DIY: White Box [Light Box] Photography

Hey everyone! I know I've been MIA. Here's an update: I've actually been out of town for my spring break, taking a break from everything going on in my life so I can come back fresh and with a clear mind to TCB [ take care of business]. Sometimes we need a break from our hectic schedule, and I feel like I really needed one and this would be a great opportunity for me despite my job/school schedule.

Here is a DIY: White Box or Light Box that I had done on my spare time after coming back on my trip to showcase my future art projects and creations. I've searched the internet and they have some really great tips out there, so my may not be the best one to get reference from. I will probably modify it to perfect it. so this is a sample one.

Purpose:
1. The object of white box photography is to show details of an object clearly.
2. The white color and light brings out details and provides pleasing highlights to the objects you want to capture on Macro settings.
3. A method for uniformly lighting small objects.

Time: 20mins
Cost: $2USD (just poster board, but many recyclable items, and things that I have found at home)

Materials:
1.  5 11"x14" white poster boards [1.79 from walmart, I think I would be investing in foam board next time since it wasn't as sturdy]

2. Tape [The tape I'm using is clear tape. ]
Recommended: 1" and 2" wide white masking tape. White masking tape is nice and lightweight and if you need to, you can take the tape off to re-adjust. Some stay away from duct tape, as the heat from the lamps makes the glue really messy.  But I did use duct tape to tape the outside of the box so it can hold it's frame.

3. Razor Blade + Straight Edge

4. Recycled Cardboard Box [ you can find this anywhere from grocery stores, wine stores, etc. this would be a frame for the light box to hold your poster boards. Some people like to cut windows so then the poster boards would be taped outside as suppose to inside.]

5. Lamp / Light Bulbs 
This is a tutorial so I just used lamps from my house. I didn't get the right light bulb, since this one casts a yellow glaze over all of my pictures. I would be investing in some shop lights from Home Depot or Lowe's and some 100w Daylight Bulbs.
Recommended: StudioLighting.net

I had to make sure I cut the box as close to 11x14 to create a frame for the light box. And I would fold the cut flaps outward and duck tape it to get it secure.

 

laying down the sheets! and for the left and right side of the box I had to leave it hanging and then trimmed off the excess.

 

I then used two white sheet of paper to create an curvature with the back of the box. This is very common in creating Light boxes so then there's no shadow or dark area where the boxes are visible. Unfortnatey I don't have  huge white sheet of paper. Below is images from: StudioLighting.com How you should position the lamps and the final outcome of your box. Some people cut an opening on the top to take pictures from above.

"Sometimes I like to shoot the object from a top view. If you cut a hole in the top of the box, this is possible. Be careful not to cut too much, you'll want to score the part you don't cut, that makes it bend with ease."

 

Here's a photo of the yellow cast the bulbs give my pictures. I had to adjust the color mode on my camera to take the white/natural looking picture. This is an experimental tutorial, of course you can use CS3 to make photos look flawless.

Hope this helps <3 ~yumi