A New Photography Gizmo

The sharp-eyed amongst you might have noticed that some of my recent photos have a seamless, clean white background, like this shot:

No distracting, 80's-style kitchen tile in the background, no bits of pug dogs lurking about in the edges of the frame:

It's because of this lovely thing, which for lack of a better term, I'll call a "subject box."(Although others call it a "light tent.") It's made of a cardboard box, a bit of old men's tee shirt, some duct tape, and a single piece of lovely, heavy Bristol paper that forms a continuous, white background:

Yessirree, this is a thing of beauty. Look at the workmanship in that corner!:

The beauty of this handy tool is threefold: 1)It doesn't have to be perfectly made, 2)It costs next to nothing to create one, and 3)It improves the look of your photographs of bitty things. And I love bitty things!

I found the instructions for making this nifty photographer's helper here. The box, tee shirt and duct tape I already had. I bought a piece of Bristol at my local, excellent art store, and with an X-Acto knife and some glue, I was good to go!

The seamless swoop of white eliminates distractions when photographing little things up close:

It's a surprisingly commodious box:

Of course, a box like this requires a light source. So I use this lamp kicking around that The Boy didn't want in his bedroom any more:

I wonder, why not? (Note to photographer self: go to lamp store, get new glass shade.):


Now I can photograph little things in a serene environment that's filled with light, even on a sunless day:

(Second note to Photographer Self: Get some silver polish. Those earrings look awful!)

Anyhow, if you like to photograph things and you want to kick it up a notch, build yourself this low-tech subject box and see if you don't like the way things pop!