How can I make a soft box?

[chris72]

How can I make a soft box? Have you what material can I use for soft box?

[easternherp]

Hello George,

I don't know how easy it will be to make a softbox but basically they are a large box that has reflective surfaces on the inside with two pieces of white translucent material in them. The first is set about half way down the inside to cover the bare flash and the second is put right on the front.
If you can have a look at the bownes or interfit site and see if they have a detailed view of one.

[Bill C]

George - something else to consider - You can go to a fabric store and buy a nylon fabric called 'rip stop' - sometimes called sports nylon - its a lightweight transulecent material - for kite making, etc. I went to Home Depot/Lowes and bought pvc piping and made a 6ft frame - setup flash behind it ..
Bill

[chris72]

Thank you very much for infos

[Tom V]

I've made a few light boxes. Some were designed to be more or less permantly suspended from the ceiling, others were merely diffusers in a box which was placed in front of a light on a stand. The smallest was about a foot square and the largest about 60 feet by 80 feet.*

I've used drawing velum (like thick tracing paper), commercial photographer's diffuser, white nylon from the fabric store, and a white nylon shower curtain (no seams!).

For small boxes, I've used frosted velum, a kind of thick paper architects might use (or used to use), available in art or drafting supply stores. I built the box out of FoamCore. Some boxes were small enough, I would just set them on the table next to the subject (product) I was shooting. The light would be set in the back, pointed through the diffuser.

I've also used painter's canvas frames with diffusion material attached. The frames are nice because they're very strudy, already built, available in a lot of sizes, and they are meaty enough to be clamped at the edges without wrinkling the diffuser. I used these a simple diffusers, without any enclosing "box" around them.

I've built a few boxes that were usually about 6' wide and 3.5" deep, which were made to hang from the ceiling on adjustable ropes. Strobe heads were mounted to the boxes, and their power cords draped out to the floor to the power packs (usually two 2400ws Speedotron packs) These boxes were used primarily for shooting products on tabletops or the floor. They used commercial diffusion sheeting from photo supply companies. I built one set of matching 8' x 4' boxes, which could be attached together to make a 16' x 4, or 8' x 8' box. They were totally enclosed and could hold up to 4 flash heads each. The heat would build up so much, fans were installed in the tops to help the lights cool (the lights had their own fans).

I built one box that used a white nylon shower curtain. I liked it because it was really cheap, and 6' x 6' foot without any seams. It's box was made with GatorBoard sides and back, with a 1"x 2" wood frame. It slid around on the floor, and I put the light stands inside through the back.

None of the boxes I've made would easily mount To a strobe or were as lightweight as a comparable-sized commercially purchased fold-up fabric soft box.

* I will write about the giant lightbox in a separate thread. It was 60' x 80' x 7' with 25,000 watts of light, 35 feet off the ground, and weighed over a ton.