You are here Home » Crafts » How to Make a Photography Light Box on a Budget

How to Make a Photography Light Box on a Budget

Don't waste your money on expensive lighting for your photography! Learn How to Make a Photography Light Box on a budget that works perfectly for your needs

So…I don’t know if you have noticed, but I am a blogger. 🙂 I take a ton of pictures, and I love to use natural light to do so. The thing is, there isn’t always quality natural light to take pictures. Whether it is storming, or night time or just cloudy outside it can affect how my photos turn out. Spending hundreds of dollars on fancy photography light boxes was not in my budget. So I am going to show you how to make a photography light box on a budget that works AMAZINGLY!

Don't waste your money on expensive lighting for your photography! Learn How to Make a Photography Light Box on a budget that works perfectly for your needs

How to Make a Photography Light Box

I love to shop online for things I need but sometimes those things are just out of my reach financially. Take this Lowel Ego Light Box. $120 is a little steep for my budget. Plus, in order to take great photos, I would need 2 of them. Hello, $240 that I don’t have. LOL  So like I do with all great problems, I googled for an answer. I found my answer on several websites that showed how to make a Photography light box for next to nothing. I figured if they can do it, so can I. 

What you Need

Don't waste your money on expensive lighting for your photography! Learn how to make a photography light box on a budget that works perfectly for your needs

How to

Don't waste your money on expensive lighting for your photography! Learn how to make a photography light box on a budget that works perfectly for your needs

Lay out your piece of foam board horizontally. Measure and make a mark at 10 1/2 inches and the next at 19 1/2 inches. Do this on the top and the bottom.

Don't waste your money on expensive lighting for your photography! Learn how to make a photography light box on a budget that works perfectly for your needs

Use a straight edge to connect your lines top to bottom. I used a small wooden board I had. Now, pull out your X-Acto knife and cut from top to bottom. You are not cutting all the way through the foam board, but just scoring it so it folds simply. Do this at the 10.5-inch mark and then again on the 19.5-inch mark.

When you are done your board will look like this. 

Don't waste your money on expensive lighting for your photography! Learn how to make a photography light box on a budget that works perfectly for your needs

  1. Now in the center section of the board trace around your light cord kit. 
  2. Use your Xacto Knife to cut out the circle.
  3. Push your light kit through the hole.
  4. Screw on the Light Bulb Socket Splitter

Don't waste your money on expensive lighting for your photography! Learn how to make a photography light box on a budget that works perfectly for your needs

  1. Screw on the lightbulbs.
  2. Clip on the parchment paper across the opening. 
  3. Your light box is ready to use! Flip it on and get to snapping!
  4. I made 2 boxes and put them across from each other to really light up the area. 

Don't waste your money on expensive lighting for your photography! Learn how to make a photography light box on a budget that works perfectly for your needs

So here is an example. I took this with no other lights on in the house at 11pm at night. Not bad!

Don't waste your money on expensive lighting for your photography! Learn how to make a photography light box on a budget that works perfectly for your needs

This Gluten Free Pizza Biscuit photo was also taken with the two light boxes that I made and no other light in the house on a dark and rainy afternoon. No one would ever know! 

I was really just trying to find a way to take quality photos for my blog at anytime of the day. I am pretty sure I have done it and I am so excited! 

Final Cost

Here is a rundown of what I spent. Keep in mind I could have spent less, but I ordered many of the items from Amazon just for the simplicity of it. 

Didn’t need to purchase because I already had

  • Xacto knife
  • parchment paper
  • binder clips

Grand Total – $29.42 for 2 Lightboxes or $14.71 a box. 

Not too bad considering 1 Lowel Ego Light would have cost me $120! I am Extremely happy! If you are a photographer and you are looking for a low cost way to light your work, I highly suggest you follow these directions on how to make a photography light box on a budget. They definitely saved me a ton of money and aggravation! 

Similar Posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.