How to Make a DIY Macro Photo Studio (from Strobist)

Oh, this is going to make my life so much better.

Ever wish you could take pictures of your crafts in a nice empty white space like the pros do, without your apartment in the background? Well, this tutorial shows you how to do just that, using nothing more than a cardboard box, some tissue paper, a piece of poster board, and some tape. (Oh, and you need bright lights - I bought two of those metal clamp-on ones at the hardware store, it was $23 for the two lamps and the lightbulbs.)

Lucky me, I convinced my boss that we needed one (which we do, so desperately, to take photos of our work for self-promos and the like), so I didn't even have to shell out for the box and paper, nevermind the lamps.

Here's the first photo I took, of some buttons that I couldn't resist buying, even though I was actually shopping for O-rings for the new bag I'm making:

Pretty! I do still need to do some Photoshopping, probably because my lights are not bright enough (and/or because I don't know how to use my digital camera manually, so it makes its own decisions about how bright the photo is supposed to be. But believe me, it's a heck of a lot easier to brighten and color-correct a photo on a white background than it is to do all that when there's a bunch of crap in the background of the photo. Not to mention, the auto-focus works SO much better with nothing to confuse it.

Just so you get the idea of the coolness of the infinite white background, here's some photos I took for work (don't ask):

Obviously my color-correcting skills leave something to be desired, since none of these photos match, but you get the idea. I think it would be cool to experiment with the background too - like what would happen if I put some fabric in there? Perhaps we shall see.

Oh, and there's also another post for a fancier version that makes spectacular professional-looking reflective techie shots for like $6 more. Excellent.

Comments

[Alli]

My husband made one of these for me last week, and it makes me so happy! It is amazing what a little bit of cardboard and tissue paper can do for your pictures. I've tried a few experiements with sticking scrapbooking paper behind objects, and it looks really cool. Solid colors show of the objects the best, but patterns are so much fun that I think I'm going to have to use those sometimes, too.