-
tips building a flexible softbox?
I am experimenting with cool lights and want to build a soft box. I found bulbs at 5600K. I am going to put 6 on a wood plank that I can attach a custom soft box to. I found a bunch of that car window sun bloc material on sale. It is silver and honeycombed. Anyway, I can go with a straight edge and make a box, but I like the “roundness” of a softbox. I was going to use some thick steel wire to give me the “curve” like a real softbox. Anyway, what I am looking for is a pattern to cut the curve of the 4 sides before I sew it together. I don’t know anything about CAD. I am sure it can be drawn 3D and than broken out into a pattern. Here are my dimensions. The wood block is 12 inches by 8 inches and I have enough material to make the sides of the softbox about 27 inches (where the outer diffuser can attach) by 25-27 inches deep. Again where the box attaches to the board will be 12×8.
If there is a pattern out there, can someone point me to it. even if it is 36 inches, I need to get the curve of the box.
Thanks.
G5, 1.7, 4MB RAM, 30″cine, G4, 1.6 2MB RAM, Mbox, Neumann TLM-103, FCP HD 5. Pro Tools, Adobe Creative Suite, Reason 3.0, Macromedia Studio, ProAnimator, HVX200 with Firestore v4.0
-
3 Replies
-
Try Googlesearches, both for “soft box dexign” and “softbox design”. At the top of the former is this link: https://www.diyphotography.net/studio-photography-the-best-softbox-ever
Rick Wise
director of photography
Oakland, CA
http://www.RickWiseDP.com
email: Rick@RickWiseDP.com -
Obvious typo on my part: should be, “Soft box design”
Rick Wise
director of photography
Oakland, CA
http://www.RickWiseDP.com
email: Rick@RickWiseDP.com -
Soft light comes by way of indirect lumens and/or diffusing a light and there are tons of ways to achieve different levels of soft indirect or diffused light. I prefer to aim the source light away from the main diffusion bouncing it first into a material like the silver bubble foil insulation you mentioned to reduce the amount of the direct lumens but still have the punch to fill the main diffusion layer you have in front of the box. There is no difference when it comes to coverage needs between the soft or hard light, so if faces are what you plan to use this with then you should be OK, but if you plan to light a car then plan on making it 500 percent larger. Just know this light can only help you so much and you will have to store it unless you devise a plan to break it down.
Good Luck
Michael Palmer
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up