Experimental Light Box for lock photography

[greyman]

Hi everyone

I've been off-line for a while, but I now have something to share I just finished a home-made light box for photographing locks. The professional versions are rather expensive, so I have done a DIY job. Here's what I did.



1. Buy some plywood (for the back), a 2 metre length of 119mm x 18mm grooved floor board wood (the one with a tongue along one edge), 4 bayonet lamp holders, 4 compact fluorescent light bulbs, and an A3 (297 x 420 mm) sheet of 3mm white (opaque) perspex. You will also need a power cord (an optionally an IEC mains power socket - the type used on PC power supplies), 4 small rubber feet, screws, cable ties, connectors or a terminal block, hook-up wire and white paint. And, of course, tools. It shouldn't cost much more than £25. (I bought the white perspex from ebay since hardware stores don't seem to stock it and wholesalers only have really big, expensive pieces of white perspex. Another problem was not knowing what opacity the perspex was - I should probably have asked the seller .)

2. Cut two lengths of floor board 281 mm and two at 440 mm (this allows an A3 sheet to just fit inside the upturned tongue of the assembled unit). Screw the 4 pieces of wood together so that the longest edge of the frame is 440mm. Also cut the plywood to the right size to make the base plate and screw it on. You now have an open box to which the A3 sized lid should fit. Check that it does actually fit.

3. Mark the inside of the box according to where you want to fit the lamp sockets. I put these at opposite ends on the short sides of the box, but you may want to try a different arrangement as this limits the length of the bulbs a bit. (Note that the sockets should be mounted so that the bayonet pins on the lamps are vertical rather than horizontal, this will prevent the lamps from dipping down once they are mounted.) Once you have marked the box to accept the sockets, you can drill some ventilation holes in the sides. I put the holes in the short sides again to avoid ugly holes at the front. You will also need to drill 1 inch ventilation holes in the plywood base. I drilled underneath where the lamps are to be mounted. Also make a hole for the power socket or cord, as required. The four rubber feet should be mounted on the underside corners of the box to provide a ventilation space underneath it.

4. Once all the drilling is done and the holes smoothed off, it's time to paint the inside of the box. I used brilliant white exterior paint and put two coats to ensure a glossy finish. Also paint the top edges since they may be included in photos.

5. After the paint dries, you can mount the lamp sockets and power socket. Some gymnastics is required with the lamp sockets in order to get the wires coming out on the same side as the lamps. Since most sockets are designed to have the wires coming out the back side, I drilled a big hole in the screw-on cover of the lamp socket so I could fish the wires out after mounting the sockets. This was tricky, but it seemed to be the best way.

Only do this next step if you are competent at electronics! Otherwise, get a friend who knows what they are doing. Mains wiring can be LETHAL

6. Wire up the sockets to the mains socket or power cord (without applying power, of course). All the lamps must be in parallel with the neutral and active of the mains. I used an insulated terminal block so that all the wiring is neat. You also need to solder or use terminal blocks to extend the wires from the lamp holders to bring them out to where they meet the mains socket wires. If you wish (and are able), also wire in an insulated mains fuse and a power switch (this will require extra holes in the box). In the UK, mains plugs are fused, so this isn't really necessary. Make sure all exposed connections are insulated either with tape or plastic tubing (preferably heat-shrink). I used plastic sleeves and cable ties. Screw the terminal block to one side and use cable ties to make all the wiring neat and vibration-resistant. Now check all the wiring again to make sure you have not short-ciruited the mains: all neutrals connected together, all actives connected together.

7. Plug the lamps into the holders; plug the mains lead in and test the wiring. If it blows the fuses in your house, you have made a mistake. Otherwise, all four lamps should turn on. Now unplug the cord.

8. Fit the A3 white perspex cover on top of the box and you are done

Here's some more photos of the light box:





And finally, here's a test photo of a lock (the new Banham pin-tumbler lock).



I still need to get a bit more light onto the work - this photo was only using two small desk lamps as well as the light box. The lock was placed on a sheet of white paper so as not to scratch the perspex cover. One thing I forgot to mention was that you also need a backing board. A white sheet of cardboard or foam will do, along with some bridging paper to take out the back edge of the box.

I'm wondering if I shouldn't try some less opaque perspex or maybe 2mm instead of 3mm. My light bulbs are also too yellow - I need some proper white ones (5000 - 5500 Kelvins). Still got some experimenting to do, but the initial results are promising and the lack of shadows is great

Cheers,

greyman

[Solomon]

Looking good! I experimented with light boxes a long time ago but I never thought of making one for photographing locks. Mine was very basic though, and I used the light from a flashlight... I was actually able to get some really good professional looking photos with it, not bad for an old shoe box and some printer paper!

Your lighting issue can be easily fixed either with the cameras own settings or, failing that, digital editing. Of course you'd prefer to get everything you want it in the original shots, but if you don't really want to be buying loads of different bulbs and lamps it's a really good solution. Check your camera first of all for light balance options. If it has a "manual" mode, you should be able to tweak the settings for the type of light you happen to be using and get it looking more natural... usually when you get this right, there isn't any need to edit it.

Or, if you have decent image editing software, you can change all the light values. All you need to do is tweak the colour balance and the lighting levels... you can get shots which have that weird tint to them looking just the way they should without much effort. I took your photo as an example to show what I mean, hope you don't mind.

This is the result of a couple of minutes adjustment. It's not perfect because of the slight tint in the shadows, but it looks pretty good (even if I do say so myself). Check your camera for those light balance options though, it'll be much faster if you can change them. As long as it's not just a point-and-click style camera you should be able to. Good luck! And I'll say it again, good work on that box! It looks really well made; I foresee plenty of amazing photos heading our way. :,rgreen:

[raimundo]

I suppose that digita cameras don't allow for long exposures, with the old film method, you could have set a long exposure and the smallest f stop, and you may have gotten a greater depth of field.

[Solomon]

I suppose that digita cameras don't allow for long exposures, with the old film method, you could have set a long exposure and the smallest f stop, and you may have gotten a greater depth of field.

Most digicams with a "manual" setting will allow you to change the exposure time. Mine allows exposures of up to 30 seconds, I imagine more modern ones probably have much more to offer. You need to make sure the light balance is on the right setting aswell though, otherwise you'll just have a very bright yellow instead of a dull one.

[nothumbs]

Consider replacing the plastic (perspex) with glass. In the States you would ask for opal flash. This is glass with a translucent coating on one side. I've found it much better for light boxes as it does not scratch as easily as plastic, is easier to clean, and does not yellow over time. It also handles any heat from the lamps better.

[WOT]

I get my ways around by using a tripod, macro, and long exposure and exposure value controls.

http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll35 ... 17fd4b.jpg

[edit-smaller photos please, 640x480, or clickable thumbnail-unlisted]

[okama]

Hi!

Really nice work!

Although, as already pointed out by others, you should check the white balance setting on your camera.
Depending on which camera model you have, some allow you to take a picture of something white (like the paper) and then use that picture to correct the white balance.

But of course there's also the possibility of post-processing the picture.
I used http://gimp.org to manually change the white balance of your picture (I hope you don't mind). By using the automatic white balance button in gimp the result looked like Solomon's picture. But it's a matter of personal preference, I guess.

[mitch.capper]

That definately is a cheap cool underlighting box, and your definitely right they are normally pretty costly;) Underlighting is great, but it is best to pair it with some diffused bright lights from the sides/above. The actual term light box I believe generally refers to a box you place the item in that diffuses light, something similar to: http://www.studiolighting.net/homemade- ... otography/ . Combining them can result is great photos, also to avoid the yellow effect make sure your bulbs are not daylight but rather white in color, adjusting the white balance is good but if you are using yellow light you are just off to a bad start.