As anyone with an online store knows, photography is one of the MOST important elements of your shop! You can have a great product, a great sale, and great branding, but a bad photo can make all of that worthless in a matter of seconds! We all know that first impressions are REAL, and online shopping is no different! A buyer comes to your shop with expectations of browsing a beautiful selection of products, so if they can’t get past the bad photo it’s instant retail suicide.
From personal experience I know all too well how incredibly hard it can be to achieve the top notch photos that you want! It certainly looks easy right? I took about 4-5 rounds of pictures for our first 60 or so items. I photographed them inside, outside, staged them, un-staged them, used flash, no flash, just about everything I could think of! While for brief moments I would be convinced they were perfect, it didn’t take long to realize their inadequate quality once they were starring at me on a 40in HD screen!
Back to the drawing board, again!
Enter…the LIGHT BOX!
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| Store bought ones can run you upwards of $200.00, and those are only about 36in x 36in x 36! |
Why throw away your hard earned dollars on a store bought one, when it is SOOOOO easy and cost effective to make your own?! I made mine in 2 hours, and it cost me a LESS THAN $42.00 (of which $9.00 was light bulbs, that you may have laying around!)
Here is how I went about making mine…
Supplies used:
· 5 Sheets of 20” x 30” foam core – 1$ each
· Straight pins
· White masking tape
· Ruler or straightedge
· 2ea 150-Watt
Bayco Portable work light - $7.30 ea
· 2ea 75-Watt
Bayco Portable work light - $6.50 ea
· 2ea 150-Watt light bulb - $2.50 ea
· 2ea 75-Watt light bulb - $2.00
PROJECT TOTAL: $ 41.60
I chose foam core for my box, but you can use cardboard, MDF or even a thick poster board (you will need to paint those white!). Foam core is great because it is already white, available everywhere, including my local Dollar Store, AND comes in a 20in x 30in sheet, making for a very generous size light box!
Let's get to building!
Step# 1 Apply the Top and Bottom
Align the top sheet of foam core to the back sheet and secure them together using straight pins. Repeat this step for the bottom sheet, securing that to the other side of the back sheet.
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| Your foam core should now be put together in this type of shape |
Step# 2 Secure Top and Bottom to Back with masking tape along all edges
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| Line the edges with white tape to further strengthen the box edges |
Step# 3 Remove excess foam core on the sides
There will be excess foam core on the sides as the sheets were 20in wide, but 30in long, so the additional 10in on each side will need to be cut off. Using a straight edge and a utility knife remove the excess as shown below.
Step# 4 Cut notches, out of the sides
This step is done to be able to get the lights deeper into the box, thus creating your pure white photographs.
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| I cut out my notches 3 inches deep |
Step# 5 Cut out “window” on top
This will allow you to take photographs straight on, without needing to flip your box on its side. I made my window 10.5”wide by 8” long. Make sure to only cut three of the four sides, so the “window” is hinged, and not removable.
**NOTE** To find the center of your top foam core sheet, simply draw a diagonal line from the bottom right corner to the top left, and another line from the bottom left corner to the top right corner. Wear those lines intersect is the center of your top.
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| This step can be done prior to assembly if you chose |
Step# 6 Setting up Lights
I used 4 Bayco portable work lights that I purchased at Lowes, two 150-Watt lights, and two 75-Watt lights. Attach the 150-Watt lights on the bottom of each side, and the 75-Watt above those on each side. Point all four lights at the top of your light box. This will control the shadows that you get, so the more light the better!
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| 75-Watt Bayco Portable work light |
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| 150-Watt Bayco Portable work light |
Step# 7 Start Photographing
A few post production steps in Photoshop later, and this is what your product shots could look like! VOILA…
Tips and tricks (we made the mistakes so you won’t have to!:)...
· If you want a seamless background, an easy way to achieve that with this lightbox design is simply to curl a piece of bright white poster board on the bottom of the box and have it bend over the edge where the back and bottom meets.
And if you decide to build one, send me a picture and let me know how it went! What material did you use? Did you find any other helpful tips? I love to hear from people who have tried my projects!
