Super Low Budget Lightbox

The lightbox outlined in this article is extremely simple and inexpensive. I was able to produce the one in the example using only materials I found around the house.

Materials Needed:
1x Cardboard Box - the size depends on how big of an object you want to photograph
3x or 6x Large Sheets of Tracing Paper or Wax Deli Paper
1x Box Cutter or similar knife
1x Large Sheet of heavy white paper - Matte not glossy!
1x Roll of masking tape
1x or 2x moveable lights - these can be any type of light with a white bulb. Obviously as the set up gets fancier so do the lights. Full spectrum lights are the best.

WARNING: Using a knife can be dangerous if you don't know how to be safe with it. Always cut away from yourself. Never cut towards your body or your hand. Seriously.

Step #1: Start by cutting the flaps off the box, Try to do this as cleanly as possible to leave a minimum of shreds and flaps of cardboard. When cutting cardboard with a box cutter it is best to cut through with several lighter, scoring cuts, rather than push all the way through and drag the blade all the way. Using a lighter touch will put less strain on the cardboard which means less rips and shredded edges.

The box I used.

Step #2: On three of the sides of the box cut out a rectangular piece of cardboard. You should leave an inch or two as a frame to maintain the structural integrity of the box. These holes will be the windows and ceiling of your box. Think of what was the "bottom" of your box as now being the back wall. There are two windows on the side, one on the top and the front (originally the top) is wide open.

After cutting the sides and flaps off. Notice on the right front piece of the frame where I almost severed the thin piece of cardboard. This was repaired with masking tape.

Step #3: Cover the three windows with tracing paper or wax deli paper. You may want to use a second layer of paper but hold off on this for now until you are ready to do some photographic tests. A second layer might help to diffuse the light more if your first layer is too thin or transparent.

One layer of tracing paper.

Step #4: Fit the sheet of heavy white paper into the box so that it is fixed from the bottom edge of the front opening and curves gently up to the back corner. This curved surface will help to further hide the shadows and make it seem like there is nothing but a plain white backdrop.

Notice the curved white paper. This picture was obviously taken after I had set the lights up.

Step #5: Set up your lights. If your lights are directional place them outside the box and angle the light so the beam lands on the wax paper. Even if you do no have directional lights you can place them to the sides or above the lightbox. Do not place lights so that they shine directly into the box. This will defeat the purpose of building a light box.

My first lighting attempt. Too dark and too warm.

Step #6: Take some pictures. I'd recommend using a tripod to stabilize your camera. Turn on the lights for the box and disable your cameras flash. If you have a macro lens use that, otherwise use what you've got.

My final setup.

There will definitely need to be some experimenting with the lights, camera and box to get the quality of the pictures you desire. I started out with a 75w bulb coming from only one side of the box. I quickly realized that this would not be enough light and so I added a second, whiter, fluorescent desk lamp to the other side of the box. I experimented a bit with camera settings and how close I placed the light to the box and was able to ultimately produce images which were extremely clean.

Here are some of the shots I took with my set up. The first one was with the original light setup which was too dark. The second two used both lights and had the levels slightly corrected in GIMP.

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