Cheap DIY Photography Lightbox

Posted On November 28, 2021

I photograph the odd collectable for gadski.com – and my flat is the worst possible place for it. It’s dimly lit, at best.

To solve this, I’ve put together a cheap (less than 5 pounds) photography lightbox. The construction is simple:

Ingredients

• 2x 2.5L Coke bottles (or the largest you can find)
• USB powered LED strip from eBay
• Paper
• Shoelace

Construction

• Cut the top and bottom off of the bottles to make two cylinders
• Wrap the paper around one of the cylinders
• Wrap the LED strip around the paper, with the LEDs facing inwards. Space them evenly/ I ran the leftover length across the top for some extra light from above.
• Cut the second cylinder vertically.
• Wrap the second cylinder around the first, so that it holds the led strips and paper in place
• Tye a shoelace around the whole bundle to keep things in place (maybe add some tape if needed)

That’s it! Place the completed lightbox (lightcylinder, whatever) on a white surface and start taking photos

Job’s Done

Does it Work?

Surprisingly, yes – it’s not perfect by having light from all directions really brings out the details in photographed objects.