Home Made Softbox

[Benji]

I love home made stuff. Years ago I made several photographic umbrellas and they worked great. I don't know what happened to the small one but the big one bit the dust when a gust of wind picked it and my flash unit up and whisked them about 10 feet away before dropping it. That was the end of that umbrella! Now when I use a an umbrella outside I screw one of those metal things you attach your dog's leash to, then I bungee cord the stand to it. I never built a softbox until now. I saw one that another guy built on another site and decided to make one myself, but of course I was going to Benjize it.

One thing I didn't like about the other one was it was rectangular and sat on legs on the floor. The light was placed on a stand behind it or inside of the rectangular enclosure in the middle of it. I'm guessing moving it is a bit of a hassle. I decided to use an old Photogenic Studiomaster II because it is bottom heavy and rolls easily on four wheels and the framework of the softbox will be easy to attach to it. I also decided to make mine triangular rather than rectangular. The shot below shows the base of the light. The center slot is for the light stand and the two smaller ones are for 1/4 inch bolts that when loosened up will allow the softbox to slide forward or backward. The light can also be pointed either forward or backward. Forward is more specular, backward is softer.

[Benji]

This is the light with the base attached. The framework is 3/4 inch PVC pipe. You can see the 6 "T" fittings at the three corners. the steel angle iron gives the 1/2 inch plywood more stability.

Benji

[Benji]

Here it is with the pipe framework. It is seven feet tall and 40 inches wide. I had to add a fifth wheel in the center front as it wanted to tip over. Mistake # 1 corrected!

[Benji]

I had a local seamstress stich up the cloth. I couldn't find black cloth with silver backing so I bought some black material and some silver material and had her sew them together. The light is pointing backward in this shot. I had her double up on the edges so I could run small screws with washers to attach the cloth to the framework.

[Benji]

She sewed Velcro on the front two edges of the black/silver cloth so i could easily remove the white front cover. It rolls around very easily and is not top heavy at all.

[Benji]

One of the first shots I did with it. Not sure I like it quite yet!!! But since I've got about $250.00 in it I'd better start liking it!!!

[dougsmit]

This may be too much to ask but I'd love to see an underexposed image showing the box firing. I have had trouble with home made diffusers not really spreading evenly when there is one light in the middle and wonder if this tall contraption is really lighting over any percentage of its height or if 90% of the light comes out the middle foot of the box nearest the tube. Certainly pointing the light backwards would help but it would be something to test if this is practically any different than a unit half the height. I guess it would depend on how think the front cloth is and (again I suppose) it might help if it were double thick in the middle. Of course the best answer might be to have mounted two tubes (one part way down from the top and one up from the bottom).

That leaves the question whether a tall, even light would be better than a smaller box or one not so even. For full lengths it would seem it would but I can't say the sample portrait you posted would be different without trying it to see. I rarely shot people with contraptions I built but would love to see it this might have an effect on what you are not liking about the sample.

[Brooks]

Benji, the pupils in the eyes of your subject are so huge. How dim was the model lamp on your strobe head?

As Doug said, I too can't imagine that the front screen is evenly lit when the flash head is centered in the middle and positioned so very close to the fabric.

Silks are great lighting tools because the distance from the flash head to the silk can be varied and only a portion of the silk can be used when a choice of less softness is desired.

An interesting quality to the light can also be achieved by using double diffusion, ie: two silks with some distance between them, between the light source and the subject.

But frames and silks are hard to position in anything other than a vertical orientation. Softboxes, even very large ones are usually easier to use.

[taygull]

What I'd be curios to know is your output readings at the top, middle and bottom. I'd bet there is a significant fall off in light?

[Benji]

Originally Posted by taygull

What I'd be curios to know is your output readings at the top, middle and bottom. I'd bet there is a significant fall off in light?

Your question made me curious so I just went and did the following test. I placed a light stand exactly 36 inches from the face of the light so when I metered I could place the meter up against the center shaft of the stand and remain exactly 36 inches away for each reading. I then took my Sekonic L 358 meter with the dome recessed, cleared it out and took three meter readings at the following heights. 12 inches from the top, dead center and 12 inches from the bottom. I repeated the test three times. The readings were as follows. Top F 9.0, middle F 10 and bottom F 9.0. Rather amazing I would say! This is most likely because I have the flash tube pointed straight back into the silver lining. In case you are not familiar with the flash tube cover in a Studiomaster, it looks like a frosted test tube on steroids! It is about eight inches long and about 3 inches in diameter, and the actual "firing" part of the tube is shaped like a real long skinny horse shoe. So when the strobe fires the light radiates out, up, down and forward. This is most likely the reason the readings are only 1/3rd of a stop different.

I'm still not 100% sold on the light however. I don't like the fact that it can't be angled down to give me my beloved Rambrandt lighting. I'm thinking about converting it to two strip lights rather than one softbox, so stay tuned for the conversion.

Benji

[taygull]

Now I'd be curious what your readings would be from a large high end softbox.

[Benji]

Originally Posted by taygull

Now I'd be curious what your readings would be from a large high end softbox.

The largest soft box I have is a Bowens which measures 36 inches square. I performed the identical test but held the meter 6 inches from the top, dead center and 6 inches from the bottom. All readings were F 9.0. This was with a single layer of fabric just like the other.

Ben

[Worm324]

Very interesting Benji! Thanks for sharing the info and pics. I'm on a very limited budget these days and I'm considering trying something like this. I was thinking about 2' X 4' though. DO you think an Alien Bee 800 would work in a set-up like this??

Thanks again,
Jay

[Benji]

Jason,

A 24 x 48 is more of a strip light. Most of the 24 inch wide softboxes are 32 long. Have you ebayed softboxes lately? There are some real bargains there. Here is one. Photogenic Medium Silver HalfDome 55x24" SoftBox - New - (eBay item 280185304793 end time Dec-25-07 18:05:00 PST)

My next project is (interestingly enough) a 24 x 48 inch strip light for a hair light in large group portraiture. I may add it to this thread when I get it done.

benji

[Gilkar]

Thank you for this thread with the pictures. I have been hunting over the internet the past few days looking for plans to a homemade softbox. This seems to fill the bill. Easy to make and inexpensive. I got hot to make this after attending a seminar where the Spiderlights were fea