The KSPD WebLog

UPDATED 7/29/08
Change Log:
Added info and images regarding bent forground piping.
Changed Piping Measurement Info

If you are a photographer on a tight budget like myself, you have probably noticed how over priced photography equipment can be.  Fortunately for us, many of the expensive items and equipment that we need are fairly basic in design and perform fairly fundamental tasks.  Take for example a strobe soft box.  It’s an enclosed space, with a reflective interior, and a translucent sheet at the end.  I have to admit, I’ve never actually made my own soft box, but it’s nice to know that if I had to, it wouldn’t be prohibitively difficult to make one, for half the cost (or less) than if you were to purchase one at your local camera store or online.

I found myself needing a shooting table for the studio, as I have been shooting a lot of food an product lately.  Naturally, I went online to see what my options were and I wasn’t surprised to see that shooting tables are quite expensive.  I realize that manufacturers need to make money, but a shooting table just seemed too easy of a concept to drop $700-$1000 plus shipping on some metal tubing and a shooting surface.

In this tutorial, I will show you how to make a functional and nice looking shooting table, much like a Bogen / Manfrotto 4′x8′ shooting table, which retails for $649.99 plus shipping.  While there are literally dozens of different ways create your own shooting table, this method creates a very sturdy shooting surface, it’s collapsible, and it looks professional.   While this tutorial won’t show you how to make a shooting table for free or almost free (although it can be done!), it is still significantly less expensive then purchasing one from a manufacturer.

Here is what our shooting table will be modeled after:

Bogen / Manfrotto 4x8 Shooting Table - Retail $649.99

Let’s get started:
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