Photo box

[DaJe]

I just had an idea for something for me to make. Something like part of a box, with a bottom to it and 3 sides, all white inside, but with really bright white lights at the top. This would give me an area to do isolation photography. I could take pictures of things and have them be in a completely white and shadowless environments.


Any ideas on how I should put this together?

[DZ469]

You could either get some boards and paint them white, then mount LEDs in the top 2 corners OR make it out of acrylic and paint it white using the same LED idea as the wood box. Just some thoughts

[DaJe]

LEDs would probably good, since they're small. I'm not sure how to wire them up though or what I would use for a power source.

[DZ469]

Neither do I. :p I just figured everyone else knew except me (Double :p:p)

[Luke122]

Easy man..

Get a large rubbermaid tub that is made of translucent clear/frosted plastic, and set it up on its side. Hit it with the lights from the outside, and it'll diffuse the light enough to give you even lighting without highlights or shadows.

[SgtM]

Did someone say LED's? Mounting and powering will be easy. Get a 9v battery. Then, get a battery holder from radio shack. From there, it's just solering some resistors and wires to the LED's. Here's a link to an LED array wizard that will help you out a little.
http://led.linear1.org/led.wiz

Now, LED's have a certain viewing angle. They form a cone from the tip to about 30 degrees. So to light up a box like this, I would sand the tops flat that way it eliminates some of that cone, and it also helps to diffuse the light a little. Let me know if you need more LED help.

[Luke122]

Be careful using LEDs as light sources. As SgtM mentioned above, they are very directional unless sanded a bit. Also, the color temperature of white LED's is still pretty cool, which can play havoc with the white balance, giving your photos unnatural color.

I'll start a photography tips thread in the chatterbox right now. :)

[Roughhouse]

When I worked in the window industry we had a viewing box to look at failed windows. I always used it to take picutres of everything we did. Here is a very basic image of what it was.
http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff20/roughhouse79/Lightboxtop.jpg

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff20/roughhouse79/LightboxFront.jpg

The unit was made of 1/4 plywood, was about 20 inchas tall and the back wall was about 16 inches wide. Both lamps were simply the irracadescent lamps that you can find in home stores(you can use any light source you desire). These were then simply ran to a cord that could plug into a regular wall socket. I can come up with a more detailed sketch if you want. Just let me know.

Also we painted it flat black to help cut down on the brightness and glare from the lights.