Sunday, May 16, 2010

Light Box Project

I have all ways wanted to have a light box for creating photos of my minis. Well I looked on the internet for years, and never wanted to spend any real money on this. So the other day I was looking at a post ware a guy was baking the green stuff on a mini. He had a simple set up, that looked like a coffee can with a hole in the side, and a light over the top. He took a close up photo of the mini in side baking and it was very clear to me. I thought this is it, I drink tons of coffee, and have more coffee cans that I have room for them.

Please note the minis photoed here are 15mm lizard men. I think this is a great way to bring out there detail, in such a small size.


Here is a photo using the light box.


So how did I put this together well it is very easy.
Items used.
*Coffee can
*Spray Glue
*Cardboard scrap
*3 Sheets of white paper
*Foam white kind
*Aluminum foil
*Paint
*Flock

First I cut the hole in the front of the can, then cut some foam for the bottom of the can. I then spray glued the foam in, and put the cardboard on the inside back also with spray glue.
Next I covered the back with 3 layers of white paper using spray glue for each layer. Then next to the cut out hole I put 1 1/2 inch wide strips of foil with spray glue. Once all was dry, I painted the bottom brown, then flocked it.
This photo shows the lay out of the components used to put this together.




And now here is how it works and how I took the first photo in this post.


I think I will dress up the back drop and and some small items for better looking photos, but this is a great start, on the way cheap.

Noel

11 comments:

Luckyjoe said...

This is a great project. Thanks very much for posting it. I just built one myself and it is really helping my pics of 15mm minis. I did make one modification. After reading about using a light diffuser, I saved the lid for the can, cut out a circle in the center and now use the modified lid to the hold diffuser in place. Thanks again. I am going to follow your blog.

Wes said...

Thanks! I am glad to share with others when I find some thing to good. I like the idea of the defuser but what material did you use for it. I still have the lid so I would like to make your mod.

Thanks.

Noel

Luckyjoe said...

Hi, sorry I didn't see your question sooner. I used some fabric "stiffener". My wife had some in her sewing room. It's white, loosely woven stuff. It resembles the material of one of those fabric softener sheets to put in a clothes dryer. So far it's working great. You can even make sails with it for model ships because it holds it's shape. So you get a two'fer. Light diffuser and sails. :)

Joe

Wes said...

Thanks for the idea. I will have to find some of that stuff.

Noel

GreySage said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
GreySage said...

Shear Genius! Gonna make one now! Thank you for showing us your design. I have been stuggling for awhile now with making one cheap enough for someone on a critical budget.

Thank you!

Wes said...

GreySage,
Thanks for the feed back, and i am glad to help. I hope you make a good one. I feel your cheapness as I to have no money. Two kids will put a damper on the cash flow.

Noel

Sin City Snowman said...

Very cool little project! Thinking I'm gonna have to try building one of these myself as getting good lighting is always a problem. Thanks for sharing!

Wes said...

Hay Sin thanks. I love to share. I my self am going to build a new one this year, but out of a 5gal bucket. This will be for group shots, and my large models. It was a fun project, one cheap ass project, and supper easy to do. I am sure you will have fun with it. Just google some photos for your backdrops.

Noel

Unknown said...

A Fantastic Great Idea,must have Too..Thank you very much for posting it.
My Brother... a Non-Modellist..sadly to say...is in in use with a Ligthning-Tent he make more Profi-pics you know....
I wanna see what i can do for better pics....
But in 6mm scale....
Thx again Noel\m/

Wes said...

Hi Manfred,
I am just glad I can share what I find and come up with. It takes a bit to get it right, but you should have great photos very soon.