DIY - TableTop Photo Studio for you online store or eBay auction
Business, Photography October 11th, 2007 
Recently, I traveled to Hong Kong and China with my business plan to open a new online store. I realized that make money online with e-commerce store is my way to make profit on the Internet.
However, getting product photo on to the Internet is an expensive thing to do. Many companies hire professional photographer to take photos of the products. One of my suppliers spent 100K+ to hire photography agency and models present their products and make the catalog. It’s pricey.
I want to make my own tabletop photo studio. How?
I was looking for an easy to take photos by myself. I found companies selling tabletop photo studio for about US$300. It includes three tabletop lamps a fabric box. It’s very expensive. So I’ve decided to make one myself.
I would like to take a photo of cell phone like the one shown above. So I need something that I can use to create the tabletop photo studio. Here is what I came up with.
- One 22″x22″ box
- Some white fabric to cover the box
- Three lamps with 5500K color temperature energy saving light bulbs
So here you go!
I cut three big holes on the box, which I almost trashed. US$0.00
I cover the box with a white fabric I bought from Wal-Mart for US$5.00
I already have my Nikon D70S digital camera. I bought three 5500K 27W light bulbs (US$7.00/each) and three 10.5″ reflectors (US$9.00/each) from HomeDepot. I set two lamps on both sides of the box. I hold the third one on my hand and adjust the light angel to make perfect light behind the camera.
I attached few white A4 paper to make the interior of the box. So it won’t reflect the brown color of the box.
So. It costs me total US$53.00 to create my own tabletop photo studio.
This is the easy part. I have to adjust the camera to change setting such as white balance, etc. With a little adjustment in the PhotoShop software, I can make it almost perfect. Now. I can take nearly professional photos of my product like this one.
This saves me a lot of time and money. I can almost take photos of anything that fit into the box.
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17 Responses to “DIY - TableTop Photo Studio for you online store or eBay auction”
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October 11th, 2007 at 3:20 pm
Terence
You are the man , I cannot believe how smart you are .
I have huge interest in photography .
what about taking photos of your sexy products , might need models for that …and more than box
share with us your ideas to take sexy bikini photo
October 11th, 2007 at 8:21 pm
@Gov:
Thank you for your kind words. You should give yourself a new DSLR as a gift and try take photos. It’s not that hard.
Well. I don’t have to hire model myself to take bikini photos. Their are companies doing so for me.
All I have to do is to get the DVD or CD catalog. 
In my previous post “Sexy modeling dream, motivation and success” post, the girl will be my professional model in the future.
October 11th, 2007 at 8:29 pm
$53 is a very good price for such setup! You’ve definitely got it right
October 11th, 2007 at 9:00 pm
@JennyHow:
That’s right. Every penny counts! Using my own tabletop photo studio, I can pretty much make it flexible. I can use smaller box or attach a softlight cover for other larger items.
October 11th, 2007 at 9:43 pm
Neat idea!
I think my light box cost me under $35. That didn’t include bulbs though, which I already had. It’s the collapsible kind, so it stores neatly when not in use.
October 11th, 2007 at 9:50 pm
@dcr:
WOW. I can’t really hide my box.
I saw people spent only $15.00 making their own studio. However the light was not daylight. So their pictures turn out too brown (yellow). I use 5500K light bulbs to make it whiter. I only need to adjust the white balance a little and color level in the photoshop. I kind of like what it turns out.
When can I see your secret store?
October 12th, 2007 at 10:40 am
Terence, my bulbs are white too. I think they’re 5500K, but I’d have to look it up to be certain. Being collapsible is certainly nice, though it takes some practice learning how to close it all back up.
For larger items, you can get a PVC pipe at a hardware store, wire and clamps. The clamps should be the kind that have a hole in their grips, so you can run the wire through them. You run the wire through the hole and make a loop, so that you can suspend the clamps from the pipe. Then, use the clamps to hold up your white cloth. Alternatively, you could use curtain rings, if you don’t mind putting holes through your cloth. You’ll have to come up with a way to hold up the PVC pipe. You could use rope or mounting brackets, etc. Depends on what your ceiling is like and what you can mount or tie to. It’s a lot cheaper than buying a backdrop system.
Another option for items too large for a box but not large enough for the setup described above is to get an inexpensive microphone stand that has two poles. The second pole can be set at a 90 degree angle from the upright pole, and then you just clamp your cloth to the horizontal pole.
As for the “secret store,” probably this weekend!
October 12th, 2007 at 11:31 am
That is very innovative. If I have the need to take me own photos to display items online I will be using this method. Its so easy and inexpensive. One thing will all need to do on our road to riches is cut down on expenses right? Thanks a lot.
October 12th, 2007 at 1:24 pm
@dcr:
That sounds a very good idea with a little imagination. I have two ways for the large item.
1. Use my current curtain hanger for my huge backyard patio door to hold the white fabric, which I bought at Wal-Mart (4 yards). I will use my current light setting with a softcover made by tissue paper, which bought from craft store (US$1.47/25 sheets). I use two ladders to hold those lights. It’s ugly, but it’s definitely cheap.
2. For smaller objects that is too large for the box. I use the 6 person (family size) tent with white fabric interior. I open all windows and don’t put the rain coat on and leave it in my backyard. The straight sun light is bright enough. Or I use the same light at night. The good thing about this is that I can hang the cloth inside the tent. It’s just a little weird. People thought that I camp in my backyard. By the way, it won’t work on rainy day.
Drop me a line. I would love to visit your secret store.
October 12th, 2007 at 1:27 pm
@Gerri:
Yeah. Before we all get very very rich. Every penny counts. Save cost is just one of the ways to keep your cash flow. Use your creative to save more money while earning more will make you richer. Just don’t be too stingy to your employees or your best handyman. You need to share your success with them. So everybody is happy!
October 19th, 2007 at 10:41 am
Looks like a project that to me cost $53 use dollars + the time it took to cut the box and gathering the items from homedepot, etc. I am assuming you drove to these places and that should be added to your cost. I am sure that this would cost more than the stated $53 and one could easily purchase the same thing if not better at http://www.skymall.com/shopping/detail.htm?pid=102215550&c=&v=&cm_sp=Recommend-_-YMAL-_-ProductPage102215550
It comes with different background colors to provide contrast for light or dark items you are trying to photography.
October 19th, 2007 at 5:02 pm
@tony:
Thank you for your information. I have actually tried the tabletop photo studio. I have to say that I am disappointed by the light. It’s not bright enough. That’s why I have to setup my own to make my photo better. I like to DIY many things. Thank you for stopping by!
January 28th, 2008 at 4:56 am
[…] I have picked those wonderful yellow CZ pendants for the Valentine’s Day gift choice. It’s Valentine’s Day, you can get the fine fashion jewelry while they are still available for purchase. It’s worth to mention that the size of those fashion jewelry silver pendant are larger than you will expect. For those who don’t know how I started this online fashion jewelry store, I took all product photos professionally with my own table top studio. You can read more about that at DIY - TableTop Photo Studio for you online store or eBay auction […]
February 19th, 2008 at 9:00 am
Your a real Star!
February 19th, 2008 at 7:09 pm
@TT:
I hope you enjoy the post and get your own studio. Your jewelry store look nice!
March 17th, 2008 at 11:31 am
Great write up! I made something similar but instead of using the bed sheet I used white paper and pvc pipes.
Did the trick perfectly.
March 17th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
@Green:
I am glad that you are using PVC. It is much stronger.