Getting decent photos of your models is a skill that requires learning. Here''s a great tip how to take photos like a pro in a simple and easy manner. Everyone can learn from this how-to article from Hussein El Kaissy; find out how to build a home made light tent.

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If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!

Cool box - indeed. How about some measurements? Not satisfied with my present pictures I think I'll make one for myself .

Nice box, Hussein.. just one question.. what is the transparent material you used to diffuse the light?

Hisham

cool -- what did you use for the translucent sides ?

That looks very nice Hussein, is the frame cut from foam core board?

Great Tutorial Hussein......Hisham ,Not sure what Hussein used. Looks like what I use/ I have been using a white T-shirt cloth for diffusing ..

Great looking light box, a list of material used would be very helpful.

Thanks for always surprising me Hussein with your creative spirit
Keep the good work at the next year also

I usually cover my lamps with dinner-tissue for every shooting. It's uncomfortable. Thanks for your idea in pratice.

Thanks Everyone, sorry for the late reply I never realized the lightbox feature was out. I just saw it now

The material is used is normal "tracing paper" or what they call "Papier Calque" found in bookstores, but I used two layers one on the inside and one on the outside with some distance between them (the foam thickness) because this way you have a double diffusion I wanted to make sure that the bulbs can get really close to the box for max illumination without creating any reflections on shiny surfaces such as car glass, it worked out well

Here is also a list of materials used:
1) white Cardboard foam panels dimensions 100x70 cm, you would need 4 pcs
2) A cutter of course the Cardboard is very easy to cut
3) The problem with Cardboard foam is that it reacts with most normal and super glues and it just melts, so you can only use white craft glue which takes some time to harden but works well with foam.
4) 4 sheets of Tracing paper "Papier Calque"
5) A sheet of aluminum foil "used for food"
6) Two desk lamps
7) two light bulbs rated "Natural Daylight"
The entire assembly takes around 1 hour and once dry you can start shooting immediately.
I see some posts asking for dimensions, I will just measure them again and post them for reference soon.
Happy new year everyone

thanks for sharing great idea have made one but far to big to handle this one will work greetings from Cape Town

Excellent Design. Kudos!

p.s. What is dinner tissue??? I use regular typing paper or parchment stolen from my wife's cooking supplies.

Thanks Leonel, let me know how it works.

Thanks Michael
I think what they meant by dinner tissue is just large size disposable paper tissue but that would be too fragile to use.
I recommend normal tracing paper as it will last longer.
Cheers
Hussein

I would guess that it's a paper napkin. I suspect that pretty much any white material which lets light through indirectly would work pretty well. The light paper material which typically comes as packaging in brand new shirts would probably work well also.

(I know it works great to simulate canvas when you paint over it with acrylic paints )

Put one together the other night Hussein,
Thanks for your instructions.
Works very well.One question.My shots are on the yellow side using auto settings.Would it be better to set it on natural light?

Tom

Hi Tom
Great work
No, i think you should keep your camera on auto mode and make sure white balance is set to auto.
I think the issue might be with your selection of light bulbs, which ones are you using? If you are using normal yellow incandescant bulbs it will come out yellowish.
I suggest you select a couple of energy saving bulbs from Osram or philips with the light color inidication "natural daylight" these will give you better results they are available in normal bulb shops
Hope to see how it goes
Cheers
Hussein

Well Tom i also noticed that the corner of the lightbox is showing in your photos background. I suggest you put a large white sheet of paper in the background and curve it without bending so that your vehicle comes out with a clear white background without any details like in pro photos in magazines. You can see this sheet in the last photo of my box in just hang it with a piece of tape and let it hang and curve to form the base on which i put my models for cornerless photos
Good luck and let me know how it goes
Cheers
Hussein

I am making this reply/post just so I can find this post easily again in the future. My son is majoring in college as a 3d animation designer and he wants to try to build one of these (sometime). He paints figures (Warhammer 40k) and some sci-fi subjects and currently he uses my paint booth as a photo booth where he sticks white paper around the insides. Had a heck of a time using KM's search in an attempt to find this post again for him. Sure glad someone posted something recently so it showed up in my forum list.

Cheers

Thanks Hussein,
I'll try both.
Robbie,it is hard to find things sometimes.I've learned to add to my favorites list anything I may use later.

Tom

Totally right Hussein,
Bulbs were the problem.
Thanks again.

Tom

Great job Hussein. Thanks for sharing it. Can you answer two questions for me though? What materials did you use (form board?) and what are the dimensions?