Light Box Day

On Monday, my little man and his Daddy had a night out and so I decided to spend some time browsing the bookstore and drinking coffee.  While I was browsing (in the craft section, of course) I found a book with tips and tricks for capturing your work on camera.  Overall, it was way too technical for me at this juncture in my life.  I did however land on an idea that I decided to try and that was to make a DIY light box.  So since the sun was shining brightly today and offering lots of natural light I decided it was time to give it a go.

You want to start with a nice sized box.  I began with Size 2 - 120 count (hey, I'm a mommy!) which was about 1'x2', but after trial run #1 realized we needed something bigger and ended up using Size 3 - 222 count (= about 1.5'x3').

To make the box, cut out large holes in three of the sides.  You'll want to leave enough of a frame to maintain the rigidity of the box and determine if you want the base to be the long or short side - depending on what you plan to photograph.

After completing your cuts, you'll want to cover the openings to diffuse and soften the light that will illuminate your subject.  My first attempt at this was to try parchment paper because I thought it would let a decent amount of light through.  Unfortunately, I realized that not only do my cookies not stick to parchment paper, but tape doesn't either.  I may have said a few choice words.  So my next thought was to use white tissue paper and that cooperated much better.

I also found a roll of wrapping paper with a light front (to make sure it didn't show through) and plain white back to drape down the back and bottom of the box.  It's best if you can avoid creasing this paper as it will show in photos!

And here we are sitting in the afternoon sun!  I'm going to need to try it down in the dungeon with my desk lamps as well, but I like the results from using sunlight.  I suppose if needed, I'll just have to go shutter crazy on sunny days and spend the cloudy ones actually making the things to photograph!

Here are a couple of items that I photographed today!