A Quick & Easy White Box (Light Box) for Product Photography
December 17, 2007 – 11:09 amI thought I’d post a little photography-based tip for those who are interested. It’s how I built an inexpensive but very effective white box (or light box) for white-background photography. After searching numerous websites for suggestions on white boxes, I was left pretty disappointed. The cardboard box suggestions were the worst. They resulted in sloppy contraptions that gave awful color integrity.
At long last, I found a short mention of using white foamboard from Office Depot (Staples, whatever). Desperate, I went with that suggestion and was very pleasantly surprised with the results. I bought several 2′ x 3′ sheets of white foamboard - five in total. The foamboard’s ultra-white surface has the wonderful ability to gently disperse light. The foamboard is also very rigid and makes it easy to construct a 5 sided box that doesn’t get wobbly or weak.
I used a full-sized sheet of foamboard for the bottom surface. I cut 2′ x 2.5′ squares from two foamboard sheets and used them for the left and right sides. A 2′ x 2′ square was used for the back of the box and a 2′ x 2.5′ sheet for the top. Standard masking tape was used to affix the boards together and create the standing box. I would have preferred to use white duct tape or white masking tape, but neither Home Depot nor Office Depot had any in stock.
The slightly-longer bottom extends out from the box for a little more white runway in angled photos. I then used a razor knife to carefully cut several flaps in the top of the box for properly angled lights. These flaps can be opened or closed, depending on what angle I want light to shine. Cutting holes (and not flaps) is discouraged, because it causes a permanent light drain, inhibits internal reflection and, if you’re shooting anything highly-reflective (like glass, bottles, etc.), the dark hole will show up as an annoying artifact on your object.
To reduce the inevitable horizon line from the bottom joint of foamboard sheets, I used a couple sheets of ultra-white paper taped to the backboard of the box, with a sloping angle, then taped to the bottom foamboard sheet.
As for lighting, I used three cheap articulating lamps from IKEA. They cost $8 each. They’re awesome because the insides of the lamps are coated in bright white paint. The key element in this setup is the actual light bulbs. Standard incandescent bulbs cast a terrible orange glow that can ruin shots. I opted for bulbs that had near-perfect light. They’re “daylight” CFL (compact florescent) bulbs that have a color temperature of about 5000 or 5500. (Incandescent bulbs have color temps around 8000-9000 - way, way too orange for any decent photos.)
With the white box built and the bright white bulbs installed, I set up a tripod for some test shots. Here are a few test results:
Not too shabby. Certainly better than white sheets, white felt, white linoleum or goofy cloth-style pop-up photo tents.
P.S. I found that placing a thin sheet of clear plexiglas on the bottom of the white box helps create a neat reflection under certain objects, similar to the drop reflection common to Apple’s product photos.
Stumble it!
Tags: Light Box, Photography, Product Photography, White Box
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15 Responses to “A Quick & Easy White Box (Light Box) for Product Photography”
hey, this was a great article, and very helpful! exactly what i was looking for, thanks for posting this!
By marisa on Jun 2, 2008
Excellent article!! Exactly what we’ve been looking to do but didn’t know how! Thanks!
By Jessica on Jul 9, 2008
This was so helpful, can you tell me what wattage your CFL lights were?
By Nikki on Jul 23, 2008
Hi Nikki - the CFL bulbs are roughly equivalent to standard 150 watt bulbs. The wattage isn’t as important as the color temperature. Obviously, get the highest wattage CFL bulb you can find, but make sure it’s in the 5000 or 5500 temp range, otherwise you’ll get a nasty yellow glow over everything.
By JasonTomczak on Jul 23, 2008
hey jason. awesome article. thanks for posting! question: i am having a problem finding the light bulbs….where do you find them at???
i have not seen any color temp on any packaging…..
By allison ybarra on Jul 25, 2008
Alison,
I’m glad you like the write-up. I found my CFL light bulbs at Home Depot but they’re available at dozens of stores. I have a set that’s a little brighter, but this link shows an example of a “100 watt” light that would work well.
http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&productId=100527347
Look for “Daylight” CFL. Somewhere on the package it’ll indicate the color temperature.
Good luck!
Jason
By JasonTomczak on Jul 25, 2008
Jason, you are a genuis!! WOW! I cannot wait to make one for myself so that I can take photos of my jewelry :0) I love learning about photography. Can you please tell me if you live in London? I would love to have some private lessons from you after Im back from holiday Aug 11-sept4. I have a Panasonic LUMIX DMC-FZ18 but dont know how to use the light settings to take macro shots of jewelry and the manual does not say.
By Angela on Aug 3, 2008
Thanks Angela! Once you get a decent light box set up, 70% of the tough work is taken out of the product photography process. After that, it takes a little skill and a little Photoshop to reduce inevitable shadowing.
The Lumix DMC-FZ18 has a nice Leica lens and does decent macro work, so you should have some good results.
Good luck!
By JasonTomczak on Aug 3, 2008
Hi Jason, Firstly this is a brilliant article and I have been thinking about nothing else but this lightbox this past week so thank you for this.
I have purchased 5x A1 sized sheets of foam board which i know isn’t exactly to your specification (I assumed the measurements you made were in feet’) but I dont see it as a major issue and I have also purchased the 3 work lamps from ikea. I am now however stuck on which bulbs to buy. Could you please advise me on which of the following two bulbs would be sufficient:
BULB 1: http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=46286&C=Maplin&U=SearchTop&T=CFL%20E27%20Bulb&doy=4m8
BULB 2:
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=46288&C=Maplin&U=SearchTop&T=CFL%20E27%20Bulb&doy=4m8
Kind Regards
Charlie
By Charlie on Aug 4, 2008
Hey Charlie,
Thanks for the nice comments. I think your A1 sheets of foamboard will work just fine. It doesn’t really matter the size of the light box, just the symmetry.
As for lights, I checked both links. Those bulbs are not very bright at all. There’s no mention of color temperature, either. I found a link on that same website to a bulb that may be a bit closer to ideal.
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=220697&&source=14&doy=4m8
Color temp is 4200K - pretty close to the 5000K range. The 20W version is equivalent to a 100W standard bulb. You really want it to be bright. (In my old studio, I had an array of 500W bulbs for photo and video shoots.)
If I were you, I would be making a few phone calls to local hardware and lighting stores, asking if they have CFL or standard bulbs in the 5000K range.
Frankly, you don’t need to have CFL bulbs. I like them because they draw little electricity. But any 5000K “daylight” bulb will do, and the brighter and whiter the better. If you find that your only bulb options are a little too yellow or too blue, Photoshop (or any similar program) will take care of the final color tweaks.
I hope that helps.
Jason
By JasonTomczak on Aug 4, 2008
Thank you for the quick response. Thats great I will look into the light bulbs and get something of the 5000K temperature range. You mentioned symmetry in your reply, now the issue i am having with this is that the sheets of foam board that I purchased have a bit of a curve to them, all 5 of the sheets have this identical curve which means at the moment to align the corners of two sheets I am having to force it. My concern is that when I tape the sides together, this will not hold well through a forced method. Any advice here at all?
By Charlie on Aug 4, 2008
Hey guys, just a word of caution regarding the use of CFL’s. Just because a bulb is daylight balanced (6500K) or states a set 5000K temperature range does not mean that its CR (Chromatic Reproduction) is 100%. A crummy little 60 watt incandescent light bulb produces all wavelengths of visible light, reproducing 100% of the color spectrum that our eyes see. The CFL bulbs typically are around 65%-85% CR. I reproduce paintings for limited edition prints. Color accuracy and quality is paramount in my case. Most CFL bulbs do not reproduce enough color for my kind of work. The trouble with chromaticly challenged bulbs is that you can’t just drop it in photoshop and correct the color “shift” like you would if the whitebalance in your camera was a little off on a cloudy day outside. With the CFL bulbs you are actually MISSING those colors; the camera literally did not see those colors. If you were to compare the per-channel histogram of shots made under a cheapy 60 watt light bulb to those of a standard CFL you would quickly see the difference. Where the CFL’s histograms is full of jagged spikes, the standard bulb’s histogram has nice smooth mountains. The dropoff between the spikes is where color data is flat missing. If you are photographing something that is color critical (portraits, food, art, etc) make sure you invest in high CR CFL bulbs or stick with the tungsten lights. I have been experimenting with BlueMAX fluorescent bulbs and have had wonderful success with those. I’m using 2 6000 lumen banks of lights comprised of four 97%CR tubes. Using a custom grey card for whitebalance in-camera, I have had no issues with reproducing rich and vibrant colors. Purples can be a real booger to capture under those cheapy CFL’s.
If all you are out to photograph is stuff for ebay and craigslist, the basic CFL will get it done good and cheap. For all else, do some homework before committing your money. If the bulb’s packaging does not PROUDLY BOAST the Chromatic Reproduction of the bulb, assume it is not good and the industry is hoping the masses will remain blind to this.
God blesses us daily,
Tom
By Tom Leonard on Aug 17, 2008
Excellent article. My GF and I followed this along with another similar one and build a nice 20×20 box with top hatch. The only issue we are having is a “grey” color in the background of the shots. We are using 2 100w CFL (6000k). Not enough light? Bad white balance? Thanks for the great writeup.
By Callaway on Aug 18, 2008
Thank you for this! I’ve been taking average looking pictures of my bentos and are looking for a way to make my lunches stand out more without going to great expense. And hopefully, this will improve the quality of my pictures.
By Bentoist on Aug 31, 2008
Thanks alot!! I haven’t been too excited about my photography. A friend had told me about the white box, but I am going to try this out. Thanks again for the help!!!
By Leigh Ann on Oct 12, 2008