A mysterious box arrived this week and I was ecstatic to see it was photography equipment to test! I was asked to review a pop-up cube studio and I thought, let’s just see how easy this process could be.
This was everything in a fairly compact box about 12″ x 12″:
This was the simple set up on my desk, no instructions included or needed.
Have you ever tried to photograph a product DIY style? I used to use white sheets of paper and a desk lamp. Here’s what I did with a point and shoot on the “flower” setting which is the macro setting, years ago before I owned a DSLR:
Decent. Until the editing part. I had to photoshop the seams together and correct the shadows if there were any. I think I spent like 40 minutes perfecting this image with my DIY method. Ain’t nobody got time for that! – haha!
Now with this kit, the cube pops up like a reflector/car windshield reflector. Just pick the background color you want (included are white, black, red and blue) and velcro the top to the inside corners. I think the best items to photograph in something small like this would be if you were trying to sell jewelry say on eBay or Etsy or you’re shooting a product for a business.
Velvet fabric helps minimize and soften shadows. and you can adjust the lights on the outside. Now look:
After I perfected it in Lightroom, I opened it up in Photoshop actually played with the curves (and now we all cringe that I said that) and used the select tool at tolerance of 20, inverse selected and dragged it on a white blank background. Tada. Took maybe what, 3 minutes. I’m also a photoshop ninja. I smoothed the shadow lines by adding a new layer and white paint brushing with feathered edges and adjusted the layer opacity.
Let’s say you don’t want to do all the hassle I just did which was really an extra minute. Here’s the image I got just by a few quick edits and exporting it out of Lightroom which is sufficient for say any online shopping cart site:
Boom. You also don’t need a DSLR – your point and shoot on a macro setting will be fine.
Tips:
- You don’t have to shoot through the cover with slit if it’s too constricting. Only use it when you are capturing something with a reflection, so it hides your face.
- Steam the wrinkles out of the velvet backgrounds.
- If you do use a macro lens on a DSLR remember to place the product all the way in the back so you can focus on it.
- Use your favorite fabric, a print even to use!
- You don’t have to use both lights, but you can have fun with your lighting.
c/o: 24″ Photo Cube Studio Light Tent Box Kit, $70 at TheLAShop.com. This was a sponsored post by TheLaShop.com.
Diana Elizabeth loves sharing good photography finds if they are worth sharing about. She wonders if anyone now needs shots for anything – she will tell all of her small business owner friends with products about this method.
Heather Terveen says
Thursday, May 2, 2013 at 1:57 PMGreat review Diana! Interesting little kit. I wonder how food would photograph inside the cube? Hmmmm….
Diana Elizabeth says
Thursday, May 2, 2013 at 4:28 PMHi Heather! I’d just be careful not to spill anything! ;) Let me know if you try it!
Mitch Klann says
Friday, May 3, 2013 at 9:03 AMDo you automatically get the cool shadow effect? What are the dimensions of the cube? I would like to recommend it to our customers who sell their items online.
Diana Elizabeth says
Friday, May 3, 2013 at 9:34 AMHi Mitch, yes, you can position the lights outside of the box to get a shadow if you’d like. You can control where the lighting is that doesn’t impede on the item. It’s pretty neat!