my new homemade light box/tent

Yay! It is finally done and it works! No more waiting until the sun is up to photograph my projects. No more running outside in the freezing cold and chasing my pages across the lawn when it is windy. Now I can take great consistent photos inside any time! woohoo!

I got inspiration here: http://www.studiolighting.net/homemade-light-box-for-product-photography/
and here: http://www.digital-photography-school.com/how-to-make-a-inexpensive-light-tent

they are two different approaches, and we sort of went with a combo of the two. The problem for me was that I want to be able to photograph 12x12 layouts, and it was tough finding a box that size. BUT we already had this tri fold cardboard display thing that I picked up at ACMoore for like $1. We DID have to buy lights but the large workshop light on the stand on the left was only like $10 on sale at the local hardware store and the smaller spotlight one was like $9 on amazon. And I will be working a little more on the 'stand' that the projects sit on. Right now it is a dish towel over a plastic shoebox thing.

the fabric is just a roll of lightweight curtain lining that I happened to have and dont plan on using any time soon. Oh and I DID have to switch my camera to manual and play around with the settings a little. I found that 400iso, 'more vivid' optimization, and incandescent +3 (or was it minus 3? I have it written down) seems to work the best (my camera is a nikon so yours may be different) now, does it work?! you be the judge:
the one on the left was taken outside in pretty good light. the one on the right was taken with my new set-up and virtually no touching up with photoshop. ok, maybe not a dramatic difference so how about this one...






















the one on the left was taken inside with my lightbox before it was perfected. At this point I thought I was doing pretty well compared to what my indoor photos normally look like. the one on the right is with the new improved setup. notice the difference in the colors. If you arent familiar with the Webster's Pages Hollywood Vogue line, I will just tell you, the one on the right is MUCH more accurate. Also note the glare on the transparency on the left one. Again, virtually no retouching on the right.