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DIY: Foam Board Light Cube

Light boxes are used by photographers to get the correct lighting for their subject while taking pictures. They produce soft, even lighting that is similar to that of a light tent, with the light shining from the inside of the box, instead of the outside. Work lights are often used with light boxes to create the type and angles of light needed for professional-looking photographs. You can make a collapsible light box that can be taken apart and stored flat to save space in your home studio.

Things You'll Need

4 Foam board pieces
Scissors or utility knife
Straight edge metal ruler
Pencil

Instructions

- 1
  Measure out four 20-inch by 20-inch squares on the foam board and draw them with a pencil, using the straight edge of your metal ruler to keep the lines even. Cut the foam board into 20-by-20 pieces.
- 2
  Measure out and draw 1-inch-wide margin on the edges of all of the boards with a pencil. Set the foam board down on your work space, three in a row and the fourth piece of foam board above the middle piece.
- 3
  Measure 3-inch blocks in the left margin of the left foam board piece. Draw a line at the 3-inch point across the foam board to the right side of the middle foam board where their sides are touching to make continuous blocks. Do the same with the left side of the left board and the right side of the middle board. They need to alternate from being cut on one piece of foam board to the other so that the sides will interconnect. Repeat this for the right most piece and the top piece as well. Drawing a continuous block line from the top piece down onto the top edge of the middle piece.
- 4
  Fill in every other 3-inch square, alternating on each side of two adjacent foam board pieces, first the left, then the right, to mark the square shaped notches and tabs you are going to cut. Hold up the sides against one another where they meet to make sure that you have shaded in the correct parts before you cut them out. For every shaded 3-inch block part, the block next to it on the adjacent piece should be empty. The blank blocks are going to be tabs that fit into the cut-out notches that will be where the filled in blocks currently are.
- 5
  Cut out the squares with scissors or a utility knife, taking care to make their edges as straight as possible. If you like, you can set the end of the straight edge against the lines as you cut.
- 6
  Assemble the light box, inserting the tabs into their corresponding notched areas. When you do so, don't be alarmed by the fact that there is no back or front to the box. The front is going to remain empty as this is where the lights will go, and the back will be made out of poster board that is movable so that you can easily rearrange your photo subjects while you work.
- 7
  Cut out a 20-inch by 20-inch piece of poster board. Notch the top of the poster board and insert it into the back tabs of the top foam board of the box.

Photography