All of my pictures that I took in the Gun Enthusiasts section were taken with a lightbox that I made.

In case you're not a gun enthusiast and have stayed out of the thread, here are the posts with the pics:

https://acurazine.com/forums/showpos...postcount=2163

https://acurazine.com/forums/showpos...postcount=2135

https://acurazine.com/forums/showpos...postcount=2139

https://acurazine.com/forums/showpos...postcount=2145

https://acurazine.com/forums/showpos...postcount=2144

So here is the lightbox:







I took a cardboard box and cut off the flaps. Then I hollowed it out on all sides (except the bottom and one side) and glued some tissue paper that comes with gifts. There's a tradeoff on how thin you should leave the walls intact. Thick walls would be more sturdy, but would cast big shadows inside the box. I would like mine a little thinner, but as you can see, one side of my box is dying.

Inside the box, I glued a piece of posterboard that was cut to fit the box but was long enough to make a gentle curve. Be sure to keep the matte side up. If you use the glossy side, you will probably get nasty hot spots in the photo. The back of the lightbox is what used to be the bottom of the box. (BTW, the posterboard started out white, but gun oil is what all of that nasty dark stuff is).

I coated the inside of the lightbox with computer paper because the brown was casting colored spill.

This lightbox will work with any small object. Normally, I set up outdoors. No additional lighting is needed if I'm outside. The pictures above were done just to give you an idea of how it works. I have a set of strobes, but its a pain to set them up. I try to stay out of direct sunlight.

This is the results straight out of the camera:



Mainly, I have to crop the sides out and adjust the white balance.

To keep the gun standing up, I use a pencil about four inches long. The eraser end goes against the back wall of the lightbox for a little bit of rubber traction. The other end is stuck to the gun by either sticky tack or just wedged into some kind of groove on the gun. I sawed off the sharpened point of the pencil. Since it is directly behind the gun, you can't see it when the picture is taken.

If I can help out, let me know.

 

Sweet man.

To complement your setup: http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/s...ad.php?t=37727

 

Hmm. PVC piping and a bed sheet... Brilliant.

Now I know how to build a light box big enough to fit a rifle/shotgun.

A project for next weekend.

 

Man, I tried this before, used a plastic container and dremmeled out the sides, covered with a sheet, but didn't have the right stuff for the background... Going to have to try again...

Love the results.

 

funny, on the DIY theme, I made one of these today:
http://super.nova.org/DPR/DIY01/


I think it could be useful. Haven't really given it a try yet except some random pics around the house, but should work better than the tiny built in bounce card.

 

nice, I have the same kind of setup as well



a few pics I've taken with it




looking at the pics, in the posts you've made, the WB seems inconsistent. Are you using a custom WB or are you handling WB in PP?

I need to build a new box, mine's not big enough and the exposed cardboard messes with my pics

 

What is the background white material (curved) in the boxes?

Edit: Wackjum, looks like you said poster board. Klepto?

 

yup, I just cut a sheet of poster board and stuck in in there. I cut a little slit at the top and fed it through there. The sides are just plain printer paper. I would suggest using foamboard to build a box to keep everything white.

 

I am doing this THIS WEEKEND!

Thanks for the motivation, guys!

 

theres 202 pages of motivation here

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/...d.php?t=281524

 

I made one about a year ago but I used some 3/4" PVC tubing with a bunch of elbows and T's to make a box. Then I covered it with some white fabric from a fabric store. It's sturdy enough to camp some lights directly to the frame. I glued some sections together, but left others unglued so I can break it down and store it when I don't need it. I think I spent around $30 for everything.

 

i'll have to give this a try too...thanks

 

im too lazy even thou i want to make one.

 

Yeah. That's why I glued strips of computer paper to cover up the cardboard inside.

I have a whi-bal (and I shoot in RAW). The problem is that for these gun pics, I was doing it outdoors. I was too lazy to setup my lights.

I started doing them around 5 PM and the lighting was changing every few minutes. Since the light was running out, and I was pretty much just production lining the pics (lotta guns), I didn't bother using the whi-bal. As the lighting changed, it got more and more off. To save time, I was shooting in AV. So settings weren't consistent pic to pic.

I will probably go back and fix the WB with the raw files later.

Also, my poster board is sort of off-white. So I couldn't use it as a reference point for WB.

 

I wonder if using LED rope lights on the sides would work, diffused through paper or cloth... I have two of the small halogen lights, but they get really hot.

 

Done!

The two pics OF the setup are with the P+S, sorry about the quality, it had a hard time metering.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jefford_e/3280194961/" title="IMG_0604 -jpeg by Jefford_E, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3312/3280194961_23b4ece9af_o.jpg" width="800" height="600" alt="IMG_0604 -jpeg" /></a>


<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jefford_e/3280194995/" title="IMG_0606 -jpeg by Jefford_E, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3437/3280194995_bc01dd1080_o.jpg" width="800" height="600" alt="IMG_0606 -jpeg" /></a>


<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jefford_e/3280195017/" title="IMG_6698 -jpeg by Jefford_E, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3496/3280195017_da92675402_o.jpg" width="900" height="600" alt="IMG_6698 -jpeg" /></a>


<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jefford_e/3281015370/" title="IMG_6704 -jpeg by Jefford_E, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3617/3281015370_29d569ee46_o.jpg" width="600" height="900" alt="IMG_6704 -jpeg" /></a>


<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jefford_e/3281015482/" title="IMG_6725 -jpeg by Jefford_E, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3424/3281015482_737de958d8_o.jpg" width="528" height="900" alt="IMG_6725 -jpeg" /></a>

As per suggestions, I went to Michael's, spent about $35, and used 20"x"30 foamboard, cut to 20"x20", hat pins to hold it together, a single piece of tissue paper folded over once on itself for the side diffusion material, and posterboard cut to fit for the background.

Also used,and critically important, were two Newcastles, a Liberty Ale, and a Sierra Nevada Anniversary ale.

Off Camera Radio Controlled flash sponsored by EuRTSX

 

nice

 

Thanks!

Needs some tweaking, and I am still going to give LEDs a try, maybe for a diffused top light.

 

So they do work!

I'm glad

 

sweet
how big did you make your cut outs on the sides? i heard the smaller the cut outs...the more shadows it'll cast on the subject...
i'm doing this today...

 

I used the remnant piece of foamboard from cutting the 20x30 down to 20x20, so it was 20x10, and I just freehand placed it in the center of the two panels.

All told it took about an hour to complete.

EuRTSX - worked like a champ! One is consistent while the other is not, but since I only have one flash, it's a perfect tie-over until I get skyports or radiopoppers!

 

 

got mine done tonight...don't really have anything to shoot right now...
just a test...looks like i have to play around with the WB a bit...

 

 

CRAP!

Totally forgot I bought a piece of picture frame glass for reflections!

 

not much of a reflection...but you get the idea....

 

egg-zachary!

 

wow cool i made one of these in photography class in highschool. we also made a camera out of a box

 

while were on the subject....i really need to figure out how to fix my WB

 

calibrate your monitor and get a whibal card?

 

just set a custom WB if you dont want to do it in PP. Shoot the blank white background and set that as your custom WB. Otherwise shoot in RAW and fix the WB in PP.

 

 

great work guys.... it really makes pics of normal objects look great.

 

just a quick, one click fix

 

Assuming he shot in RAW.

 

? I saved his JPG pictures and corrected the WB in photoshop and posted them above. Perhaps it was confusing since I just replaced the pictures in his quote.

 

wow klepto...that looks much better....yes i shot RAW but converted and saved image as jpg...i still have the original RAW but unfortuntely i don't have photoshop...i used DPP on these images...

 

Yes I did not notice you had put up replacement pics.

But since Drigo shoots in RAW, it really would be a one click deal with artifacts

 

Built my light box yesterday out of foam board. Using printer paper as the light diffusers, but may try some tissue paper later on. Lit by 2x 600w work lights.

 

Nice!