A DIY light tent costs under $10 and takes about an hour to build. The result is functionally identical to what commercial light tents sell for $30 to $80: a white-walled diffusion box that wraps a product in soft, even, shadow-free light from multiple directions at once.

How a Light Tent Works

A light tent surrounds a product on three or four sides with white diffusion material. Light sources placed outside the tent pass through the diffusion walls, bounce around the interior, and reach the product from multiple directions simultaneously. The result is soft, wrapping light with minimal specular highlights and almost no directional shadows.

This solves two problems that plague improvised product photography setups. Glossy surfaces reflect the white walls instead of the surrounding room, eliminating distracting environmental reflections. Matte surfaces show clean, even texture without harsh shadows cutting across them. The light tent does this automatically, with no modifier placement, no power ratio juggling, and no post-production shadow removal.

Before building, the product photography guide and best camera for product photography are worth reading for context on how a light tent fits into a broader product workflow.

Build 1: Cardboard Box Light Tent (Under $10, Under 1 Hour)

This build requires a cardboard box, white tissue paper or tracing paper, white poster board, and two desk lamps. Everything except the box comes from a dollar store.

Materials

• Large cardboard box (minimum 18 inches on each side)
• White tissue paper or tracing paper
• White poster board or foam board (background sweep)
• Masking tape or gaffer tape
• Box cutter
• Two desk lamps with daylight-balanced bulbs (5000 to 5500K)

Construction Steps

1. Cut three diffusion windows. Lay the box on its side so the open end faces you. Cut large rectangles from the top, left, and right faces of the box, leaving a 2-inch cardboard border around each window for structural support. The front of the box stays fully open as your camera opens.
2. Cover each window with diffusion material. Cut tissue paper slightly larger than each opening. Tape it taut across the outside of each window. Any sags or wrinkles create uneven diffusion and visible variation in the interior light. Two layers of tissue paper further soften the output if your lamps are very bright.
3. Create the background sweep. Slide a piece of white poster board into the box from the front so it curves from the back wall across the floor, creating a seamless horizon-free background. Tape the top edge to the back interior wall. The board’s natural stiffness holds the curve.
4. Position your lights. Place one lamp on each side of the box, aimed at the side diffusion windows from outside. Keep lamps roughly level with the center of the box. Use matching daylight bulbs. Mixed color temperatures create color casts that are difficult to correct in post.
5. Camera setup. Mount on a tripod centered in front of the open face. Shoot in manual mode to maintain consistent exposure across a product shoot. Start at f/8 to f/11 for full product depth of field, ISO 100 to 200, and let shutter speed float to meter correctly. Desk lamps typically require 1/30 to 1 second, so a tripod is essential. Lighting for white background products is a useful companion for the specific exposure decisions involved.

Build 2: Collapsible PVC Frame Light Tent (Under $20)

The cardboard version is fixed in size and awkward to store. This version uses PVC pipe and white fabric panels secured with binder clips. It disassembles flat, adjusts to different cube sizes, and the fabric can be washed and replaced.

Cut a 3/4-inch PVC pipe into 12 equal lengths. A 16-inch cube suits most small products. Connect the pipes using 90-degree elbow connectors at each of the eight corners to form a cube frame. Drape white cotton or ripstop nylon fabric over the top, left, right, and back faces and clip it to the frame with binder clips. The front stays open. Slide a curved foam board sweep inside as your background.

The whole frame disassembles in minutes and stores in a bag. Setup time after the first build is about 10 minutes.

Lighting Placement and Adjustments

Two side lights are the standard setup and cover most product types. Understanding what adjustments change the result gives you creative control over the output.

• Third top light: Adding a lamp through the top window lifts overall brightness and reduces darkening on the top faces of taller products.
• Uneven side lights: Placing one lamp closer than the other creates a slight directional character, with one face brighter than the other, which preserves the sense of depth and surface texture that flat, even light can flatten out.
• White foam board at the front opening: Placing a foam board reflector just below the camera opening bounces light back under the product, eliminating shadow under overhangs or the product base.

Backgrounds and Surfaces

White poster board is the standard for e-commerce and catalog work. Switching the sweep changes the entire mood of the shot:

• Black foam board: Gives a premium, luxury feel. Works well for cosmetics, watches, and electronics.
• Colored poster board: Instant brand-matched backgrounds without any post-production.
• Natural textures: A wood plank, slate tile, or folded linen fabric as the floor surface gives lifestyle product shots an editorial quality suited to food, artisan goods, and home products. DIY backgrounds for product photography offer a range of textured options that work at a small scale.

Food Photography Inside a Light Tent

Standard light tent output, which is even all-direction wrap light, is generally wrong for food photography. Even light flattens texture and removes the sense of moisture and depth that makes food images compelling. Most food photographers use directional light, where a single strong source comes from the side or back.

The fix inside a light tent is blocking one side panel entirely with black foam board. This turns a three-source box into a one-directional setup while keeping the background and environment under control. The result is directional light with a controlled, neutral background, exactly what commercial food photography relies on.

Fixing Hotspots

Hotspots are bright circular patches visible on diffusion panels when a lamp shines too directly through a thin single layer of tissue paper. Three fixes, in order of simplicity:

1. Add a second layer of diffusion material over the affected window.
2. Move the lamp farther from the box to spread the beam before it hits the diffusion.
3. Switch to a frosted bulb rather than a clear one.

If the left and right walls inside the tent show noticeable differences in brightness, the lamps are at unequal distances or angles. Measure and match them exactly. A light tent fits naturally into a home studio setup alongside backdrops and other DIY modifiers.

---