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Mushrooms, Mycology and Psychedelics > Mushroom Cultivation
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The $21 Lightbox Tek for Better Mushroom Pictures * 10
    #29577568 -

So, something I have been wanting to do is to improve the quality of my cultivation pics. Until recently, I've just used a piece of clean cardboard propped up behind whatever I was taking a picture of to hide the background clutter, but the lighting in my grow area is harsh and crappy and I was struggling a bit to make peace with that.


So, I looked on Amazon, bought a 20" x 20" photography light box kit for the ghastly sum of $80 USD and I set it up and took a pic with the only thing I had going at the moment, a PF Tek jar & I set it on top of my earbuds case to give it some elevation off of the floor:

F+, Cake Wars II


It was great! I loved the way the picture turned out. I know very little about photography and just have the camera on my smartphone using the default/standard settings, whatever they may be.  But still...$80...fuck that. Will you get better results with an $80 lightbox? Perhaps. Can you make awesome pics with this $21 project? Absolutely.

Presenting:
The $21 Lightbox Tek for Better Mushroom Photos

With this easy and low-cost side project, you'll be able to take really nice pictures of small objects (like mushrooms) easily using your phone's camera.

Materials: I had blue painters tape, aluminum foil, scissors, and an old white t-shirt on hand. I bought everything else from Walmart. Total for the stuff I had to buy to make 1 lightbox was roughly $21 plus tax.

Materials List
  • Cardboard storage box, wide enough for a piece of posterboard to fit inside
  • Aluminum foil
  • Blue painter's tape (or any tape)
  • Glue stick
  • 60 watt daylight LED lightbulb (IMPORTANT: Do Not Use an incandescent bulb! Fire hazard.)
  • Clamp light
  • Black and white posterboard
  • Scissors
  • Old white t-shirt or other thin white clothlike material, about 12" square


Assembly Procedure:
  • If needed, assemble/form the box using tape. The box size is somewhat non-critical, but I wanted something that was wide enough to fit a whole sheet of posterboard into the box, so I used a 27"x15"x17" box.
  • Tape the flaps of the box back, so that they are taped in the "open" position. I found that putting a piece of tape onto a flap and then folding it around the corner to the adjacent flap worked well for me.
  • Mark and then cut out a circle that is slightly smaller in diameter than your clamp light.
  • Using the glue stick and aluminum foil, line the entirety of the interior of the box with aluminum foil. Put glue on the dull side of the aluminum foil and adhere it to the cardboard. The aluminum foil serves as a light reflector for your light source. Take your time with this step and try to keep the foil fairly wrinkle free for maximum reflectivity. 
  • Add the lightbulb to the clamp light and secure the clamp light in place using tape.
  • Cut the t-shirt up so that you wind up with a single layer of cloth that is 12" to 18" square.
  • Tape the t-shirt loosely to the inside top surface of the box, so that it drapes/sags a bit in the middle and will not contact the light bulb. This cloth functions as a light diffuser, making the lighting โ€œsofterโ€/less harsh.
  • DONE!







Operation:
  • Turn your light on and make sure the cloth is not touching the lightbulb.
  • Place a sheet of posterboard into the box *without* creasing it, just slide it in so that the top edge is near the rear top inside corner and let the rest of it naturally arc through the lower back corner and across the "floor" of the box. Secure the posterboard backdrop with a piece of blue painters tape.
  • Add your object to be photographed and take your pictures.
  • Turn off the light and unplug it. Put any backgrounds or props inside the box and set it somewhere that your dog or cat won't jump into it. :wink:


Have fun!
From here, there's lots one can do to spice up your small object pictures by using little stands (like water bottle caps, blocks of wood, wedges, whatever) to elevate your subject off of the floor somewhat to make it "float". You can use different colors of posterboard to give a different tone to the picture. You can use cloths over the stands to both elevate and also soften the shadows beneath the subject. Your personal flavor of creativity will ultimately show you where to go with it. You might also experiment with different wattage LED bulbs, as that might make a positive difference. I picked 60W as my starting point for this project.




Following is a photo dump of the test pics I made for this writeup. All I had to photograph at the moment was a PF Tek jar. All photos taken with an iphone using default/standard photo settings, no flash. This size box also works well for shoeboxes, but tight framing is important because it is *just* big enough with good framing.

Good luck and have fun! We all put in a lot of effort to grow beautiful & bountiful mushroom crops.  Let's also celebrate and highlight their beauty and magic by spiffing up our photos using this cheap and easy project.

Peace to you all, friends!

------------------------------------------------------------------------
PHOTO DUMP - test pics using the lightbox constructed for this project
------------------------------------------------------------------------
 





--------------------
Peace to you, friend!
The HHG is a guide to getting started.
New User Welcome Wagon
GROWERโ€™S BEST photo contest: join the fun!
CAKE WARS III - Starts SEPT 1, 2026

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Re: The $21 Lightbox Tek for Better Mushroom Pictures [Re: flapping_bird] * 1
    #29577584 -


Edited by flapping_bird (05/17/26 04:14 PM)

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Re: The $21 Lightbox Tek for Better Mushroom Pictures [Re: flapping_bird] * 1
    #29577764 -

Those colors are so nice!!!!! The blue and purple especially. This is great.

:kaneclap:


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.~`  ๐”… ๐”ž ๐”ค ๐”ข ๐”ฉ  ๐Ÿฅฏ  ๐”… ๐”ฆ ๐”ฑ ๐”ข ๐”ฐ  `~.
:salute: CAKE WARS III HAPPENING NOW :salute:

๐Ÿงช Castellani Preservation | ๐Ÿ”ฌ The Slidewich | โ˜ ๏ธ Touchless skull sterilizer | ๐Ÿ“ธ Agar plate scanner


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Re: The $21 Lightbox Tek for Better Mushroom Pictures [Re: Rasmodius] * 1
    #29578614 -

Another project for the weekend! Thanks for the write up and idea! ๐Ÿค


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bucket full of rust

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Re: The $21 Lightbox Tek for Better Mushroom Pictures [Re: RustBucketz] * 1
    #29578779 -

Very cool and nicely done.:like:


--------------------
"The cosmos is within us. We are made of star-stuff. We are a way for the universe to know itself."

Carl Sagan

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Re: The $21 Lightbox Tek for Better Mushroom Pictures [Re: DaBelly]
    #29578795 -

Thanks much. Iโ€™m really looking forward to seeing how it does with a full shoebox flush pic, with actual fruits! :lol: Hopefully someone with a fresh flush of mushies will make this project and post a few pics, as it is going to be a little while before I will have fruits!


--------------------
Peace to you, friend!
The HHG is a guide to getting started.
New User Welcome Wagon
GROWERโ€™S BEST photo contest: join the fun!
CAKE WARS III - Starts SEPT 1, 2026

Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Re: The $21 Lightbox Tek for Better Mushroom Pictures [Re: flapping_bird] * 1
    #29579109 -

flapping_bird said:
Thanks much. Iโ€™m really looking forward to seeing how it does with a full shoebox flush pic, with actual fruits! :lol: Hopefully someone with a fresh flush of mushies will make this project and post a few pics, as it is going to be a little while before I will have fruits!

Looking forward to it.:mushroom2::thumbup:


--------------------
"The cosmos is within us. We are made of star-stuff. We are a way for the universe to know itself."

Carl Sagan

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Re: The $21 Lightbox Tek for Better Mushroom Pictures [Re: DaBelly] * 1
    #29579783 -

Very cool! :heart:

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Re: The $21 Lightbox Tek for Better Mushroom Pictures [Re: ambigu] * 1
    #29597612 -

Some other pics taken with this setup:



--------------------
Peace to you, friend!
The HHG is a guide to getting started.
New User Welcome Wagon
GROWERโ€™S BEST photo contest: join the fun!
CAKE WARS III - Starts SEPT 1, 2026

Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Jump to top Pages: 1

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