera was set to low resolution so I'm hoping for better results when I try again this afternoon and can change it. I should be using a tripod, you're right, I'll also give that a go. I'll have to look up info on the exposure. I know there's an exposure setting on the camera which goes from -2 all the way to +2. I'll try both, see what happens and if they're better then I'll put them on here.

Thanks again :-)

Tue, 2007-01-16 00:50 — Anonymous (not verified)

Great pics!

Great photo's by the way, it's funny because Canon A20 is the first digital camera I purchased years ago. Even then the pictures look great, maybe the white background can be whiter but it's definitely better then 95% of the horrible eBay jewerly auction pictures I've seen!

Mon, 2007-01-22 01:19 — Kendra (not verified)

some pictures

hi! thanks so much for showing how to build a light tent, ive been wanting to build one forever. I haven't taken many pictures with it yet and the ones i have i realised that i need another light source up top but here are a few of what i came up with so far
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y27/Ziarre69/1-13-070242.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y27/Ziarre69/1-13-070102.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y27/Ziarre69/1-13-070542.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y27/Ziarre69/1-13-070592.jpg

Wed, 2007-01-24 03:57 — mario (not verified)

samples

I really love this site! Kudos!!!

I just got a camera, and have been trying to figure this thing out. I have no experience with digital slr's so I have been trying to find as much info as possible to help out.

Here are some sample images I took using the light tent/box deal. Still trying to perfect exposure and everything else…

http://banditographics.com/sampleimages/mouse.jpg
http://banditographics.com/sampleimages/watch.jpg
http://banditographics.com/sampleimages/watch2.jpg

Thanks a million

Sun, 2007-02-11 01:11 — Christine (not verified)

Pictures of my glass

My husband cut up a box just like yours. We improvised by using white fabric instead of the Tyvek (I might buy some soon). We bought a light stand from www.TableTopStudio.com with the fluorescent Day Light. We bought a second bulb and an inexpensive light holder with a clamp.

I had been struggling with so many different ways to take pictures of my various glass art projects (see them at www.mastersglassart.com). Now I don't struggle very much. Your system has made it so much easier. Thanks so much for sharing your idea!

Christine

Check out my Fused Glass Creations!
http://www.mastersglassart.com

Check out my Glass Blogs!
www.mastersglassart.blogspot.com
http://glassart.wordpress.com

Mon, 2007-03-05 09:15 — Kritania (not verified)

what is paper

What is paper.
I can buy Where contry.
How much

Sun, 2007-04-01 15:46 — Ellen (not verified)

i´ve tried to make one

And I was amazed of the results.
Did not use the proper materials and wil make a better one soon. but here are the reuslts

lichtbox experiment

greetings from the netherlands..
Ellen

Mon, 2007-04-09 00:24 — just another photog (not verified)

more examples

Comments?

Thank you for this fun project.

Mon, 2007-04-09 07:15 — udijw

great ideas

Hi photog,

you got realy creative with your caps. I like it.

The last picture is my fav. I think that first two images are not white balanced, they have a red hue.

Keep on the good work, and happy holidays,

Udi.

Sat, 2009-01-31 05:35 — tdrose (not verified)

pink background in photos

I have a sony mavica 250. I take jewelry photos but can not get rid of the red hue, that gives me a darker pink background. (Like the background in the hat photo). My camera does not have manual white balance settings. Any suggestions?

Wed, 2007-05-23 12:45 — surbhita (not verified)

detail abt buying process

Need to know best option to click perfect picture of small articles like jewellery etc.

Thu, 2007-05-24 23:16 — Anonymous (not verified)

saw something very similar

saw something very similar on another site recently...if you dont have tyvex etc you can use either tracing paper, tissue paper, fabric...basically anything that will diffuse the light...
something else i have done with the same thing is to tape tissue paper to the outsides of the diffuser to act as a gel or color filter...manage to get at least a few cool light effects that way...

Fri, 2007-06-01 10:00 — Steamy Kitchen (not verified)

Looking for easy fold-down macro studio

Hi, I am a food writer and am just starting to learn about photography... as I also publish a pic of every finished dish that I post. Small house = need to find a durable, fold-down macro "studio" lg enough to fit a serving platter.
In my car, I use a sun-blocker made out of plastic that pops open. You have to turn and twist it to fold it back together. Is there such a thing for photography? White plastic, pops open to become a box or tent? Thanks for any info

Fri, 2007-06-01 12:34 — udijw

some tents

Hi Jaden,

I took a peek at your blog. Now I must eat something :) I just love your writing and the photos are superb.

you can find collapsible tents here and here and also on eBay (just look for a "light tent") .

The question is why? the tent in this article is the same for a fraction of the price, and it can be folded (though not totally collapse). at any rate, good luck.

Udi

Fri, 2007-06-01 15:28 — Steamy Kitchen (not verified)

Tent

Thank you!! I didn't know the terminology, so I was searching for "light box" which gave me totally different results than light tent. Need something durable and plastic, as I have 2 toddlers. The boys would just have box envy & want to play sunken submarine or crashing freight car or airplane running out of gas flying uncontrollably into living room furniture. A cardboard box does not survive past 30 minutes in my house.

You are going to laugh, but I don't even know how to use my camera beyond the automatic setting. Planning on spending more time on your site to learn about all the complicated buttons, settings and the f-stop doohickey dial.

Thanks for the info.

Sun, 2007-11-18 21:27 — Anonymous (not verified)

Thankyou. I have done this

Thankyou. I have done this Super Simple Light Tent.
here is some photos:
http://picasaweb.google.lt/aqmass/MiniStudija

Sat, 2007-12-29 15:23 — Anonymous (not verified)

Thanks alot

It gave me great idea. other wise i was wanting to buy from website ezcube.com for many Dollars.

Mon, 2007-12-31 04:39 — Bill Wilson (not verified)

I didn't think so many people would build my modest tent.. LOL

I am really happy you all are having some fun with this simple light tent/box!

Cheers,
Bill

Mon, 2008-03-31 15:30 — Albert (not verified)

This light tent is not so

This light tent is not so good for highly reflective objects such as your paint can. You can see the rectangular squares all over which is really distracting. A more continuous light tent, without visualized frames may help.

Wed, 2008-06-25 22:01 — Nik (not verified)

Thanks!

Thank you! A friend referred me to this site after struggling with poor lighting in my new home! I can't wait to get home and build this! Thanks a ton!

Sat, 2008-08-02 05:25 — Anonymous (not verified)

its marvelous but we dont

its marvelous but we dont know what are those materials

Mon, 2008-10-27 11:07 — Daniel Pertovt (not verified)

Light box

I made mine with a cardboard box also, and used crepe paper from the local newsagent. The background was just a piece of white cardboard and I used two 500W halogen lights to light it. Then just do a manual colour balance and voila!

http://gallery.mac.com/daniel.pertovt#100196/_DSC2121&bgcolor=black
http://gallery.mac.com/daniel.pertovt#100196/_DSC2132&bgcolor=black

Thu, 2008-12-04 19:22 — Thomas (not verified)

Great Tent - loving it

well, what to say, easy to build and yet perfect pictures:

thx!

Wed, 2009-09-30 09:03 — Derrick (not verified)

Wow, I can see my photos

Wow, I can see my photos improving in the near future. I'll be making one of these soon.

You know, if you leave the tape off the bottom flaps this could be folded up like any other cardboard box for easy storage.

A quick shot of white spray paint will take care of the dark frame inside.

Wed, 2009-10-07 03:38 — Mei Teng (not verified)

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