In photography, a lightbox has several applications. One is a container with several lightbulbs and a pane of frosted glass on the top. It is used by photography professionals viewing translucent films, such as slides. This device was originally used to sort photographic plates with ease. It is also used by visual artists for photo-referencing.

Generally, a lightbox uses light similar to daylight (5,000˚–6,000˚ K), has uniform light strength on the glass pane, and has adequate light strength (in order to not strain the vision).

Another use of the term "lightbox" is for the fabric reflectors that attach to studio lighting via a connector to create soft lighting by diffusing the strobe flash. They generally come in various rectangle shapes, although recently they are being manufactured in an octagon shape. Interior reflectors can be white, silver or gold to alter the temperature of light. Baffling inserts are also available.

A lightbox may also refer to a folder used on stock photography websites to allow a user to organize digital photos. Photos can be assigned to a viewable lightbox folder by subject, for later convenience, or used to compile unrelated photos for a specific project layout. Lightboxes also allow graphic designers to show clients options for a project in one simple uncluttered folder.