DIY lighttent

[dbmk]

When I turned 34 late last month, my mother asked if I had some wishes in terms of a birthday present. Now, I have reached an age and job, where everything you really want (and thats the only thing that qualifies for such an occasion :) ) you have either bought or is too expensive to wish for from your parents. :). But what I can always get more of is time. So I think I surprised her a little when I said "A large cubic cardboard box, about 70cmx70cmx70cm". I wanted to build a light tent and I hadn't been able to find any boxes of that size - and she works in an art museum, where they gets all kinds of boxes, so she maybe she could help.

Turns out my parents could not find any either, but my dad showed up with two large ones, that he thought might cover my needs with a little cutting and some tape. (he included a roll of tape from his old work place and a knife and some blades. They "found room for that in my birthday present budget as well" :) ).

I had already bought some lamps, velcro and fabric for it, so a little tinkering later:



Notice: Its in parts, stuck together with velcro, the fabric included, so it can be taken apart and stored a little easier. And the fabric sides can be taken out if needed. :)

The lamps were 10 bucks a pop at IKEA. (I will need to get some brighter bulbs though. They only had the new electricity saving bulbs, which are fine for normal use, but it turns out I need some oomph than they give. And they give a slightly yellow light. )

Now did it work? On to the results:

This just has some quick auto white balance, auto contrast and color run on it:


And with a quick and dirty Photoshop job it turned out like so:


I missed the closest part of it in terms of depth of field, but apart from that I am pretty satisfied.

Also shot this little guy with the 100mm macro:



Gotta watch the DOF there. :) The part in focus stretches from the middle of his nose and not quite all the way to his neck. :)

All in all a succesful first try, I think. Better light and it will be perfect.

[Mira]

1. U Da Man - It's perfect and much more fun when you do it yourself. Good Parents, too !