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When you take photos of products at home, lighting is always a big issue. To solve this, here’s a list of the best light box brands to check out and buy.
We can all agree that a light box is one of the most important things to have when you want to take a decent photo— especially a product photo.
You’ll need one of those small light boxes that can contain the product and provide shade on all corners so that you can magnify each corner of the product.
But in order to do that, you must first have the best light box at your disposal. That’s where our guide comes into place. We will list down some of the best light boxes you can find and provide you with a nice buying guide.
Contents
Features To Look For When Buying Light Box
In this guide, we have four products that we’d like to feature. We narrowed down our choices to these four by simply having some criteria when choosing among several product choices. We are going to share this list of criteria with you so that you can choose the best one that suits your own needs.
These factors make up our buying guide:
Wattage
The first thing to take into consideration is the wattage of the box light. In this situation, we can use wattage to determine the power of the box light. Wattage determines the amount of energy that goes into the light so this does make sense. Usually, small box lights will be around 10w while the bigger ones may have higher wattages. But this can be used as your standard.
Size
The size will really depend on the product that you need to take a picture of. For example, the best light box for food photography maybe somewhere between the 9×9 inch size to the 14×16 inch size depending on how big your desired dish is. Light boxes for artists, on the other hand, maybe a little bigger because they’re often used for taking pictures of photos, sculptures, or paintings. Maybe a 20×20 size or something bigger will be more fitting for this purpose. In any case, you need to first determine the subject of your photograph before you decide on the size.
Color Temperature
This will determine the type of light that you can give off. The higher the color temperature, the “whiter” the light, allowing more shadows and certain areas of the product to be highlighted more. Lower color temperatures or warmer ones will not give off that much light but can give some sort of ambiance. This is ideal if you are taking pictures of artworks.
With Or Without Tripod
We wouldn’t say that this is a very crucial factor to think of but it is a helpful one. There are some lightboxes that already come with tripods while others don’t. But it is usually the big ones that offer small phone tripods as part of the package. The portable light box photography types usually don’t. The choice you make is entirely up to you.
Number Of Leds
Lastly, you need to take into consideration the number of LEDs. This all depends on what kind of feel you want to give your product. More LEDs simply means more illumination and light exposure. There are photographers who prefer less LED, especially if they’re using smaller light boxes. But for the average lightbox, a minimum of 20 LEDs is a pretty good benchmark.
Best Light Boxes To Buy (Reviews)
1. Emart Photography Table Light
This is our preferred medium-sized light box which can be used for medium or even small-sized products to even food products. The cool thing about this light is that it has four colors for backdrops. These are white, blue, gray, and black. This will give you more flexibility with your photo designs.
Pros
- Adequate size of 14×16 inches
- Comes with a USB port, power bank, and plug adaptor
- 4 color backdrops to choose from
- 10w of power
- Comes with a loop handle that makes carrying it easier
Cons
- Not such a good choice if you’re looking to maximize brightness
2. AmazonBasics Foldable Light Box
Via: Amazon.com
This is the biggest one that you can find on this list. It has dimensions of 25x30x25 inches, which makes it fit any type of product. Another cool thing about it is that it can be set up in just a few seconds. It can also be folded and brought around. It also has powerful LED lights with a 5600K color temperature.
Pros
- 25x30x25 inches dimensions
- 3 door system that allows you to get different angles of your product easily
- Has a CRI or Color Rendering Index
- Can be used with the Amazon seller app
- Very high output LED lights with 5600K color temperature
Cons
- Lamps are not that long-lasting
- The background has a small crevice.
3. SENLIXIN Photo Studio Tent
The best advantage of this photography lightbox is that its size fits perfectly for small products like rings, earrings, necklaces, and other pieces of jewelry. Because of the size, the light is concentrated, making each corner focus on every aspect of the product.
Pros
- Strong lights on a small box
- Great for small products that have very detailed craftsmanship
- Portable and can be brought anywhere
- Very easy to install
- 6 color backdrops to choose from
Cons
- Not very sturdy
- Not applicable for bigger products
4. Depthlan Folding Photo Studio Kit Box
Via: Amazon.com
This is a medium to small-sized photo studio kit box that spans 9x9x9.5 inches. It’s great for small products like watches and jewelry. At the same time, it can even fit slightly bigger products such as shoes or high heels.
Pros
- Comes with 20 pieces of LED lights that can prevent shadows
- Comes with the both black and white backdrop
- This is extremely easy to set up
- Small-medium size probably as big A4 paper
- Can be folded and brought around anywhere
Cons
- Not very sturdy
- May not last that long
Conclusion
It’s extremely important to find the best light box for your photography needs because the lighting is one of the biggest factors that affect quality. Now, the thing about photos is that the outcome will all depend on what kind of “feel” you want your photos to have.
The lighting is what will give the “feel”. By knowing how to pick the best one for your needs and having a narrowed list of choices, you’ll have a much easier time knowing what to purchase.
