My Light Box Set Up
Nothing to Disclose
Hello Loves!
Recently, I've been asked a lot about my photos(especially my macros) and what my set up is like. Honestly, I think I finally figured out my best light box/camera/light set up, and it took a lot of trial and error to figure it all out. Especially in regards to color accuracy! It took almost a year of swatching/blogging to finally get my camera to capture the polish correctly without me having to do much editing. By all means, it's not perfect, I'm no professional photographer lol but I hope to continue to learn more about photography to make my photos even better. But for now I am happy with what I have!
Above is a shot of my setup. It's not fancy or crazy expensive. I also love that it's directly in front of where I swatch so I don't have to move much to take each set of photos, just have to simply lean forward.
As you can see, I have a homemade light box which you can find the instructions for easily in a google search. Mine is pretty basic. A box, white tissue paper, tape and a white poster board. Cost me less then $8 to make.
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As for lighting, you would probably be surprised to learn I don't use a day light bulb...at all. I hate them! When I used them they always made my pictures dark as well as a gave them an orange hue which obviously screwed up the color accuracy of the polishes, And here is where the almost a year of trial and error with lighting came in to play lol. I used to have to edit my pictures in photoshop constantly to correct the color of the polish which was a pain in the butt and then about a month ago my husband and I were trying to figure out the next type of lighting to try and he suggested an LED type lighting. Did some research and bought 2 Husky 800 Lumen LED work lights. (You can see where I place them in the first photo above)
These things are a god send! I got mine for about $40 each at Home Depot. A bit pricey I know, but they were perfect for my light box pictures as well as my video tutorials. One thing I did have to do is tape an index card over each lamp to dampen the brightness a bit, which helped with the white balance of my pics which in turn helped me take color accurate photos.
I think one of my favorite parts about these lights is they don't give off any heat so I can spend hours doing nail stuff without working up a sweat or feeling like I'm fake tanning haha!
The other Lamp(shown above my light box in the first pic) is just a regular desk lamp with a regular bulb. I have it sitting on a box covered in pretty purple fabric lol
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Now onto my camera. Surprise! I don't actually use a camera, I use a cell phone haha! An Iphone4 a friend gave me to be exact. It's not activated or anything, I simply use it for its camera alone lol I used to use a Kodak Easyshare that was about 10 years old and sucked. It was great when it was first released but now in the camera world its a fossil and the battery life was horrendous and took awful pictures without a flash, and unless you are taking pictures of a holo or chrome polish, flash is no good for nail pictures!
As for my macro shots. I use an Olloclip. It took a pretty long time to figure out how that freaking thing worked. I can't really even explain how I use it really. I just put the lens super duper close to my nail and take the picture lol
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And lastly, My video setup. I also get asked how my set up is when I do my tutorials and this is how.
I put the 2 work lights on either side of my tripod and move the desk lamp so it is over the tripod. It is called a Flexible Tripod and specifically used for Iphones. I got mine for about $10 plus shipping on Amazon.
And thats it loves! That is my light box/camera/lighting set up! I hope it was helpful to all those who asked! If you have any questions please feel free to leave a comment and I'll answer the best I can!
Thanks for stopping by! Until Next Time!
(All photos that do not contain the "www.cdbnails.com" belong to their respective owners.)
10 comments
I love posts like this! Thanks for sharing your setup. Those LEDs look awesome though I have to say in the cold of winter I don't mind hot lights - I've been known to go to sleep with the incandescent reading light on right next to my pillow!
ReplyDeleteGreat set up! I love seeing what other people use. It's always so great to get ideas with lights because there are soooo many different kinds out there!
ReplyDeleteI have always wondered how you set everything up. I definitely want to get that macro lens, I've heard great things about it.
ReplyDeleteIt is very interesting to see your setup! Thank you for sharing, I can learn things from this!
ReplyDeleteGreat to read about your set-up! I think I need to go ahead and build a lightbox again to get a bit of a softer look.
ReplyDeleteHow cool!! I love these kinds of posts! Thank you for your info!!
ReplyDeleteThis is super interesting! I love seeing what kind of set-ups other bloggers use.
ReplyDeleteI love that you took photos of everything you use. It's so helpful to see how people take their photos and what their set up is!
ReplyDeleteAwesome post! I love seeing what other bloggers use!
ReplyDeletethose lights look amazing! It's cool to see how people accomplish everything. Great post :)
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