Laura's sister, Sara, a fellow blogger and photographer, mentioned to us that we should consider using a light box to create some consistent lighting for photos. Oh by the way if you don't follow her blog you should, check out The Nesting Gypsy. So I did some research on light boxes but then never did anything with it until this past weekend.
I stumbled upon this image on Flickr and thought it sounded pretty easy to make. I made a few modifications to my box for the space that I had and also added an extra bar that I put a roll of heavy duty paper on. I added this since a majority of our pictures would be food pictures I knew that we would stain the paper and rather than have to run to the store to get new cardstock, I just bought a roll. I don't have the exact cost on everything but I would guess it came out to be around $50 and that includes a tool that I bought to cut the PVC pipe.
Materials Needed
- 3 10 foot pieces of 1/2" PVC pipe
- 10 x 1/2" 90 Degree Elbow Fitting
- 8 x "T" 1/2" Fitting
- 2 x 1/2" Cross Fitting
- 2 x 1/2" 45 Degree Fitting
- 3 Clamp Lights
- 4 Pack of 100W CFL Daylight bulbs
- Roll of Project Paper
- 3 1/3 Yards of White Cotton Cloth
PVC Cuts
- 4 x 18" (Vertical pieces)
- 4 x 25" (Center horizontal pieces and piece the paper roll goes on)
- 2 x 20" (Bottom pieces that add depth)
- 4 x 9.5" (Top pieces that add depth, a "T" fitting will connect 2 of these pieces)
- 8 x 2.5" (Connects the "T" fittings to corner elbow fittings on the top and bottom)
- 2 x 5" (Extends up in the back so that you can add on the roll of paper)
- 2 x 19.5" (Angled pieces that extend upward to hold the lamp on top of the box)
- 1 x 5.5" (Connects the two angled pieces at the top)
Assmbly
Good luck making yours and we would love to see what your final product ends up looking like. Shoot us an email with a pic of your final product!