My latest project is a home-made Lightbox Studio. The materials:
- 4 x Dinge spotlight from Ikea
- 4 x 25W spotlight bulbs
- 5 x white polysterene foam
- 2 x white masking tape (I don’t recommend duct tape as the heat from the spotlight can melt the glue)
- White and green paper for background curtain
- Cutting tools
You can use a paper board/box as well but I prefer polystyrene foam because it is white.
Join the polystyrene pieces at the edge using the tape.
Get the basic structure first i.e. don’t put too much tape yet.
Your mission is to form a box shape.
Strengthen your structure by sealing the edges with masking tape. The other purpose is also to prevent light leak.
Depending on how you want to manipulate your lighting source, you can arrange the lights on the sides or on top of the lightbox. What I experience is that, you need at least four spotlights. Two are just not bright enough.
To get an infinity effect, place a piece of paper in the background as a curtain. White, green or blue are common colours because it is easy to manipulate the background of your pictures afterwards.
Since the polystyrene is soft, to support the weight of my spotlights I placed a piece of light hard wood in between.
Safety warning:
- The spotlight produces high heat. Please maintain at least 10 cm of distance between object and light source. From time to time, please check your polyfoam to avoid melting from overheating.
- The heat from the spotlight may also cause injury to your skin or eyes, so please be careful.
