DIY eBay Photo Studio – $0
If you’ve ever wanted to take professional looking photos for your eBay listings, look no further. Today, I will show you how to make a simple macro photo studio using common household items. You will need the following supplies:
- Empty Corona 24-pack box (or any cardboard box)
- Paper towels (I used Bounty quilted)
- Printer paper (8.5″ x 11″)
- Duct tape
- Scissors and/or razor blade
- Reading lamp (Mine has a 60W bulb)
- Camera
Step 1:
Start by cutting out the top, sides, and bottom of the box, leaving the back intact. The Corona box will be the enclosure to your macro photo studio.
Step 2:
Cover up the top and side compartments with paper towels. Use duct tape to hold them in place with the box. Leave the bottom completely open.
Step 3:
Tape two sheets of printer paper together and attach them to the back-top of the box so that they drape down.
You are now ready to start taking professional quality photos. Take your reading lamp and position the light to the side of the box. The paper towels will diffuse the light to create soft, beautiful shadows on whatever you’re photographing.
Below are a few sample photos:
Update: I used a Canon Digital Rebel with a Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II lens. Shots were taken about 2 feet away from the object with no flash, 400 ISO, white balanced to Tungsten (do this for incandescent bulbs), and automatic setting. Photoshop was used only for cropping and auto level.
Update 2: If your images are coming out too dark, you may want to switch to a compact fluorescent bulb. They’re much brighter and more efficient than your standard incandescent bulb, and they also come in daylight color so your photos won’t come out yellowish.
Explore posts in the same categories: DIY, Photography, Tech
Fresh Fodder 
January 3, 2007 at 4:15 am
Cool idea. I just started building a light tent, but it’s a little more expensive than the Corona box option 🙂
May 4, 2010 at 8:02 pm
There is one more tip: here is a good postprocessing web service http://2dbin.com/Autoprocess/nqumgdby and good for thouse who make an object photography
January 3, 2007 at 4:47 am
thats a wicked set up man. Thanks for the idea. I will be using this next time I need shots.
January 3, 2007 at 9:12 am
wow…………………………………………………. i see you are hard at work.
January 3, 2007 at 10:05 am
Thats awesome.
I have three things my husband and I just decided to put on Ebay. . . . .
. . .tonight might just turn into craft night. I hope ‘Blue’ boxes will be ok. 🙂
January 3, 2007 at 11:28 am
Don’t forget to set the camera white balance to Tungsten if you are using an incandescent bulb.
January 3, 2007 at 12:05 pm
hah i have a similar set-up. who needs aesthetics as long as the foto comes out great, who cares what conditions you shot it under and what equipment u used 😉
January 3, 2007 at 12:32 pm
Should I turn off my flash on my digital camera before I take the picture?
January 3, 2007 at 1:37 pm
Bill: I left my flash off while taking these photos because it was completely washing out the shadows. You can use a higher wattage bulb (or switch to flurescent) if the lighting is too dim.
January 3, 2007 at 5:24 pm
What an awesome DIY trick. No wonder I’m not getting any responses on my craigslist positngs 😉
January 3, 2007 at 6:02 pm
wow thanks for the ideas! wonder what will you do if it’s apparel and bags?
January 3, 2007 at 6:20 pm
Obviously, the best part of this is emptying the box. I think I might need several of these lightboxes. No need to take any pictures, but it wouldn’t hurt to have 2,3, 10 of them lying around just in case.
January 3, 2007 at 7:51 pm
Jesse, this is really great! I’ve always wondered about this, and am just thrilled to see these simple helpful directions. Happy new Year, BL
January 3, 2007 at 9:55 pm
hmmmmm… an interesting concept, i will try, thx
January 4, 2007 at 3:53 am
Great Idea!. Thanks for the tip.
Thanks also for showing me that lovely, smooth, refreshing, inviting bottle of Corona!.
*nips off to the pub for lunch and an ice cold one* 😉
January 4, 2007 at 5:35 am
that’s aces…but you see…. i need to sell a running machine…
January 4, 2007 at 6:54 am
That is totally mint!!
January 4, 2007 at 7:12 am
great tip, thanks for sharing
January 4, 2007 at 7:39 am
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January 4, 2007 at 8:46 am
Cool idea! I will be taking pictures of over 600 mini bottles to sell on EBay and have ben trying to come up with a way to show them at their best. This will work great!
January 4, 2007 at 9:51 am
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January 4, 2007 at 11:28 am
What a great and frugal idea. Thanks for sharing 🙂
January 4, 2007 at 12:11 pm
I love the idea. However, I have one question. Maybe I’m missing it, but from what angle are you taking these pictures? If the sides and top are closed with paper towels, how are you taking a picture looking down on the object?
THANKS!!
January 4, 2007 at 7:23 pm
Ingenious! I really like this idea. I’ll be on the lookout for a spare box to make one of these. Thanks!
January 5, 2007 at 8:06 am
Hey thats pretty sweet – my favourite bit is u get to drink lots of beer!!! I found this series of blog articles that help with ebay photos they have a manual flash diffuser that requires you to eat pringles!! AWESOMEEEE!
Take a look at: http://frooition.blogspot.com/2006/11/perfect-product-photos-macro-mode.html
January 5, 2007 at 11:25 am
now that is pretty cool, I found this link on another blog and thought it was supposed to be a joke, I think I will build one
steve
January 5, 2007 at 10:57 pm
Genius. I’ve recently started a photo project that this might be perfect for.
January 6, 2007 at 2:33 pm
I posted part 2 of my guide to making a more expensive light tent, which talks about the parts and assembly. Tomorrow I’ll try to post some example shots.
January 7, 2007 at 7:07 pm
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January 8, 2007 at 8:46 am
Classic technique….really liked it and will experiment it on soon!
Thanks
January 8, 2007 at 10:17 pm
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January 8, 2007 at 10:39 pm
Nice idea and I loved reading the post.
Would definitely give it a try as it got me attracted :).
January 9, 2007 at 2:46 am
Very useful, thank you.
January 15, 2007 at 5:57 pm
This is a great idea. You had me rummaging around my basement looking for a box and lamp. Alas, none were found. Will definitely give it a try.
January 17, 2007 at 9:45 pm
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January 27, 2007 at 4:15 pm
Wow…someone just sent me this link…awesome idea!
Can’t wait to drink the beer first. Thanks man.
January 31, 2007 at 7:29 pm
Another Etsian posted this link. Great idea, I’ll have to try this one.
February 1, 2007 at 4:55 am
Wow! I am certainly going to link here as I have loads of ebay friends who would love this idea. Thanks for the how too!
February 1, 2007 at 5:01 am
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February 1, 2007 at 1:10 pm
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February 9, 2007 at 4:10 pm
Thank you thank you thank you! I’ve started selling on Etsy and just can’t get consistent pictures, let alone very good ones. I’m going to try building this!
Thanks -Nicola
February 11, 2007 at 8:43 am
[…] DIY eBay Photo Studio – $0 If you’ve ever wanted to take professional looking photos for your eBay listings, look no further. Today, I will show you how to make a simple macro photo studio using common household items. […]
February 14, 2007 at 8:08 am
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March 3, 2007 at 3:32 am
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March 10, 2007 at 7:24 pm
good one lol
March 11, 2007 at 4:33 pm
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March 12, 2007 at 3:32 am
thanks!
March 13, 2007 at 11:39 am
Homemade “studio”
Not much time lately to update and write, but I had to make time to write about this. I, as a hobbyist, always look for great ideas and things to make it easier and cheaper to have photography as a hobby. One thing I’ve realized is VERY importa…
April 11, 2007 at 2:10 pm
This lighting setup is rubbish, and hence so are the photos! But it has potential….. Firstly, tracing/copying paper instead of printer paper will diffuse light and let more pass through. Secondly, A brighter light source will work better….but unfortunatly this will set you back a little more than $0.00.
May 19, 2007 at 3:03 pm
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May 21, 2007 at 3:12 pm
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May 31, 2007 at 12:05 pm
Hi,
Really cool idea:)
I mainly sell dvds on ebay and have trouble with glare from
the shrink wrapping. Any ideas to stop this?
Thanks
Paul Warren
June 16, 2007 at 1:33 am
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July 6, 2007 at 5:37 am
Thank you for this information.
September 10, 2007 at 3:45 am
Thanks for the nice tutorial!
September 27, 2007 at 5:22 am
Great idea I will drink the beer and get started
November 21, 2007 at 2:19 am
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February 15, 2008 at 4:57 am
This is a great economy idea, remember that depth of field is as important in a tiny object as it is in an interior shot, or a group of people- use as slow a shutter speed as possible -if you can run manual in a digital compact- and the whole object will be in focus. (possibly drinking the beer a few days before will prevent camera shake, and obviate the need for a tripod). D
March 21, 2008 at 3:15 am
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May 6, 2008 at 3:54 am
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November 1, 2008 at 8:20 pm
Thank you for your site 😉
I made with photoshop backgrounds for youtube, myspace and whatever
my backgrounds:http://tinyurl.com/5cy5cq
have a great day and thank you again!
January 7, 2009 at 10:04 pm
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January 11, 2009 at 9:19 am
Thank you so much!!! I made one out of an Amazon box I had. It works SO WELL! I will try to post a picture I took with it. THANK YOU!!! PS: I found something similar for $100.00, WHAT A JOKE! This works just as well I bet except for $0 as I had paper towels, the box, tape ,and razor+scissors already for other purposes. I guess you could say I paid for and used up towels and tape, so I would put the cost of this at around $0.25 if I had to, 1/400 of the cost as a real one. Thanks for saving me $99.75 mate!
January 19, 2009 at 3:18 pm
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May 22, 2009 at 1:33 pm
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STOP buyers from leaving Negative Feedback even if t’s factual. I got this from an eBay PowerSeller C/S rep 1st hand. I also learned how to trick the voice menu into putting me through to C/S without having to hear ALL the BS options for emailing them.
September 27, 2009 at 3:42 am
Hey, you have a great blog here! I’m definitely going to bookmark you! Thank you for your info.And this is Home Improvement site/blog. It pretty much covers Home Improvement related stuff.
December 12, 2009 at 4:26 pm
Hey, the images are all gone!
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