Light box?

[Magos Explorator]

I am not much of a photographer, and don't have much natural light in my apartment. I've read that one way to get better photographs of miniatures is to set up a light box to photograph them in.

I'm aware I could probably make one on my own, but figured I would browse Amazon to see if I could save myself the effort without spending too much money... and came across this (currently discounted from $80 to $30, and including lamps too): http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005FMKJ1I

So I suppose the point of this thread is to ask those of you who do use light boxes whether you think this would likely work well, and also to let others in the US who might also be after a light box know about this one. It seems that the other thing I'd need to do would be to print out a gradient background, if I didn't want plain white.

 

[ardyer]

Those things are all over eBay too. They're of Chinese origin and private labeled to anyone who wants to. I've got a set of those lights and they're okay.

 

[Mr Tough Guy]

I was actually considering getting a Foldio, missed out on their (successful) kickstarter, but regular sales just started
http://orangemonkie.com/

but the one you linked to looks good, for that price at least and actually includes proper lights, maybe I should get one of those sets instead

 

[Magos Explorator]

Thanks, guys. Foldio looks nice and compact, although more expensive. Looks like the Amazon one is cheaper than the eBay alternatives, at present. Perhaps I'll give it a shot! Dissatisfaction with my photographs has been one reason I haven't posted many of my minis, which is one thing I'd like to change.

 

[axiom]

I went with the foldio through their kickstarter - seems to work pretty well, although it could use some additional lighting. In practical terms it's very compact & easy to assemble.

 

[Magos Explorator]

seems to work pretty well, although it could use some additional lighting. In practical terms it's very compact & easy to assemble.

Did you get the 1-LED or 2-LED version? I see 2-LED is only $10 more so if you just got 1, maybe 2 would be enough... 'very compact and easy to assemble' appeals to me quite a lot.

 

[axiom]

In fairness, I have the 2 led strips but to date only used one of them

 

[Captain Crooks]

I ghetto'ed a light box together this afternoon using recycled foamcard, sellotape, baking paper and determination. I'm still tweaking it, I think the light could be diffused a bit better, going to look for some cheap acrylic sheet or something. So far, it's cost me less than $10

 

[Mr Papafakis]

I ghetto'ed a light box together this afternoon using recycled foamcard, sellotape, baking paper and determination. I'm still tweaking it, I think the light could be diffused a bit better, going to look for some cheap acrylic sheet or something. So far, it's cost me less than $10

Give a plastic milk carton a go, they're great for diffusing light.

You can even just cut the milk carton in half, lay it on its side, shine your light onto it and bung your mini inside to take a photo.

Cheap & effective light box.

 

[Blue in VT]

I've never quite understood the need for a light box....diffusion of the light is great...but it also DIFUSSES the light...which makes things not as bright... I've gone for the bare bones approach...here is a pic of my "set up"



The desk lamps to either side have 30w Compact florescent day light bulbs (the coil looking bulbs)...As these bulbs are basically long tubes coiled into shape they emit light from their entire length..."diffusing" the light source...as opposed to an incandescent bulb were the light comes from a specific "point" the long desk lamp in the foreground has a long daylight florescent bulb in it like this...



this I hold right above the camera when shooting...again the long bulb produces light along its entire length (diffused again) and when held in this position it provides a nice even light that washes out any shadows created by the two side lights.

All of these lamps I got at a thrift shop for less than $10...the bulbs were about $15...so $25 total....I can also add additional lights if I'm trying to take a larger shot with scenery etc....very modular.

Anyway...thats my $.02

Cheers,

Blue

 

[Magos Explorator]

Thanks, Blue. Well I don't have any suitable lamps like that, and when I do try to use one to take photographs, I get horrible shadows everywhere. So whatever I do, I think I'll be needing to spend some money (on lamps and/or a box), and I guess I need to see what's the cheapest good solution. Your camera also looks nicer than mine.

It's good to learn more about what others are using to take photos!

 

[phreedh]

There's one point with a light box you're missing out on - but with the amount of light sources you have it's probably not a problem. But with a light box, you can take pictures in any room at any time of day and still get decent results as the white box also reflects light onto the object being photographed.

One thing you could do, Magos, is to hack out a sheet of flash-diffusing plastic and temporarily affix over your camera's flash. That way you eliminate some of the glare a flash gives. When I used a compact camera, I cut a piece out from a white plastic milk carton and strapped it over the flash with a few rubber bands. It worked pretty well, allowing me to take much better pictures under rather poor lighting conditions.

 

[Blue in VT]

Your camera also looks nicer than mine.
!

I'll admit that that is a nice camera...though it is rapidly becoming out of date compared to what they are releasing these day...this one is at least 5 years old now. Anyway...it is frankly overkill for my needs. Any Point and shoot with a macro setting will take good enough pictures for what we do...its not like we are publishing in a magazine or anything. The tripod on the other hand is essential for decent photography...I even went so far as to get a remote release for my set up...it was cheap...like $9 and I think that helps with stability as well.

Let us know how your system shakes out.

Blue

 

[Captain Crooks]

Let us know how your system shakes out.

I see what you did there remote release...

You all forgot the most important reason for having a light box, which is being able to sit around and talk about how we have light boxes never mind that mine clearly doesn't work. Tomorrow if I have time I'll switch to tissue paper and see how that goes, I shall document my findings...

Also, optimus out-ghetto'ed me with his milk carton idea, but it's true, the frosted plastic diffuses nicely now how to stop my models smelling like off milk...?

 

[Blue in VT]

Captn....geez...I expected that comment from Chico...but I thought more highly of you...

Yeah the milk carton idea might be the best yet!

Blue

 

[matthewjksullivan]

I just picked up a Foldio light box from Orange Monkie, partially on some of the posts in this thread.

In general, I'm really pleased with the results, but I echo Axiom that as it is sold, it doesn't provide enough light. In order to overcome this, I purchased a number of extra LCD light strips from Orange Monkie and rigged up my own stands for them. Anyway, I wrote a complete review of my experiences with Foldio at my blog:

http://www.oldenhammer.com/2014/08/foldio-light-box-review-charge-of-light.html

Sometimes its useful to see comparative pictures. Here is a pic of Otherworld's Pig Faced Orcs, using my Foldio:

And here are the same minis, with their picture taken in natural light (i.e. my back yard):

For my money, I much prefer the results in the Foldio: the light is softer but brighter, and the colours more vivid.

 

[thequestingvole]

http://joyandforgetfulness.blogspot.ie/2014/02/experimental-friday.html

I actually bought the set up that you were talking about. It's not bad, though I don't use it as much as I expected to. The little lights are very useful.

 

[Magos Explorator]

Oh, great to see reviews, thanks guys. I still did not get around to buying anything for my own setup... have had very little time to paint over the past few months. Still got nothing ready for Oldhammer Day USA.

I was attracted to Foldio because of the simplicity and storability, shame that you and axiom both agree it needs more light to be optimal. I have a desk lamp with daylight bulb, perhaps that could serve extra duty when coupled to the Foldio.

Will subscribe to the blogs via RSS, too.

 

[stone cold lead]

My set up is pretty much the same as Blue's. No need for a light box. I bought one like that shown in the OP's post along with the lamps etc. The tent took up too much space and didn't really reflect enough light. The lamps weren't daylight lamps so were pretty useless and when I replaced the bulbs with daylight ones they literally exploded! Cheap Chinese crap. I'm currently using two cheap halogen desk lamps from Argos (for those of us in the UK) that cost £15 each and replaced the bulbs with daylight bulbs which cost about another £15. The lamps need to be pretty close to the subject but that's fine for single figures or small groups of models. A light box with that set up adds nothing (but clutter).