how to take great etsy photos - part 1 – how to make a white light box

Welcome to the How-To Series about how I personally photograph my jewelry. My purpose is not to say that this is how to do all things. It is simply to give you an idea of how I do it so that you can improve your photos with ideas from me. Or, if you find something I do that is completely insane and you know how to do it better, please feel free to share.

I love foamcore. I do. It has got to be the easiest thing to build things out of. I even have some shelves built out of it. However, it is not the easiest thing to find. In fact, I lost track of how many looks of insanity I have received from asking a store employee if they had it, and that was at craft stores. It is more commonly known as foam board, and you can find that easier. I know Michaels has some, but they are typically one size and colorful. Office Max has some, a lot of the time it is in presentation board format, so don’t get folding ones. I have even seen some at the dollar store, and can I tell you, it was the best. So easy to cut! And a dollar, not three like in other places.

My white box is sort of small, for jewelry, but you can make it whatever size you want. Just keep cutting at 2” tabs around and make sure it fits. I would make sure to draw it all on before you cut. When I did mine I then put an X in which chunk I would cut out so that I got the right one cut. Please, make sure you are sure of what you are cutting before you cut. These are large pieces of foamcore, and I would hate for you to ruin them.

Here are the measurements of my pieces. The cool thing about it is that you can take it apart time and time again to store flat when not in use. Love it. I have mine labeled on the outside so I don’t have to think very hard when putting it back together.

The piece of paper I have in it was just the length of the paper I had. Feel free to make it whatever size you want. Also, try and get the paper as white as possible seeing as how this is what will be seen in the photos. If not pure white, at least foamcore white.

Come back next week for the next part!