knockoffs
The Food Blog Forum launched a few days ago. The brainchild of Scott and Jaden Hair of Steamy Kitchen and Todd Porter and Diane Cu of White On Rice Couple, it has articles and a forum for people to exchange tips and talk about their food blogs. Fairly meta, but it looked interesting so I signed up (you can find me under the username raccoonandlobster).
In the food photography forums, I found a thread discussing how to take pictures of your food at night. This is something that I struggle with as my kitchen and dining room aren’t very well lit even during the day and the strange color casts from my dining room lights add little to whole experience. Learning how to set the white balance on my camera helped a lot but there was still insufficient lighting and lingering color casts from the strangely colored light fixtures. Even with a fast prime lens
The forums mentioned Lowel EGO lights
A little googling turned up a few enterprising souls who chose to make DIY version of the lights and I decided to experiment with making my own too. It turned out surprising well!
This picture is shot with all the available living room lights on. The aperture is set to f/8.0 and the white balance is set to auto. I can’t hold the camera still enough for a crisp shot and the color is dark and yellow. Keep in mind that my dining room is even more dimly lit and the light skews more orange.
In this photo, I set the aperture to f/2.0 and manually set the white balance. Better, but there’s still a yellowish cast visible and I’ve lost quite a bit of depth of field. Tweaking in PhotoShop could do a lot to improve this picture, but that means more work for me.
And here is the same scene lit with my knockoff Lowel EGO lights. The white balance is set to Auto again and the aperture was set to f/8.0. Just like the other pictures, this picture was shot with the camera in my hand. To get a shot like this without the lights, I would have to set up a tripod and do post processing on the color.
My homemade lights ended up costing $43.11 for a pair (mostly for the bulbs) and required no wiring, sawing, or drilling. That’s a savings of almost $160! After figuring out how I was going to assemble everything, the second light took me less than half an hour to put together. Not bad, huh? You can recreate this same setup with more durable materials if you have the tools and skills to do so. I originally intended the foam board version as a proof of concept, intending to build the end product with particle board, but I found the foam board to be quite sturdy and quite sufficient for my needs.
Each light uses 2 full spectrum compact fluorescent bulbs that are equivalent to 100 watt traditional bulbs, just like the EGO lights (all of the other DIY projects used one bulb for each light). You will need the following for each light
2 full spectrum CFLs – $9.99 for a pack
1 twin socket adapter – $2.69
1 clamp light – $6.99 (check that the metal shade can be unscrewed, most can)
1 sheet of foam board – $2.99 (the standard 20″x30″ foam board is enough for 2 lights with some left over)
1 sheet of cross-stitch mesh approx 11×14 -$0.39
1-2 sheets of parchment paper
and an X-acto knife, tape, and a ruler.
Unscrew the shade from the light and remove the clamp mechanism. You now have a light socket connected to a wire and plug. If you are comfortable doing your own wiring you can also buy the socket and wire and plug separately and put it together. It was only a few dollars difference though, and this was way easier.
Cut a piece of foam board into a 11×14 rectangle. Cut out a hole for the light socket in the center of the board.
Remove the socket and trace a line down the middle of the board going lengthwise. Using your knife, gently score the board but do not cut all the way through the foam. Bend the board to create a hinge.
Bend the board into a 90° and stand it up. Put the socket back in and screw in the twin socket adapter. Align the mesh with the sides of the foam board and trace the curve it makes onto the foam board and cut it out to make a base for your light.
Tape the mesh to both sides of the foam board and layer one or two layers of parchment paper on the outside to further diffuse the lighting.
As a bonus, you can re-attach the clamp mechanism to your lamp after it is completed and have a light that can stand on flat surfaces or be clamped to objects as desired.
Amigurumi Cthulhu, what do you think about the lighting?
Raawwwrrr!
Full feed
This is fabulous dunaewa! I may have to make some similar lights just for the fun, and to photograph sock monkeys and things. Very useful, thanks for the step by step!
I was following that thread too and saw the instructions that included particle board and a saw. Yours look a lot easier to construct. Did you make one or two? If it is just one, I’m impressed with the results!
… Okay, you did make two (I need coffee!). I love the stuffed toy.
Yep, with two it’s easier to eliminate shadows without having to do a lot of work with a reflector. Since it’s so fast to put together, there’s very little reason not to make a pair.
Awesome post!! I’ve been considering the Lowel Ego lights for a while but I’m all for a cheaper solution! This may be a dumb question, but where do you find the cross-stitch mesh?
Oops! I should have put that in the post. The cross stitch mesh and foam board can be found at fabric and craft stores like Jo-Ann Fabric and Michael’s and the rest of the items can be found at most hardware stores.
Thank you
Love this post!
I’ve been wanting for a while now to build a light box or similar. Though I wonder, does it need to be a certain kind of mesh or fabric, or should it just be white? The one pictured looks quite thick.
That layer acts as a shade to diffuse the light coming out. It doesn’t have to be any particular kind, the mesh was just a pre-cut plastic of the right size and thickness that is pretty commonly available. If you find something else that works, please share!
$160 saved…to spend on shoes
I will have to search for all of these items. It looks almost like the real thing when lit up! Wow. Thanks for such a detailed post.
Saw this post on FoodGawker this morning and instantly knew I had a new project! They turned out really great (seriously clever idea to use the twin socket and clamp light, by the way). It’s great to have quality light at night without the outrageous expense of the Ego lights… so thanks!
Cannot wait to try this. Thanks so much for the tips!
Holy lighting Batman! WTG Ronnie. This post is exactly what I’ve been needing. I’ve got great light at my place but, I don’t always shoot at my place. This is a great tutorial for lights that can be taken anywhere!
Thank you!
Thank you so much for coming up with this and post it! I just finished putting them together and can’t wait to start taking pictures with them! These were by far the cheapest, attractive, and most practical DIY EGO lights I’ve seen. I was able to build the two for approximately $30!!!
Great tutorial. I can’t wait to give this a shot! Thanks so much.
You probably already saw the pingback, but I built a set of these over the weekend and I LOVE them. Thanks so much for posting this!