Classic & Vintage - My new DIY light box (polished stronglight 93 content)

i do a decent amount of selling on BF and feeBay, so i've been considering getting a cheap light box of some sort do get some higher quality pictures.

but, given that i'm the handy type, i figured i'd google "DIY lightbox" first. came up with this link http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/07/how-to-diy-10-macro-photo-studio.html

i used a medium size home depot moving box, 2 pieces of tissue paper and 2 large pieces of drawing paper, all of which i already had on hand.

i think for a total of less than $5 worth of materials and the use of a Canon G10 (set to AP mode, 5 megapixel), the pictures look pretty darn good. (click the images for higher resolution pictures)

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5046/5373770385_bb20e17d16_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/35190412@N04/5373770385/)


http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5243/5374369422_da62f6db7f_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/35190412@N04/5374369422/)


http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5046/5373770673_61484b7cc2_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/35190412@N04/5373770673/)


http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5163/5373770811_b4504f32ba_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/35190412@N04/5373770811/)



for the first 2 pictures of the crank and picture of the hub, i had a light on either side of the box (regular desk lamps), the 3rd darker picture of the crank, i put a black piece of poster board at the top of the box.

what do you think?

the hub was not fully polished, just a quick once over with mothers.

BTW, i'd like to to thank afilado for the drilled chain rings and hubs and khatfull for his inspiring builds and DIY post on polishing

Wow, thanks for the props but seriously that's some AWESOME polishing there my friend. QUITE impressive!!!

I'm a photographer and it looks like your solution works pretty good. One of my students tried a similar exercise. He used PVC pipe and joints to create the framing of a 3 x 3 x 4 box. He covered all sides, except the opening for the camera with three layers of very, very cheap "shears" (that translucent fabric between the window and the drapery in little old lady's houses - something like 49 cents a yard at the fabric store.) for the back drop, he used a piece of black velvet fabric that he often swaps out with a piece of white velvet fabric. When they get dirty, he throws them out and spends another buck twenty five on a remnant piece. The whole kit breaks down totally flat and I think he's got about twelve bucks invested in it. The kicker? It works just as well as my professional kit that cost arms and legs more.

One suggestion: for lighting, consider either (a) getting a couple of daylight-balanced bulbs to ensure your color is accurate, or (2) use the manual white balance feature on your digital camera to compensate for the color shift inherent in the color temperature of standard incandescent bulbs. This will save you a lot of grief later on; the instructions for setting white balance will be in your camera instruction manual. By the way, your color looks pretty passable in these example images, so perhaps you've already compensated, or you are familiar enough with Photoshop (or similar) to adjust color?

In any event, good job!

AZORCH- you know i actually saw the PVC version, and i like it and will probably make that next, i just had all these materials on hand :) also, i just grabbed the first 2 lamps i could unplug and set up next to my box, i'll probably look into some other lighting setup.

khatfull- you're welcome, and thanks, i learned from the master... i should have a pic of the before, pretty bad shape, and i'm actually quite impressed with myself, i was able to 100% remove some pretty nasty scratches.

Love that you we can see your reflection in the hub. Shows it is very very shiny!

I can smell the polish in these pics.

Nice job!

Very nice polish and very nice photos. That 93 was obviously in great shape to begin with. They seem to be easily scratch and marred. I've never weighed one, but the 93s sure do seem light in your hands.

Yahoo, and I do not mean the search thing. I love it and I am going to set the set-up up as soon as I can.

Thanks for the great tip. I guess I should show you all how to build a paint oven...

Esthetically they are very nice shots. But when selling, the greater depth of field (less blur), the more useful the photo for someone inspecting the product.

You can achieve that by setting the aperture to it's smallest size (biggest number). You may need to use a tripod or more lighting to prevent blur from camera shake.

Nice, Alex. You work fast and well. :D

Julian

I used to have one of these on an old PX-10. The chainrings were not drilled out though. I always regret selling it. It remains...imho...the most beautiful crank made

Great job on the light box. Another DIY light box design is to get one of the large translucent Tupperware type storage containers and cut a door in one side. The translucent plastic does a great job diffusing light.

When one polishes so well, especially on that Campagnolo hub, get a remote for the shutter, or place the camera on a timer if so equipped, then we won't see your paws in the reflection.

thanks for all the positive feedback!


Very nice polish and very nice photos. That 93 was obviously in great shape to begin with. They seem to be easily scratch and marred. I've never weighed one, but the 93s sure do seem light in your hands.

thanks, actually they were in pretty ragged shape, i only took 1 pic before polishing just so i could see my own progress. the little scratches shown were the least of the damage, i didn't think the uglier looking stuff would come out, but it did :) there was a SUPER deep gouge that i can't believe was sanded/polished out

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5167/5378800537_80ea57293b_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/35190412@N04/5378800537/)




Esthetically they are very nice shots. But when selling, the greater depth of field (less blur), the more useful the photo for someone inspecting the product.

You can achieve that by setting the aperture to it's smallest size (biggest number). You may need to use a tripod or more lighting to prevent blur from camera shake.

i agree 100%

just getting artsy fartsy with the depth of field... also i've shot several weddings and worked with a friend who now runs a photo studio, so i know a thing or two about the technical aspects of using a camera, unfortunately i barely pick up a camera these days and haven't shot FILM in years :/




When one polishes so well, especially on that Campagnolo hub, get a remote for the shutter, or place the camera on a timer if so equipped, then we won't see your paws in the reflection.

definitely need to get a remote, these were quick shots i took just for fun

Love that you we can see your reflection in the hub. Shows it is very very shiny!

Yeah, be sure you always wear pants when you photograph them.