Light Boxes for Photography and Light Boxes for Tracing

Many visual artists have the need for light boxes for photography and light boxes for tracing. The ability to have media back-lit for improved clarity of detail is instrumental in producing artwork and determining the elements in film negatives or slides. Photographers tend to expose a lot of film that must be viewed quickly and easily, compared, sorted or organized. Artists need a light box to illuminate artwork for tracing or elaborating on a concept based on aspects of other work, such as in the creation of animation.

Basically, a light box is a simple framed box that holds several light bulbs or fluorescent tubes as the light source. The top is typically a frosted pane of glass or Plexiglas to protect the eyes and to provide a firm surface through which the light can pass without glare to reach the media viewed over it. A good light box is constructed carefully to provide the best light distribution without causing hot spots of fall-offs. They can be constructed from aluminum or wood and house the electrical fittings to power the lights. Light Boxes may also feature dual light control for variable light intensity.

Some artistic applications call for using the glass top to hold pieces that must be sized and fitted using various tapes and masking. Photographers similarly use a light box in this way such as if a negative has broken sprockets or a piece of film needs splicing, for example. Quilters find light boxes useful in designing their patterns as they have to work out certain combinations with pieces of paper before actually cutting into the fabric pieces. If they are working from an original concept, they may need to trace components.

Beyond the obvious uses, light boxes for photography and light boxes for tracing end up becoming useful in many more ways that people often would not have considered. Having the light box available makes many jobs easier just by the ability to illuminate work such as stitchery crafts, overlay work, model building, calligraphy, sketching and teaching. The longer you have a light box, the more uses you find for it.