Comments on: A Quick & Easy White Box (Light Box) for Product Photography

By: Paul

Paul — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 22:26:31 +0000

jason,

I am trying to find the light bulbs.. what exact brand and make do you use.. everywhere I look, I cannot find the color temp listed anywhere??

thanks

By: Jason

Jason — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 01:33:38 +0000

Hey James,

Columbo! Awesome!

The EX430 II is what I use, and yes, it should provide a little light in lieu of the lamps. The only thing it doesn’t do is surround the lightbox and the target object with light. It’s more direct and can wash a subject out with too much focused light. If you have something like the Gary Fong flash doodad, light will be dispersed evenly throughout the box, but it’s not quite the same. It’s worth a shot, though. Good luck!

Jason

By: James

James — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 13:34:26 +0000

Hi,Thanks for the post, i was looking for something like this to biuld for product white isolated shots. ‘Just one more question’ as Colombo would say; would Canon ex430ii speedlight work in place of ikea type lamps? Cheers .

By: Richard

Richard — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 05:21:25 +0000

Nice… Im working on mine right now!

By: Tom @ Leica Camera Source

Tom @ Leica Camera Source — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 20:55:16 +0000

Great stuff, man. Always nice to see the work of a peer. You should add buttons to the bottom of your posts to digg, stumble, etc your content.-Tom

By: eBay Consignment Sales Make You Money Fast | A Crash Course In Entrepreneurship

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:02:03 +0000

[...] decent camera to help you remove any background issues or reduce the risk of a flash on the object. Here’s a simple design you can make yourself with some foam board, desk lamps, a piece of poster board, and some [...]

By: Tiel Holdstock

Tiel Holdstock — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 10:09:17 +0000

Thanks for the post!!! I’d also be curious about what lights you’d suggest 1 1/2 years later.

By: JasonTomczak

JasonTomczak — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 19:36:26 +0000

Hi Tiffany,

For a while, I was using the IKEA lamp bases – they’re solid lead or steel, very heavy, and prevent the lamps from moving around. But dang, they’re heavy.

I then switched to the IKEA table clamps which work really well. They grip onto the sides of tables, counters, etc., and remain very stable. best of all, they’re incredibly light weight.

I hope that helps. =)

By: Tiffany

Tiffany — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 03:36:36 +0000

Jason,
I really enjoyed reading about how you put this together. I do have one question. How are the lights attached to the table? I personally do not have room to set up a photography studio and keep it up so I’m looking for things that are “collapsable” and easy to put away. I found the lamps on the Ikea website but the image there does not show the base of the lamp nor does the description speak of it.

Tiffany

By: Myra

Myra — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 02:04:32 +0000

Hi Jason!

I just have to say, You Rock! I was on the hunt today for some photographic equipment. I am in desperate need of a white box and priced them out today, they are going for about $85USD and up. Absolutely crazy. I also tried the silly cardboard box and ended up more frustrated than ever. I have a few pieces of white foam board hanging around and now have a new project. Thank you so much!

Myra

By: WillieMae

WillieMae — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 06:46:30 +0000

Thank you, thank you, thank you Jason. I have been fighting with this picture taking business for what seems like forever. I will be making my lightbox. It will be just right for my smaller objects but, I have a fashion designing & Embroidery business and as soon as I can get those great pictures of my designs on my web site, I’ll be up and running. I do have a question or two, because I design clothes I will need to have the foarmboard taller than I am and I’m 4′,11″. Do they come that tall? And also, my logo is a gold castle, I have always had trouble taking a picture of the logo because of the gold. Will it work with the lightbox? My last question, I use a digital camera D-540 zoom. 3.2 Megapixel. Will a digital work well with this set up?

Keep well.
God’s blessings.
WillieMae

By: Casey

Casey — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 17:21:07 +0000

Hey Jason,
This forum feels like a Godsend to me!!! I am launching a jewelry line and my website has been ready except for photos! We are on as shoestring a budget as you can imagine! We bought a white box and lights set up through Ebay and we’re having a hard time figuring out where best to place the lights. There are two halogen lights with mini tripods on the bottom and the tent is a pop up (like a laundry hamper). It came with no directions and no details. The lights are really bright and it smells like something is burning, but it isn’t. The picture of it showed the lights on either side of the tent, but the pics are still showing up gray. These photos are the only thing keeping me from launching my site, so I am DESPERATE.
Thanks for your help!!!!

By: Kim

Kim — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 01:35:01 +0000

Thanks for the post!!! I’d also be curious about what lights you’d suggest 1 1/2 years later.

By: Karine Himbeault

Karine Himbeault — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 18:58:25 +0000

Hey Jason, I came upon your great article and already made my foamcore box. Now, I was looking over the Ikea website and was wondering if the lights that you bought are still available…They don’t seem so! If not, would you have another suggestion?

Thanks so much!
Karine

By: Joy Banks

Joy Banks — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 21:07:36 +0000

Hi Jason — Thanks so much for your reply. I will do as you suggested, and I have no doubt my problem will be fixed.
—Mahalo, Joy

By: JasonTomczak

JasonTomczak — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 03:30:46 +0000

Hi Joy - based on the blue color overtaking your lightbox photos, it sounds like a simple case of incorrect white balance. I see that kind of stuff all the time and it's easy to diagnose and fix. FYI, higher color temperatures of light can produce bluish hues in photos, unless the camera knows exactly how to compensate. If the camera buggers up the white balance compensation, you wind up with colors too blue, too red, too yellow, etc. Your Panasonic camera should be able to switch between automatic white balance and manual settings. You'd have to dive into the user manual to see how to switch white balance modes, but rest assured that it's quite easy. Of course, you can always fix blue hues in Photoshop. If you don't have Photoshop (many people don't), there are plenty of free programs that work almost as well. One is paint.net and another is Gimp which works on Windows and Mac systems. Good luck!

By: Joy Banks

Joy Banks — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 22:19:05 +0000

Hi Jason — I very excitedly created a light box exactly like yours. I even ordered the lamps from Ikea. The whole project was quite expensive in my case, simply because I live on the Big Island of Hawaii and freight is overwhelmingly high for us and lamps and bulbs were not available on this Island. But, the reason I’m writing is that my pictures have definitely not improved. I consistently get a blue background (is this normal?) and lots of shadows, no matter what I do. Oh, I bought 5,000k CFL bulbs, just like you suggested. So my question to you is — what am I doing wrong? Can you think of anything to suggest so I can make this work? Right now I’m back to the old bed sheet background in the backyard using sunlight. I’m using a 10 pixel, pretty nice Panasonic point-and-shoot from Costco. I’m frustrated, because I really want/need to have professional looking photos of my art work. Can’t thank you enough in advance. Mahalo, Joy

By: Vivian

Vivian — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 22:49:43 +0000

Hi Jason, Thank you so much for this article and tutorial. I just opened a web/storefront and don’t have any products yet because of the quality of the pictures. I’m so excited about your idea and can’t wait to start making my own. Again, thank you S..O much.

God Bless, Vivian

By: Leigh Ann

Leigh Ann — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 03:10:16 +0000

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: Bentoist

Bentoist — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 06:12:10 +0000

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.