Hello Patti, the reason there isn't a light tent or box to set the beads into is that it severely restricts the ability of the artist to light and shoot the bead in more than one way which means the box's back wall is always in the photo. By having two separate light boxes on either side of the bead, you can use a variety of surfaces to shoot on and have any number of types of background, such as all white, gradient, shades of gray, black or even reflective. There's far more versatility with my system than with a tent with fixed walls. Please check out my photo website: dougbaldwinphoto.com and the new dedicated website for the light boxes for a range of examples of photography you can shoot with these light boxes: photolightboxes.com. The photos below show both gradient and reflective backgrounds.