I take an inordinate amount of joy in reusing projects in new and different ways. Way back in the winter, I built parallel light arrays for an indoor greenhouse. Obviously at the height of summer, such a device isn’t necessary. So what can you do with a little indoor greenhouse to make use of it?

The answer: a seamless lightbox for macro/closeup photography!

Parts

  • 1 sheet of poster board
  • 2-4 clothespins
  • Indoor greenhouse
  • 2 LED light ballasts
  • 30 feet of 1/2” or 3/4” PVC
  • 4 corner joints
  • 8 T joints
  • 2 plain white bed sheets

Tools

  • Power drill with 1/8” bit
  • Patience

Directions

Assemble a standing rig for the light array as shown below:

light_array.png

The yellow represents the LED light ballast. The black are PVC pipes. The red are the intersections where you place corner or T joints.

Once you have one, build a second.

After you have both, set them up on opposite sides of the greenhouse.

In the greenhouse, lay the poster board down on a middle shelf, then bend it slightly (without creasing it) to clip the top to the adjacent shelf.

IMG_7806.jpg

Finally, clip the sheets on the sides of the greenhouse.

When done, you should have a seamless backdrop, side-lit to showcase items for sale on sites like Etsy and eBay, or just a way to photograph objects close up:

IMG_7805.jpg

Above, this image was before the sheets were put on. You can see mild shadow effects in the image that went away after I installed sheets.

Try this out if you have leftover gardening structures!


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