DIY Photography

Your one stop shop for everything photo-video

Search

Submit A Story

light box

I finally used my DIY UV box for making Van Dyke wet prints – Here’s my complete process

by Add Comment

It’s been a little while since I built my UV Box but sometimes, life gets in the middle of our fun projects! Now, I’ve finally tested the UV Box and I can say that it works great. I made a test with two different negatives: a very soft flower subject lighted with painted light and a very sharp subject lighted with a very contrasty light. I wanted to see how this printing process deals with different subjects.

I proceeded with some step tests to find the corrected exposure for my negatives. I did 2 seconds steps and as you can see in the video, I was a little optimistic with my first strip of 2,4,6,8 seconds of exposure. In the end, the correct exposure resulted in 11 minutes.

[Read More…]

How to build your own DIY UV exposure box for when the sun won’t shine

by 1 Comment

I was always told: if you have to do something, do it with your own style! So here is my Italian style UV box to expose the papers coated with antique photographic processes.

At the origin of photography, many technologies of printing required exposure to UV light. In those times, the sun was the perfect source and the exposure was usually made outdoor. But the quantity of UV light from the sun can vary a lot in different seasons or with different weather. Plus, baby it’s cold outside now in winter! For this reason, I decided to build a UV Box.

[Read More…]

This weird dome is a portable light tent for product photography

by 7 Comments

Perhaps you’ve already heard of OrangeMonkie, the company behind Foldio collapsible lightboxes. They’re now back with another gadget made for product photography. Foldio360 Smart Dome is a futuristic-looking lightbox for 360 product photography, and it combines all of the OrangeMonkey’s previous projects into one.

[Read More…]

This foldable light box is great for product shots, and it fits in a laptop bag

by 3 Comments

You might have heard of Foldio collapsible light boxes. Or maybe you already own one. Although they are pretty handy and useful, their disadvantage is that many products can fit inside. So now, the OrangeMonkie team has developed Foldio3, a 25”x25” collapsible portable light box. Once folded, it fits inside a laptop bag. And when you unfold it and set it up, you can take shots of all sorts of products.

Foldio3 has built in LED light, with an option of adding extra lights using a simple magnet. You can control the intensity of the lights, both for the built-in and the additional lights. It’s easy to fold and unfold the light box, as well to control the lights and add or remove the backdrop.

[Read More…]

Sundisc is a softbox that is totally flat

by 10 Comments

Mirrorless cameras and high-power speedlights have reduced the size of gear, just like they promised. But the softbox still remains the largest piece and takes up a lot of space. Vincent Palma and Vilhelm von Platen wanted to change this, so they created Sundisc. It’s a light, compact and ultra-portable reversible softbox that fits in your camera bag and that you can carry everywhere. You can attach it directly to your speedlight, and it also doubles as a reflector with both warm and cool light.

[Read More…]

How to build a cheap collapsible DIY light box

by 5 Comments

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!

[Read More…]

Make this unordinary DIY light box with only three items and for less than $10

by 6 Comments

DIYP team has seen and made some pretty awesome DIY light boxes using all sorts of materials: PVC pipes, coroplast and a cardboard box, to name a few. And now we’ve found something a bit … unordinary. But it’s cheap, easy, and most of all – it seems to work. It could be good as “first aid”, at least. The Crafs Man shared a video showing you how to make your own light box – out of a garbage can. It takes three items and no more than $10, so if you’re on a really tight budget, you could give it a shot.

[Read More…]

How I built a killer lightbox with LEDs

by Add Comment

We saw Colin G Prickett’s light bo and was blown away. Lucky us! Colin sent us the complete build if you want to build one yourself, or get some inspiration

A visit to Homebase resulted in the purchase of a plastic box on wheels.

I cut a hole in the side and another on the lid, screwed in some wooden battens for fixing four interior “daylight” LED lights (2 on the side and 2 on the lid).

[Read More…]

How to “scan” film using your DSLR and process it in Lightroom

by 9 Comments

For those that shoot film, developing and dealing with chemicals isn’t usually the biggest hassle. Often it’s scanning the resulting film into the computer. Many lower end scanners simply don’t have the quality. Higher end ones, even flatbeds like the Epson Perfection V850 are out of the range of many film shooters. Drum scanners like this Hasselblad are even more expensive. And that’s their cheaper model.

So, what else can we do to digitise our film shots? Well, in these two videos, we see how we can use a lightbox, copystand and DSLR to bring our film shots into the computer. Such a setup can be had relatively inexpensively if you shop around. Or you could pay an absolute fortune for one if you wish. If you’re going to spend that kind of money, though, I still think I’d go with a scanner.

[Read More…]

Using a $7.99 IKEA Lack Table To Build A Lightbox

by 4 Comments

Ever seen those IKEA Lack tables? They feel suspiciously light right? This is because, as this tutorial will demonstrate, they are not made of wood. They are just a covered honeycombed piece of cardboard. But for this tutorial’s sake, this is actually a good thing. If you are looking for someone to thank to, Jack Watney is your man.

If you come from the digital era, you might ask what a lightbox is. Well, essentially it is a backlit translucent surface that you can place film on and inspect it before sending it off to print. Or, you can use it to view slides. On the non-photography side, you can use this table for tracing.

[Read More…]

Free Resources

Advanced lighting book

Recent Posts