The general idea of a light box is (wait for it) a uniform background in a box full of bright light:
Obviously, this is a low-budget light box, but it makes perfect sense if you already have an essentially unlimited supply of moving boxes, 11×17 inch plotter paper, and a couple of photo / video lights lying around.
A two-layer cardboard ring glued to the top keeps the light from sliding off the box and stiffens the gaping hole letting the light shine through.
You’d normally use a fabric background to get rid of those ugly gaps around the edges and a larger box would be better, so this is along the lines of a proof-of-concept.
From the camera’s viewpoint, it looks better than my crusty desktop cutting mat:
Those gears would not look out of place in Bowman’s bedroom in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
In this day and age, you’d normally use a phone camera:
The lens on my Pixel 6a has a fixed focal length (around 4.4 mm = 27 mm equivalent) and a fixed f/1.8 (-ish) aperture, producing a razor-thin depth of field at the rear of the front gears. Note the fuzzy gears in the background, all of three inches away, and the slightly fuzzy front edge of the front gears. The camera’s digital zoom doesn’t help matters in the least, despite the AI-powered interpolation.
Keeping things close together helps, although the far end of the wipe towers and the rear of the gears lose detail:
Looking from above also helps a little, but a top viewing port would reduce the skewed perspective:
Shallow DOF keeps your attention on the foreground, which is why real photographers use it for portraits:
The camera, an ancient Sony DSC-H5 with a zoom lens going down to f/8, still does nice work through a 2× macro adapter lens:
The DOF is still narrow, but at least the entire front gear is in focus.
Adding a front light picks out the knurling:
The results definitely look better than before, but it’ll take a bit of getting used to traipsing to the Basement Laboratory for every photo …
The Smell of Molten Projects in the Morning 
Comments
4 responses to “Simpleminded Photographic Light Box”
>>unlimited supply of moving boxes
Cheer up. After 21 years, we’ve used up, donated, or demoted to shop supply storage most of the moving boxes. I have a half-dozen 20 x 20 x 10 boxes broken down and held on a top shelf. I figure that the moment they are gone, Murphy would conjure a need. Looking at the labels on them, I realize that I’m not quite as strong as I was in my early 50s. [sigh]
I have DSLR envy but realize that an equivalent to my ancient Nikon F2 and the collection of lenses is beyond my needs budget. Since many of those lenses were a lot older than the F2 body, even the older Nikon digital cameras would not cooperate. There was a digital back for the F2, but it had far too many zeros in the price. I heard it was a favorite for National Geographic after they dropped Kodachrome II.
I actually use my SLR enough and have enough invested in lenses that a DSLR made sense for me. It wasn’t cheap (but I got a good price on it used), but the Df supports all the old Nikon lenses (even the pre-AI ones), and has actual knobs and buttons to control it, so I rarely need to deal with menus, touch screens, and other nonsense when I’m just trying to set up a picture. I haven’t been tempted by any cameras in the intervening years, I like it that much.
I just looked at Amazon for the Df. With a 50mm f1.8 lens, a cool $1300. Figuring that I already have a fast normal lens, I looked at the body-only price.
Great, it “dropped” to merely $2789.95. [Picks jaw off floor.] The joys of bundling, I guess. Neither price will get past $SPOUSE, since our days of lots-o-photography are long gone.
I have a Canon A470 that is probably better than my eyes are now. I’m going to start figuring out how to use one of the Nikor lenses for a spotting scope. I have a mirror that I started 30 years ago before life got in the way.[Sigh]
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