I have always posted game related posts most of the time, maybe its time for a change. Since it is almost Christmas time, I had to think of something to surprise my girlfriend, it was actually her request to “surpise” her. I also happened to be interested and curious about photography and I found out that you can build your very own DIY Photo Studio In A Box easily. So I thought why not build her a mini photo studio since making a gift yourself meants a lot more than buying something that’s already made (its the thought that counts right?) and also the fact that she sells bling cellphone cases for iPhones, BlackBerry, HTC, G1 etc so that her product pictures look more professional.
By using just the digital camera with default settings, you will always have pictures that are yellowish (see picture below), with uneven lighting and looking too sharp because the flash light is not soft enough. But with the combination of correcting white balace using Photoshop and this photo studio in a box you can turn your everyday ameture photos into better looking images. My coworker once told me, its not about your camera, be it an everyday digital camera like my Canon SD400 or one of those fancy DSLR, its all about white balance, light and the lense itself. The latter might be hard to change since not everyone can or willing to pay hundreds just for the lense. So this is where the photo studio in a box comes into play!
Items you need for building your very own photo studio in a box:
- A box that is at least 10 inches by 10 inches, otherwise you are limited to taking photos of very small items
- Wrapping paper (the ones that you use for stuffing gift bags
- Two (three if you cut out the top opening as well) very bright lights, I bought two outdoor flood lights from Canadian Tire. If you can find natural light/bright white light lamps that’s good too but not necessary since you will be doing the white balance correction in Photoshop anyway. Oh, make sure you buy the matching bulbs, chances are most of the lights are only the housing themselves, without the bulbs.
- Tape, duck tape, scissors, razor, pencil and ruler
Quick and dirty build guide (for more detailed steps please check the links below):
- Cut out square/rectangle openings, depending on the shape of your box, on the left and right sides of the box and make sure you have enough space around otherwise the box might not be strong enough to stand on its own anymore. You can also cut out the top as well if you wish to have more light coming in (where the third light comes in).
- Tape the openings with wrapping paper and try to stretch them, but without tearing them apart, to minimize the ripples
- Don’t pretty it up yet though, we still have to test it. Place one light on each side and start taking test shots of some small items (once that fit the assumed 10 by 10 box). My coworker suggested me to set everything to manual for your digital camera with lowest ISO, enable white balance if applicable and TURN OFF FLASH! since we will be utilizing the two flood lights’ lights.
Here is what mine looks like
And the result…..
Yellowish and unprocessed image:
Processed image:
Notice it looks much better? Though not enough reflection or “bling” from the crystals but that’s a different experiment for now. All you need to do is go to Photoshop -> Image -> Adjustments -> and pick either Auto Level/Auto Color/Level and play around. I personally and mostly pick Level -> Options -> Find Dark & Light Colors with the Snap Neutral Midtones checked because I like the dark greyish/bluish tone.
I hope I haven’t missed anything or mentioned something incorrectly as this is my first photo studio in a box as well! Let me know if I did though!
For those interested, here are a few that I checked out and found useful (they are more detailed too!):
http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/07/how-to-diy-10-macro-photo-studio.html
http://www.macworld.com/article/60804/2007/11/dec07digitalphoto.html
http://www.instructables.com/id/Do-It-Yourself-Photography-Light-Box-for-Under-40/
http://digital-photography-school.com/how-to-make-a-inexpensive-light-tent
