Darn Near Free Photo Tent

A few folks on here have mentioned needed to buy a photo tent. Nothing ruins a good custom like a bad photograph so I agree wholeheartedly, except with the buying part. You can make one for almost nothing with things you find in your trash.

Start with rounding up your materials.
1. A cardboard Box, bigger is better
2. A white garbage bag
3. Scissors
4. Tape
5. A round plate smaller than the side of your box.
6. An exacto knife
7. A pen

Next use the plate and pen to trace a big circle on the top and sides of your box.

Once you have finished that, use the exacto knife to cut out the circles.

Now use the scissors to cut a strip of trash bag wide enough to cover the top of the box. If you are lucky you will only have to use one piece. If not it just means more taping, so no big deal.

Now use your tape to secure it tightly on all sides.

Tape the flaps of the box together to increase your boxes depth and this is what you should have.

Insert a large piece of paper, I like shooting against black but nearly any neutrally colored solid will do, and you have a finished photo box.

Place your objects within the space, turn on the lights, and happy shooting.

Excellent!!!! Thanks for showing us how to do it the right way bro... And by the right way, I mean the cheap way. I'll get working on mine. Now to buy a camera...

Some things to keep in mind about a box.

1. Your material over the holes should be translucent. You want the light to pass through, but you want to difuse it. The purpose of a light box is to cut down on shadows and glare. Too opaque and you have too dark of photos, too transparent and you defeat the purpose.

2. Pick a non-reflective background paper. It will work out better. You don't want lots of reflections within the box. While they can occasionally give you great effects, more often then not, they just screw up the shot.

3. Bigger is better. Don't try to cram your pieces into a small space. Give them room to breath and the light to mellow.

4. Round up a few different colored drops. Some things look better against different colors.

5. Learn how to use your camera. The camera is a great tool, but you are the one who takes the picture. Not the other way around.


I hope this helps, happy shooting.
Sean

Much better than the one i made lol im missing the holes.

then how does the light get in?

Great tutorial Asphalt! My design is quite a bit different. I'm using vellum paper which diffuses the light nicely and tenting it. Are you using full spectrum bulbs?

you can use just about anything to diffuse the light. I was just going cheap as dirt for the tutorial. Normally I would use silk or a synthetic. Full spectrum bulbs are a must , but I try to use daylight as much as possible.

I have all that crap lying around the house. I know what im doing tomorrow

Thanks for the sweet tut Asp. Only problem i see with photo tent is space. My room is already cluttered enough as it is, where the hell am I gonna put it? Ah well, if it makes my customs look better, I'll find somewhere for it!

Yeah that is the one benefit of buying one, they fold up. But you could make this collapsible too without too much more work.

Thanks for these... i've been searching the malls for photo lightboxes and when i found one, it's too expensive... now with these.. i can finally have my portable photo tent. Thanks

I tried a similar setup to this once and didn't do well. Light had to be extremely bright to get a clear pic without flash, even brighter to drown out flash-induced shadows. My best results seem to come from tying a white t-shirt around my reading light with a second torch lamp on. No box, just backdrop. My camera doesn't have much in the way of manual settings, though.

Didn't use garbage bag last time. Maybe my material wasn't translucent enough.

Sounds like it might have been. You want your diffuser material to be fairly translucent. Bright day light spectrum bulbs also help a great deal, as does playing with the camera setting to work at Lower light conditions. Lots of factors to a good photo

I also use the pice of fabric on a desk lamp technique for a lot of shots though.

Indeed..excellent tutorial!
This seems like a great design for single-figure shots for showing off or for eBay. I really like how much it cancels out shadows

BTW, if anyone needs actual diffuser film, LMK - I can get some for $1/sheet, but that doesn't include shipping.

I would have tried this already I wasnt so effing Lazy. Dunno why that is, ive just accepted it I guess. I will use this Tut eventually. Maybe when I have somewhere to put the bleedin thing. 

use a collapsible box bro.

Finally making one of these tomorrow! Just too many things going up for auction to screw around with glare and shadows.

Seems I was right all along - it's the camera just being crap without the flash. Just can't get enough light to get a good a pic even with making all the low light adjustments.