DIY Softbox

chrisburke · Dec 2, 2008

Well it's not pretty (yet..) but it does a great job. I got a little bored tonight, and starting playing around with some material and some cardboard...

This took me maybe 30 minutes to make... I realize it's very ugly.. but there are no stores open right now that i can get "beautifying supplies" i'll do that tomorrow... point for tonight was "does it work" pics of the softbox, and a little sample of the result...

and now the results... please note that I didn't really take time to compose this shot, I just stood there, took the shot.. i think maybe in program mode... took a shot without the box, and one with it... I'm happy with the result, and look forward to actually taking time to compose a picture tomorrow and seeing the difference. Settings were the same for both of these pics:.. and no, she didn't know that I took the pic

Without the Box:

with the box: note the much softer tones in her skin

Dweller · Dec 2, 2008

Nice. What did you use for materials? I have some coroplast here that would probably work great for the frame, I need to figure something out for the diffuser.

BTilson · Dec 3, 2008

Excellent results, Chris. You really seem to have the DIY thing going on. Very nice!

chrisburke · Dec 3, 2008

BTilson said:
Excellent results, Chris. You really seem to have the DIY thing going on. Very nice!

thanks BT... when your a pastor who doesnt make the kind of money it takes to buy the fancy stuff, you have to improvise

BTilson · Dec 3, 2008

You're a pastor? I didn't know that. That's cool.

I try to swing the DIY thing a lot too. It took me months to save the cash just to get my D40! My current most effective DIY thing is two diffusers I made out of the semi-clear milk jugs! I have a couple of Quantaray MS-1's that I use for off camera lighting, and I hang my milk jugs off of those. It's pretty ghetto looking, but it works!

chrisburke · Dec 3, 2008

BTilson said:
You're a pastor? I didn't know that. That's cool.

I try to swing the DIY thing a lot too. It took me months to save the cash just to get my D40! My current most effective DIY thing is two diffusers I made out of the semi-clear milk jugs! I have a couple of Quantaray MS-1's that I use for off camera lighting, and I hang my milk jugs off of those. It's pretty ghetto looking, but it works!

yea, i'm a pastor.. have been for 4 years now...

i would love to see some shots of your DIY.... you can post em here...

jenn76 · Dec 3, 2008

C'mon, Chris... you can't post all this without telling us what you used to make it and how you did it.

So spill!

chrisburke · Dec 3, 2008

jenn76 said:
C'mon, Chris... you can't post all this without telling us what you used to make it and how you did it. So spill!

i just used regular cardboard and I cut out the triangular shape x4... i then taped them all together, and put material (its called tabling) over it.. i didn't actually follow any guides online, i just kind of pulled the idea out of the air... but I'm sure there are some guides online for one..

for the size of the triangles I just kind of made it up.. I really didn't know what I was doing... but it works great... i was going to take pictures of the process, but was unsure if it would work, so I did bother... maybe if I can find a box I can make another one this weekend and I'll show measurements and everything..

heres one that looks like a similar process to mine.. cept he used heavy duty cardboard.. I just used a box

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1025&message=10624771