Ever had an assignment that you needed a light-tent for, say a product shoot – but didn’t have one handy?  Yeah, me too.  I started searching around for some material to put together a DIY one and then it occured to me – isn’t the center panel of a 5-in-1 reflector basically the same stuff?  And already stretched around a nice springy frame too – perfect for an instant light tent.  After a few aborted attempts, I hit upon the following.  You will need

  1. the center diffuser from a full length 5-in-1 reflector
  2. 4 clamps
  3. a piece of matboard (or something else to make a nice sweep)

In short – bend the diffuser so it makes a nice arch, and clamp it to either side of a table.  (best to do 2 clamps on one side, then the other).  use the matboard as a sweep under it, and light as desired.  Voila! instant lightbox  (caveat: not quite as good as a “real” lighbox, but if you don’t have one and don’t want to spend the $$$ for one it’s a good substitute!

here’s how it looks:

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7 Responses to “the DIY 30 second light tent”

  1. [...] the DIY 30 second light tent f/1.0 Ever need a light tent for a product shoot, but didn’t have one handy? Here’s a quick DIY alternative to the traditional piece of equipment. [...]

  2. that’s a great way to shoot delicious dishes and some sweeties @_@

  3. [...] the DIY 30 second light tent f/1.0 Ever need a light tent for a product shoot, but didn’t have one handy? Here’s a quick DIY alternative to the traditional piece of equipment. [...]

  4. [...] F/1.0 gives us instructions on building a light tent. [...]

  5. Very smart solution, I never thought of using the reflector/diffuser that way, beats buying another thing when you already have what you need. Thanks for the tip and the very instructive pics.

  6. [...] Have a 5-in-1 Reflector set? Take a look at this! [...]

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