Cruor Vault
01-27-2011, 06:30 PM
Making a Light box for under $25
Everyone sees those really nice pictures of miniatures on the gaming sites and PLogs of vets all across the interwebz. But how do they get them you ask? Well, they have light boxes; even with a crummy camera you can take some really nice images with the help of a light box. Today I’m going to talk about making one from scratch for under $25 US.
First I found a cardboard box in my closet. A leftover from when a roommate got a new computer. Luckily it was a Dell box so it was already white inside, a bonus for me as it meant I wouldn’t have to coat the inside of the box with something white.
http://i762.photobucket.com/albums/xx268/CruorVault/IMG_20110127_155842.jpg
I went to my local grocery store and purchased some duct tape, a sheet of glossy white poster board, 3 daylight bulbs and a double headed power cord called a couch cord.
I also went to my local Jo-Ann fabrics and purchased a yard of white polyester.
(Pro-tip: Don’t piss off the old women who work there with questions like, “can I ask a question?” They can keep you waiting for nearly half an hour by cutting string very very slowly!)
http://i762.photobucket.com/albums/xx268/CruorVault/IMG_20110127_155928.jpg
After I got all my supplies I was ready to get started.
3x Daylight Bulbs $5 each
Couch power cord $5
Duct tape $1
Polyester $3
Poster board $.79
Total $24.79 + Tax!
First I drew out the holes I wanted to cut in the box, top, left and right, roughly 2” from the edges of the faces. This leaves enough material for the box to be stable once three faces are cut out of it.
http://i762.photobucket.com/albums/xx268/CruorVault/IMG_20110127_160322.jpg
Then I used a fresh Exacto blade to neatly cut out the panels, like so.
http://i762.photobucket.com/albums/xx268/CruorVault/IMG_20110127_160923.jpg
Everyone sees those really nice pictures of miniatures on the gaming sites and PLogs of vets all across the interwebz. But how do they get them you ask? Well, they have light boxes; even with a crummy camera you can take some really nice images with the help of a light box. Today I’m going to talk about making one from scratch for under $25 US.
First I found a cardboard box in my closet. A leftover from when a roommate got a new computer. Luckily it was a Dell box so it was already white inside, a bonus for me as it meant I wouldn’t have to coat the inside of the box with something white.
http://i762.photobucket.com/albums/xx268/CruorVault/IMG_20110127_155842.jpg
I went to my local grocery store and purchased some duct tape, a sheet of glossy white poster board, 3 daylight bulbs and a double headed power cord called a couch cord.
I also went to my local Jo-Ann fabrics and purchased a yard of white polyester.
(Pro-tip: Don’t piss off the old women who work there with questions like, “can I ask a question?” They can keep you waiting for nearly half an hour by cutting string very very slowly!)
http://i762.photobucket.com/albums/xx268/CruorVault/IMG_20110127_155928.jpg
After I got all my supplies I was ready to get started.
3x Daylight Bulbs $5 each
Couch power cord $5
Duct tape $1
Polyester $3
Poster board $.79
Total $24.79 + Tax!
First I drew out the holes I wanted to cut in the box, top, left and right, roughly 2” from the edges of the faces. This leaves enough material for the box to be stable once three faces are cut out of it.
http://i762.photobucket.com/albums/xx268/CruorVault/IMG_20110127_160322.jpg
Then I used a fresh Exacto blade to neatly cut out the panels, like so.
http://i762.photobucket.com/albums/xx268/CruorVault/IMG_20110127_160923.jpg