I made a softbox......

[Oxygen2k10]

Purchased entirely from Tesco for the grand total of £7.90.

1 x 31cm Lampshade - £4.96
1 x Value duct tape - £1.47
1 x Tesco Value Polythene dust sheet - £1.47

I also used some black card which I had lying around to cover the lampshade to prevent light from leaking out (as you can see I proceeded to tape the card to the lampshade with the precision and accuracy of a 2 year old).

Excuse the crappy pictures.







You certainly wouldn’t want to take it with you on a paid shoot but for learning the ropes and messing around at home then it’s great. This was all guess work and I made it up as I went along however there are loads of tutorials on the internet if you fancy giving it a go.

I took a few test shots last night which turned out surprisingly well, nice and soft. If anyone is interested I will do some direct comparison shots with direct flash, bounce etc.

[Pixel Pusher]

needs more tape though.

[Blukoo]

Did you line the inside with a white or reflective material to maximise the light output?

[Oxygen2k10]

Blukoo said:

Did you line the inside with a white or reflective material to maximise the light output?

That is a good shout sir. The inner lining of the lampshade was white and glossy so I thought it to be sufficient however something extra wouldn’t go a miss. I’ve heard of people using tin foil (crumpled up and then straightened out again) attached to a piece of card as a makeshift reflector so I may use even more tape to attach some tin foil to the inside.

[Blukoo]

Oxygen2k10 said:

That is a good shout sir. The inner lining of the lampshade was white and glossy so I thought it to be sufficient however something extra wouldn’t go a miss. I’ve heard of people using tin foil (crumpled up and then straightened out again) attached to a piece of card as a makeshift reflector so I may use even more tape to attach some tin foil to the inside.

I used tinfoil to line a box I made into a softbox for light painting cars. I can't say how much better it was since I didn't make one without the foil, but i'm sure it would be beneficial.

[Oxygen2k10]

Blukoo said:

I used tinfoil to line a box I made into a softbox for light painting cars. I can't say how much better it was since I didn't make one without the foil, but i'm sure it would be beneficial.

Excellent. I will give it a go and see if it makes any difference.

This arts and crafts lark is good fun. Might make myself a light stand out of fairy liquid bottles and a few hundred lolly pop sticks next

[Simpo Two]

You could make a honeycomb out of drinking straws...

[LongQ]

Oxygen2k10 said:

Might make myself a light stand out of fairy liquid bottles and a few hundred lolly pop sticks next

Light stands are supposed to be Voice Activated. However you probably wouldn't want an Un-reconstructed version.

Edited by LongQ on Thursday 4th October 13:58

[Oxygen2k10]

Finally got around to taking some photos.

Both taken using the flash as the only light source. Both purely practice/messing/having a bit of fun shots around the house. Light is relatively soft though, not great but certainly an improvement over bare flash.