Reddit mentions of CowboyStudio 30-Inch Photo Soft Box Light - 4 Chroma Key Backdrops

Yeah, it is.

Do you have one of these already?

Get a light box like this

http://www.amazon.com/CowboyStudio-30-Inch-Photo-Soft-Light/dp/B001TKCZVM/ref=pd_sim_sbs_ac_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=1QG0CGT43DRV4ZR31X1F

and some metal clamp lights and bulbs from home depot and go to town.

What you're looking at is way more than you need to spend for a lighting environment, unless you need to shoot something really large.

Buy a cheap light tent. ($30) These can go up to 48x48", so they should handle most subjects you need to shoot. Ignore the included backgrounds - they wrinkle way too easily. Buy some poster board (18x24" or larger, $2-3 each) in various colors (white for isolation, yellow/blue/gray/burgundy for mood, etc.), and a little bit of masking tape. Then buy another speedlight. ($50-$500.)

Then:

1. Set up the light tent. (It'll pop open almost instantly.)
   
2. Position the poster board so that it has a nice, smooth curve to it, then use the masking tape to hold it there.
   
3. Set up your strobe(s) near your light tent. Don't just set them up next to it - pull down the diffusers and position them 6-12" from the tent to allow them to spread out the light throw.
   
   Here's a setup I used to shoot the results of a culinary class as a favor to a friend of mine who happened to be the instructor. Note that my setup had three strobes instead of two, but two strobes will still yield good results. Even one is manageable, but I'd recommend at least two.
   
   Here were the resulting shots:
   
   

• Stuffed chicken, potato wedges and grilled asparagus
  
• Chicken and waffles, with diced apple sauce and bacon
  
• Extreme macro of garnish from this dish of chicken over pasta with green beans
  
• Ice cream with chocolate flourish
  
  Minimal editing in Lightroom, but vignetting was added in post.

If you want a studio look use a $35 softbox/lightbox with several lights on the outside. Household bulbs will work fine as long as you have a bunch of them but floodlights would work better. Use the same lightbulbs because different ones will give you different color mixtures.

This setup is best if you plan to continually produce new product and you want consistent background and lighting for each photo over time.

For the best combination of cost, quality of light, and ease of use, I've found that these type of light tents are easily the best, and this is coming from someone who was a professional studio photographer for over 20 years.

They give a wonderful, even, soft light with almost any kind of light source, and with camera technology what it is today it's almost impossible to make a bad photo using one of these things, even with an inexpensive camera.

Here's a shot of my Hasegawa 1/48 A-7E shot inside one using a flash head in an umbrella on each side. Nice, even exposure all-over, no worries about shadows, and set up in about 15 minutes.

Cowboy Studio's 30" - biggest size that would fit the little card table I have. I recommend getting the biggest you can fit. Dallas Moore has 48 inch one using a piece of plywood on 2 workhorses. When photographing larger objects, I have to take out the background in photoshop.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001TKCZVM/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

So now I have to revise my show and tell!

[This] (http://www.amazon.com/CowboyStudio-30-Inch-Photo-Soft-Light/dp/B001TKCZVM/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pd_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=2F0ZKIG7ZVCL8&coliid=I3TVRTC2WR2OW9) will be the next thing I save for to help me with my Etsy shop.

And then [THIS] (http://www.amazon.com/VivoBook-X202E-DH31T-11-6-Inch-Touch-Laptop/dp/B009F1I1C4/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pd_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=BVG50JB9A21R&coliid=ITPP5FVUJ8WUZ), I really need to replace my work laptop that exploded and is only mildly working right now... Trying to write all of my reports on a laptop that doesn't work is frustrating!

First, I'm no dude, and how I did the blacks? Light box. Great for doing macro/still life of anything and not really that expensive. Mine had a couple of 'velvet' coloured backdrops which is how I got my black background (I think the one I linked may be the exact one I had).

Also you can make your own with a cardboard box and big sheets of paper, but these will give you better results.

And cheers for the comments!