Chica gave me the idea to try this, over at her Photo Projectz blog (link) .

I'd thought of trying to make a DIY lightbox in the past, but never felt motivated enough to gather the bits and pieces necessary... as well, I only have the most basic of tools stashed away in the apartment, so even though the DIY projects I'd seen were very simple (PVC pipe, light wood, etc), it was still sort of a nuisance it seemed.

But after having Chica remind me about this idea, I searched some more and found a real ghetto version made out of nothing but a cardboard box, some tracing paper, poster paper, and some tape. I already had the box and tape, so about $2.50 later I had everything I needed.

I'm not really sure why I've been wanting to try this, as I don't do closeup, macro photography, for which this would be great. I'd LIKE to, but I don't own a macro lens (one day... one day...) .

But... still.. it was fun to play around with, and will give me something to monkey around with on days when I don't feel like going out with the camera.

Anyhoo, I'll share a few examples... my first attempts with this... followed by a photo of the low-class setup.

I wasn't able to completely eliminate the shadows... I really didn't have the proper lights. The swing arm lamp was perfect, but the tube on the other side wasn't quite cutting it.

The images have only been cropped and slightly sharpened in Photoshop.