How to build a Light box for Food Photography

After many months of thinking about it, I finally did it – A light box for food photography! It really is as easy as they say in many sites and blogs around but before you jump ahead, I would ask you to consider a few things, based on my experience.

– Do you really need one? Although a light box gives you the flexibility to click pictures of your food whenever you’d like, nothing can beat natural light when it comes to food photography. Let me repeat that – nothing. A lot of professional food photographers may go for fancy studio equipment but the beauty of food blogging from our homes and kitchens is, this is what we make for our family meals, we are sharing our recipes and what we cook on a day-to-day basis. I wouldn’t compare that to commercial food photography any day.

Another thing to consider is, do you usually plan before you cook for the blog or do you cook something and then decide you want to blog about it. If you find yourself doing more of the latter, then a light box may be a good idea because half the time I think that way, its night time on a week day when I am at work all day.

– Do you have the space for it? You can always dismantle your light box and set it up only when you need it but trust me, that won’t happen often. So you will end up building it but hardly ever using it if you don’t have a fixed spot for it in your house. We recently moved into a three bedroom apartment and I am using the third bedroom as my studio. The wardrobe is where I keep my photography accessories and the light box sits to one side of the room. I don’t intend to move it from there or dismantle it.

So here it is, my very own light box!

I pretty much followed the instructions on RV’s site. The few differences I made are:

– I used a smaller box

– I used tracing paper instead of fabric to cover the slots through which light enters the box

– I used 18W daylight bulbs that give a 100W output

A few initial shots with varying light input – both Straight Out Of Camera (SOOC) and edited.

This is the first picture I took, without bothering with a background sweep or anything. I was super eager to see the results. Remember, this was taken in the night, at around 8:00pm. Taken with one light – SOOC.

Another macro shot, taken with one light – SOOC.

The first food shot, taken with one overhead lamp – SOOC except for watermark and straightening. I didn’t have the other two lights set up when I took this so I had to depend on editing to make it look better.

Same picture, after editing.

Enter three lamps – first food picture with all three lamps as shown in the light box picture above. No editing done – SOOC.

One of my favourite light box pictures to date (I haven’t taken that many yet, I always turn to natural light if I can help it). This is a very lightly edited picture taken in the light box, again, in the night.

I have taken a few more and recipes are coming up soon for this dishes. Going forward, I will clearly mark the picture setting when posting pictures because I expect a good mix of both kinds of pictures in future posts.

Other sites you can refer for building your own light box:
Digital Photography School
Jugalbandi

Comments

Heguiberto

January 27, 2011 at 12:32 am

wow Nags what a great idea. To me thee only problem is that by the time I finish cooking I just want to eat the food while it's still fresh but maybe if I leave to box standing somewhere in the kitchen taking the shots shouldn't be a problem. Beautiful pics. I adore pesto! I could eat it almost every day and would be happy.
Cheers!
Heg

Plateful

January 26, 2011 at 2:34 pm

That's such a cool trick, Nags. Thanks for the education. Wish I could create a light box to take pictures of my dinner recipes and blog about it, ah!

Again, you are doing an absolutely great job. Keep going! Looking forward to more info on food photography. Thank you.

meeso

January 23, 2011 at 5:59 pm

Wow, thanks for sharing this! I really need to build one of these. Lighting is the hardest thing for me.

Kankana

January 19, 2011 at 1:51 am

This is superb !! I recently started my food blog and my hubby is clicking most of the photographs .. but we both felt that we have to do something to make them better .. I have to try this 🙂

Harry Hilders

January 18, 2011 at 2:29 pm

The edited cookingandme photo looks great.

Sanjeeta kk

January 15, 2011 at 12:44 pm

I love the rectangle light box! You made the job much simpler and easy, Nags. The small box will surely make the cutting work easy.

Nags

January 15, 2011 at 10:33 am

So good to hear from you Michele 🙂

Michele @ Healthy Cultivations

January 15, 2011 at 3:20 am

I'm thrilled to find your blog this evening. I was searching for easy light boxes with examples of what it can do, and this is so perfect… not to mention that your blog is a great find!

Looking forward to reading more.

Rajani

January 14, 2011 at 4:36 am

Nags,first time here, and I am so impressed and grateful to have found you!I like-your communication skills,your presentation,and most of all,you tips on good food photography.Keep up the good work and keep helping souls like me!!!

Kamana

January 14, 2011 at 2:13 am

excellent! i so much prefer natural light, but this is a great idea.

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