One necessary item when shooting photographs in a lightbox is a good background. In an earlier post, I mentioned that I had purchased a pad of colored paper to use for that purpose. Here are some examples of shots I took using the paper. I used three different colors for these shots.

I chose green paper for the first, because I noticed that the small statues were all earth tones. I decided to see how they looked with a background from the same group of colors.

The cherub was photographed against a blue background, because that was the first color I tried. Blue is my favorite color. I didn’t really give much thought to what color would work best for this figurine until after I took this shot. When I did think about it, I decided that blue was probably the best choice for ivory. Black would probably work well also. I’ll give that a try some time soon.

Choosing black for the last example was a simple choice. Everything about this figurine goes well with black – the gold in the halo, the clear glass on the arms and other areas, and the frosted glass of the wings and gown. As far as I’m concerned, the decision was justified when I saw the results on my computer screen.

I’m anxious to try different colors and materials with different reflective properties. One material I am particularly anxious to try is shiny black plastic. Another material I intend to try is aluminum foil, both smooth and crumpled. I’m also going to do more shots with a pure white background using darker subjects so they stand out from the background more.

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Building a lightbox for macro photography is a simple affair. Most households will already have almost everything needed. All you need is a cardboard box at least 12 inch x 12 inch x 10 inch deep, a knife or pair of strong scissors, some packing tape, an opaque white material to cover the sides, and some lamps holding household bulbs.

There is an excellent article on Strobist that provides all the instructions you should need. About the only difference between my lightbox and the one described in his article is that I left three of the flaps on the box to help block extraneous light.

These photographs are of my setup. The one thing you might have to buy is something for backgrounds. I purchased a pad of posterboard (really more like construction paper) in a variety of colors for $2.50. There are 40 sheets with about 20 different colors. I’ve tried, black, blue, green, and gold so far. They all worked well, except for the gold. It all depends on the colors in the object you are photographing. You can go with complementary colors or contrasting colors depending on what type of final image effect you are seeking.

Almost any small table lamp will work, however drafting lamps or a gooseneck lamp gives you more flexibility (pun intended) for positioning. I use a drafting lamp to light from above. One of the other lamps is an adjustable height floor lamp and the other has a large clamp on it. So far all I've used the clamp for is as a base for the light. You can also buy 150 watt floodlights at the hardware store if you need more light. Of course, if you have an external flash you can also use that. Unfortunately, my camera will only work with a slave flash if the flash on the camera fires. This totally defeats the purpose of building the lightbox in the first place.

I’ve tried a few different light arrangements on the few small figurines I’ve been using for experimentation. I prefer lighting from one side or from one side and from above. I’ve also had some good results using the top lamp alone.

Make sure to take a piece of white paper and set the white balance before you begin to shoot.

I set the camera on Aperture priority and then adjust after seeing how the first couple of shots come out.

A tripod is nice to have, but not absolutely essential. You could place the box further back on the table and set the camera in front of it. The camera can be raised a few inches by placing something like a book under it.

One other thing I do to prevent any camera shake is to use the 2 second delay on my camera. There could be some camera shake even while using a tripod unless you have a remote shutter release.

Here are some shots of my setup:

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In my first post on this subject I said the lightbox cost nothing to build. That is slightly misleading. The materials would have cost a few dollars, if I hadn't already had them all on-hand.

The lightbox was based on this article on Strobist.blogspot.com. That article is titled - How To: DIY $10 Macro Photo Studio.

I built mine from a 14 inch X 14 inch by 10 inch tall cardboard box. The sides are covered with a white wrapping paper similar to white butcher paper. One side of the paper has a shiny surface. I put that side on the inside. I may change this to a material that has a matte finish on both sides.

Almost any soft-white opaque material should work well for this project. Some likely materials include:

• White tissue paper used for wrapping, although I suspect it would be too fragile.
• Tyvek® packaging material would be super tough and less flammable than some other materials, however it might be too opaque.
• Parchment baking paper might work well.
• An old white sheet might also work well.

The paper I used seems to be working fine, but I can never leave well enough alone. I think I will try to find some Tyvek® envelopes that might be large enough to cover each side and then redo the lightbox.

The first picture below was immediately after I finished making the lightbox. I turned on the lights and set a custom white-balance. There were three lamps, one on each side and a drafting lamp shining through the top. The backing was the same wrapping paper used for the sides. The EXIF information is below the image.

F-stop: f/6.3
Shutter speed: 1/3 second
ISO: 50
White Balance: custom

The image was slightly underexposed. I adjusted the levels in Photoshop and cropped it slightly. I thought it was half-decent for a first attempt with a new setup.

I've built a lightbox for taking macro photos, still lifes, and product images. I will be posting a full description with accompanying photographs as soon as possible. In the meantime, here is one of the first photos I took using it.