Light Box for model car photography

[Roy's Hot Rods]

My new Christmas present:

Light Box Reviewed

[FordWagonNut]

My new Christmas present:

Light Box Reviewed

Wow, that is pretty cool. I didn't even know they made such a thing.

[Greg Cullinan]

Roy that is a cool gift and you picked a nice subject to try her out!

[charlie8575]

I've been toying with building something similar to this. I'll take a look at this one though. If the price is right, I might pick one up.

What I thought was neat about the way you had the lights set was that the taillights in picture #s 9 and 10 almost looked illuminated.

Charlie Larkin

[RC-Archer]

How big is it?

[Bernard Kron]

Thanx for the review. I was considering one and your comments are very helpful, particularly the fact that the included "tripod" (?) holds the camera at a pretty high height and the need for more light than comes with set. Still it's very compact and handy and, with the third light you'll be getting and that smaller tripod you already had it should result in some pretty nice pictures.

[RC-Archer]

I have that light box on order. It appears that the kit tripod folds forward to lower the camera. That is what the bottom wingnut is for.

[tabsscale1]

My new Christmas present:

Light Box Reviewed

I bought one a couple years ago at Walmart. Don't know if they still have them

[Foxer]

For everyone thinking about this, I use a light box I build for very little. I used 3/4" PVC pipe and elbows and is 28"x18"x18", but you can make any size. It can even be broken down if you leave some of the pipe unglued. Just make a frame using the 3 leg joints for the top and stick the vertical legs in. I use a white sheet to cover it all.

I have photo lights, but you can even use regular incandescent lights and set you camera's white balance to tungsten.

DO use a tripod or some kind of camera support! This is very important for th ebest, sharpest photos.

This is another place you can get a lightbox and has some good tutorials on using one.

Some sites showing how to make some very inexpensive light boxes:

cardboard light box

this is using PVC similar to the one I made

[VW Dave]

I use my trusty 36" nylon 'light cube' setup I got off Ebay a few years back, and I'm very happy with it. It's very similar to this one:

(image liberated from Ebay)

The cube cost me about $30 shipped, and I got a mini tripod for no more than 7 bucks. I agree that a tripod is necessary for better pics as well.

[jbwelda]

thats kind of a neat portable solution, and i agree about the tripod. does it really tilt forward? if so that helps but otherwise it just makes me buy something i dont need (eg: another tripod). what i am seeing doing is putting my camera on (one of) my tripods and keep it on the floor while positioning the box nearer the edge of the table. it looks like your lighting is pretty good as is from the photos but the third light might brighten up top surfaces.

i like it and am gonna check micromark. thanks for bringing it up!

[charlie8575]

Some sites showing how to make some very inexpensive light boxes:

cardboard light box

this is using PVC similar to the one I made

I like the cardboard box! It's ingenious, I would never have thought of it. Despite it saying "digital photography school," that's something that'll work nicely with film, too. (NB: die-hard 35mm/120 user here.)

For different effects, you could get Bristol board in different colors, too, like maroon or blue. If you look at Cadillac brochures from the late 1960s (the 1968 one immediately comes to mind,) many times they'd take a picture of the car on a complementary or contrasting background drape, for example a turquoise car on a navy blue background.

It definitely gives you something to play with and have a little fun, that's for sure.