another newbie question .. this time....

[Bolerus]

after seeing that collection of silly tog pictures on the other thread.

I have decided to have a go at making a softbox for my flash.

I already have a slave unit (infra red one) and flash gun (it has TTL on but the TTL mode doesent work with my D50 because it needs ITTL I think, so it doesent matter if I cover the sensor up on the flash, and it is goign to be on a tripod off camera anyway) so thought I would have a go (i think the big card board box that the pic was of is probably a bit big though lol)

my question is.

does the inside of the box need to be silver to reflect the flash gun light before hitting the difusing material, or does that matter

and secondly what would you recomend to use as the difuser material itself, I was thinking of using grease proof paper myself.

 

[RobertP]

For diffuse light the best reflector is a matt white. From memory when I was designing lighting equipment white reflects about 95% and mirror silver about 97% - but white gives a diffuse reflection not a directional one.

Being an ex lighting equipment designer I would go for an opal acrylic or polycarbonate panel.... but I'd guess greaseproof paper would be a good approximation

let us know how it goes.

 

[Les McLean]

I saw a thread on another forum where an enterprising guy had made some excellent softboxes out of washing up bowls and bits and pieces.

And thought 'I can do that'

He made his boxes to fit both studio lights and canon flash, while I have sufficient boxes/umbrellas etc for my studio lights (all two of them), I wanted some softboxes to use with my canon flashes.

So I started modestly and made a small softbox for my Canon 430EX flash, which I normally use as a fill flash.

I bought a smallish 9 inch diameter bowl.

Cut out a hole at the base slightly larger than the flash head, smoothed the edges, painted the inside (4 coats) with normal household paint, then covered the opening with white fabric, as the projects progress, the fabric will be elasticated around the edges for a snug fit.

Because the softbox is light, it slides and holds to the flash quite snugly without a bracket holding it in place.

I then tried it out, just using one flash (430EX), mounted just to the side of the camera, shutter speed/aperture the same for each shot. Apart from re-size for web, no other adjustments were made to the images.
Manual setting, exposed for the egg using FEL.

First direct flash

Second direct flash with diffuser dome over the flash head

And finally with the homemade softbox.

 

[dawntwist]

thats a strange but great idea

 

[CT]

That's pretty damed good. I bet the results would be even better with the flash pointing straight up at the ceiling?

 

[Bolerus]

thanks guys