Taking Photos with a Light Box

[P_Clapham]

I constructed one over the weekend, using a carboard box, bristol board and cheesecloth.  Followed the instructions of shooting at close range, no zoom, using the portrait setting.  So far the photos have been kinda meh.  I posted a few in the Fantasy section, here's one of them.



The figures are much darker than they should be.  I had to lighten the picture in photoshop, even then it looks dark and grainy.  One possibility I thought of was the time of day.  I've been shooting these at night, in a well lit room, with the full spectrum lamp directly over the light box.  Still they don't look better than the photos I shot during the day without the light box, such as this vampire.



Any tips on improving my pictures.  I've been using Adobe Photoshop and a Cannon 3.2 mega pixel.

[Hammers]

For best results you need multiple light source (In use 3), daylight bulbs, reflectors, macro setting/objective and tripod.

See discussion here:

http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=15885.0

I use three economy daylight bulbs ranging from the equivalent of 150 to 75W. The strongest one directed from top bac the others from the front sides, not too far away from the modells. The point is to get rid of dark, deep shadows.