DIY Photography

Your one stop shop for everything photo-video

  • News
  • Inspiration
  • Reviews
  • Tutorials
  • DIY
  • Gear
Search

Submit A Story

How to build a cheap collapsible DIY light box

Apr 11, 2017 by John Park 5 Comments

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Clear, well-lit photos of your projects are among the best ways to share your work with others. Few techniques highlight your project as well as an all white light box with soft, even, shadow-free lighting. Not only is the white background distraction free, it will also serve to bounce your light source onto your object from nearly all angles.

This is an effective, inexpensive, and easy way to build a light box for project and product photography. Plus, you can quickly break it down for flat storage, and set it back up in seconds!

Materials

  • 1 ea. 30″ x 20 ” x 1/2″ thick foam core board (for the floor piece)
  • 1 ea. 30″ x 20″ x 1/4″ thick foam core board (for the back wall)
  • 2 ea. 24″ x 18″ x 1/4″ thick tri-fold foam core board (for the side walls)
  • 18 ea. small magnets, such as these
  • 24 ea. 5/8″ wooden cubes such as these
  • Hot glue gun
  • Blue tape or spring clamps to hold work while glueing

Assembly

You’ll use the wooden blocks and magnets to secure the foam core boards to each other, while still allowing them to be taken apart.

Start by gluing two cubes each on the two back corners of the floor piece, and one cube in the middle of the back edge.

You’ll then glue a magnet onto each cube, as seen in the pictures and diagrams.

Three of the magnets face upwards to connect with the back wall, while two of them face toward the front edge to connect with the side walls.

 

Next, place the back wall up against the cubes, then glue three cubes to the back wall that contact three of the floor cubes as shown. Add the three matching magnets so that they connect to the floor magnets, then glue them into place.

 

Glue four more cube onto the back wall. Two on each side, each 9″ and 18″ up from the bottom, respectively. These measurements are approximate. Then, glue magnets facing toward the front edge as seen here. These will be used to connect the side walls.

Once the glue has cooled sufficiently, you can try out the super fun click-into-place action of the magnets!

Now you can prep the side walls. Glue into place three cube/magnet sets per side to align and connect with the corresponding sets on the back wall and floor.

For some extra stability, glue on two cubes at the bottom edge corners of the middle fold panel of each side wall, as well as one cube at the bottom corner of the fold that is at the front wall of the light box.

Use It

Your light box is complete! You can adjust the side walls and front opening by folding the side wall panels. Then, place a large, diffuse light source at the top of the box. I’m using an LED softbox light, but you can get a similar effect by draping  a white piece of shower curtain liner fabric over the top of the box to diffuse a couple of bright lights.

Collapse It

When you’re finished, you can pull off the walls from the floor with a gentle tug on the magnets, and pack everything up nice and flat to store for your next shoot!

About the Author

John Edgar Park is a maker who builds creative technology projects for Adafruit Industries. He’s the former host of the PBS series “Make: Television”, and a twenty year veteran of CG animation at Disney Animation Studios, Disneytoon Studios, Sony Imageworks, and others. You can follow John’s work on his website, Instagram and Twitter. This article was also published here and shared with permission.

FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Related posts:

Default ThumbnailBuild a Collapsible DIY Macro Studio With Popup Laundry-Bag Default ThumbnailHow To Build A PVC DIY Photo Light Box Make this unordinary DIY light box with only three items and for less than $10 How to build your own seamless backdrop DIY storage racks on the cheap

Filed Under: DIY Tagged With: cheap DIY project, diy build, John Park, light box, light tent

Guest Author: from diyphotography.net

About Guest Author

This article was contributed to DIYP by a member of our community. If you would like to contribute an article, please contact us here.

« Western Digital launched its first portable SSD drive since merge with SanDisk
Winners of 2017 Pulitzer Prize for photography announced »

Submit A Story

Get our FREE Lighting Book

DIYP lighting book cover

* download requires newsletter signup
DIYPhotography

Recent Comments

Free Resources

Advanced lighting book

Recent Posts

  • Here’s a bullet time video booth you can build yourself
  • Ricoh has discontinued the HD PENTAX-DA 21mm F3.2AL Limited silver lens
  • This “stellar flower” unravels the twilight’s evolution in 360 degrees
  • Strobes vs Continuous LEDs – Which is right for you?
  • Wave goodbye to Apple’s My Photo Stream next month

Udi Tirosh: from diyphotography.netUdi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.

Alex Baker: from diyphotography.netAlex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe

David Williams: from diyphotography.netDave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.

John Aldred: from diyphotography.netJohn Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.

Dunja Djudjic: from diyphotography.netDunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

Copyright © DIYPhotography 2006 - 2023 | About | Contact | Advertise | Write for DIYP | Full Disclosure | Privacy Policy