**DIY: My Homemade Softbox & Reflector***

Cbacarella

New member
Well i became very bored today and wanted to try some new different things with lighting. Since i'm on a very very small budget and do not have a flash, i decided to see what i could do.

The first thing i thought of trying out was a reflector for outside shots. Here is a list of goods i used to make the reflector:

1 Emergency Blanket
1 27inch bike tube
1 Roll of Duct Tape
1 cardboard box (for extra support)

Cost: Around $8 (i even bought a schwinn tube!)

As you guys can pretty much see, i laid down the emerceny blanket, put the bike tube on it (inflated) and taped the blanket to the bike tube. I used a bike tube because you can deflate it and fold the reflector up. If you put the cardboard supports in, you can no longer do this.

Here is a quick photo with the reflector i used and some pics of the reflector. I dont have a before/after photo due to me forgetting. The reflector worked well IMO because it did fill in some shadows on his body/face. Sun was almost directly behind him. Sometimes the reflector was too bright and would blow out skin tones.


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My next project for the day was to create a softbox. I wanted to expierment with some soft lighting so, this is what i came up with. I was originally going to make the frame out of PVC pipe and some other stuff, but i found this much easyer. Although, it is rather smaller. Anywho, list of build materials:

1 Large lampshade
1 Silver dome reflector clamp light (this one is 100w)
1 Roll of Duct Tape
1 Larger sheet of silver reflective tape. (It looks like aluminum foil tape)
1 big ol' thing of tissue paper

Cost: Around $23

*(All goods for both projects bought at Meijer)

To put it together i coverd the whole inside of the lampshade with the silver reflective tape. It helped keep the light in the lamp shade instead of actually leaving the lamp shade like its actually made to do. Once the inside was covered, i took the lamp and duct taped it to the back of the lampshade. Once that was done, i tapped the front of the lamp shut with tissue paper. Results was pretty fun! Id like to take pics of someone using it instead of self shots cause they were kinda hard and i dont think show the full effect of a softbox....

Anywho, pictures!


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Both projects can be built way better than my construction. With more time and effort they can be much nicer! Maybe with some cloth instead of tissue paper, glue instead of duct tape, or even some sowing of things together....

But, these kept me occupied today and were pretty fun to mess around with!


:buds:


.Chris.
 
What you need to be doing is taking pictures of some g rides for me!


I think its pretty cool how you get all into this stuff. Definetly keep up the good work. You can definetly take some badass pictures. No doubt about that once so ever.
 
nice. i have a couple small softboxes i got in the mail a week or so ago. i havnt yet gotten a chance to use them though. lol.
 
nice. i have a couple small softboxes i got in the mail a week or so ago. i havnt yet gotten a chance to use them though. lol.



Yeahhh....im going to be purchasing a flash in the next couple weeks here along with wireless triggers for off camera. Id like to purchase a real softbox with that too! They have smaller ones that fit on the flash that are very portable that i think might work out nicely! Softboxes are cool.....


http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/576949-REG/LumiQuest_LQ_119_Promax_Softbox_III.html#features





.Chris
 
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