First (non portable) soft box

MIKEROPHONICS

MIKEROPHONICS

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Mike
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Thank you Phil V for the recommendation - my Xmas toy has finally arrived, a Newer Softbox, grid and speed light ring - to go on top of my new impact LS13HB lighting stand. M

Dusting off my YN622TX triggers. All I need now is a victim....bribing family..

Will post some early attempts for help and crit/advice.ImageUploadedByTalk Photography Forums1455716904.585866.jpg
 
Will be interested to see the images from this. What dimensions does this have?
 
60cm X 60cm. I was advised that my speed lights might not light anything larger more evenly.
 
MIKEROPHONICS said:
60cm X 60cm. I was advised that my speed lights might not light anything larger more evenly.
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I've just took delivery of an 80x80 and will let you know if I get uneven light from it, it makes sense due to the zoom of the flash and being able to fill such a large space but I'll see how things go.

I'll see if i remember to take an image of the softbox straight on to try capture the light effect.
 
MIKEROPHONICS said:
Thank you Phil V for the recommendation - my Xmas toy has finally arrived, a Newer Softbox, grid and speed light ring - to go on top of my new impact LS13HB lighting stand. M

Dusting off my YN622TX triggers. All I need now is a victim....bribing family..

Will post some early attempts for help and crit/advice.View attachment 57051
Click to expand...
How's the grid - would you mind giving cell dimensions?
 
It seems easy to apply and is is recessed from the edges (which is apparently important).
5cm or soImageUploadedByTalk Photography Forums1455726741.073346.jpgImageUploadedByTalk Photography Forums1455726810.505251.jpg
 
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Thanks for the picture of the softbox in a real world environment. I know the rules of softboxes suggest bigger is better but if its too big to fit in to the room it would be no good whatever size it is. It would also be interesting to see shots of the light spread with and without the eggbox grid. I will be looking forward to seeing the results of this once you have your 1st victim.

I would also be interested to see the results of Steve's experiment with the 80cm box. I guess you would want to have the flash on a wide angle setting to push the light on to the wall of the softbox
 
MIKEROPHONICS said:
Thank you Phil V for the recommendation - my Xmas toy has finally arrived, a Newer Softbox, grid and speed light ring - to go on top of my new impact LS13HB lighting stand. M

Dusting off my YN622TX triggers. All I need now is a victim....bribing family..

Will post some early attempts for help and crit/advice.View attachment 57051
Click to expand...
Just one tip, spread the legs of that stand ;)

The struts should be horizontal to create the widest footprint / most stability.
 
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redsnappa said:
How deep should the grid be, are there optimal dimensions for grids?
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The deeper (and the smaller the cells) the tighter the angle will be. So it really depends on what you are aiming for. I like to see more restrictive grids, because the only reason I'd slap on a grid is to restrict the light in small spaces or when angling towards the camera. The tighter the throw the more control (at the cost of exposure of course).

Have a look here: https://sites.google.com/site/gridssoftbox/ - further down on the page are some cell dimensions and angles.

Basic cell size 5x5x5 cm, angle of light scattering approximately 43-45°
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Interesting site Thanks Cistron.
 
ste0803 said:
Please excuse the iphone images im waiting of a lens replacement.

80x80 softbox on a cheap ebay stand. one tiny nudge and the stand will topple over. something with wider legs and stronger uprights would be much better.

Soft box Testing by Steven Graham, on Flickr

softbox and my cat unlit

Soft box Testing by Steven Graham, on Flickr

softbox and my cat lit with a di700a

Soft box Testing by Steven Graham, on Flickr
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A couple of points that might help...

Ensure the legs are fully spread, the struts should be horizontal for max spread (but you appear to be close to that). Put some weights on the bottom.

And can you stop down a bit so we can see the coverage better, once it's blown you don't get a 'picture' of how even the light distribution is.
 
Phil V said:
A couple of points that might help...

Ensure the legs are fully spread, the struts should be horizontal for max spread (but you appear to be close to that). Put some weights on the bottom.

And can you stop down a bit so we can see the coverage better, once it's blown you don't get a 'picture' of how even the light distribution is.
Click to expand...

I will get another picture when my lens arrives to show the spread better, the legs were fully spread but yes it will need weights. it also bows with the weight of the softbox.
 
ste0803 said:
I will get another picture when my lens arrives to show the spread better, the legs were fully spread but yes it will need weights. it also bows with the weight of the softbox.
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I've never tried it on my cheap stands, that's s worry.
 
Phil V said:
I've never tried it on my cheap stands, that's s worry.
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Looks like it's at or near max extension in the photo so hardly a surprise with a cheap stand (not that surprising even with an average stand but they at least go 3m high or so).
 
simonbarker said:
Looks like it's at or near max extension in the photo so hardly a surprise with a cheap stand (not that surprising even with an average stand but they at least go 3m high or so).
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Yeah this was full 2m extension to get the box to hit the 2.4m ceiling I have. More stable at 2/3 height so could do some sitting portraiture with less chance of it falling.

Really for something this big a much more sturdy stand would be advisable with a longer leg spread as well as wider uprights.
 
softboxgrid said:
GODOX 60x60 with and without grid
Grid_Easy_box_6_web.jpg
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That grid appears to be quite effective, I am guessing about a 2 or 3 foot diameter?
 
Just bought a 60x60 Neewer soft-box and stand as per the first post in this thread. I have a little job for it coming up, looking forward to that. :)
 
@ste0803 - Take my advice and please spend a few £ on better stands - the one in the OP looks better for the softbox you have. I didn't, thinking it was a false economy and my softbox toppled over, wrecking my strobe and just missing my son. Not worth the risk, even with a weight (which could slip off the leg).

If the stand is bowing then there's too much weight on it for its design tolerance - and that will probably be the same with the spread of its legs and centre of gravity. The stands on Lencarta's site for example are less than £30 and take my > 1m softbox and strobe without any bend or wobble.

Sorry to get preachy but have been there and done that... it ain't worth it!
 
pjm1 said:
@ste0803 - Take my advice and please spend a few £ on better stands - the one in the OP looks better for the softbox you have. I didn't, thinking it was a false economy and my softbox toppled over, wrecking my strobe and just missing my son. Not worth the risk, even with a weight (which could slip off the leg).

If the stand is bowing then there's too much weight on it for its design tolerance - and that will probably be the same with the spread of its legs and centre of gravity. The stands on Lencarta's site for example are less than £30 and take my > 1m softbox and strobe without any bend or wobble.

Sorry to get preachy but have been there and done that... it ain't worth it!
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I plan to, the cheap stands are for use with some small umbrellas or for speed light only. I just wanted to show what an 80x80 looked like on a cheap stand.
 
ImageUploadedByTalk Photography Forums1457304280.005779.jpg

One of my first shots with my new softbox
 
Nice looking portrait, Mike. I can't comment on the lighting but I will say the image itself is very effective and engaging. Pose and just the subtle introduction of the instrument works really well for me. Background leaves me wondering where it has been shot - either a positive or a negative depending on what you wanted to achieve, I guess?

I really like this. Was it close to SOOC?
 
Thanks. It was shot in my kitchen on a sunny afternoon! There are some later shots when I added a second light (gridded snoot) as a hair light.

Sorry - I don't know what sooc means
 
Straight out of camera - really just as a guide for newbies like me as to how much is achieved with the lighting setup and how much has been tweaked in post :) (I still have to do quite a bit of tweaking in post because I don't set my lighting up well enough!)
 
I am an newbie at this too - this is my second real attempt at a portrait (first go with two lights). Here's the shot with the gridded snoot hair light.
I was wanting a very low key moody shot of my son (thank you Matthew) with his guitar to give some context to personalty. Here's the final shot with the hair light. I was trying to have a go at this feathering malarky - having watched a youtube video about it.
Post was fairly minimal-ish. a quick 5 mins in Tonality Pro. Added some contrast, a bit of a curve and a vignette (I didn't control the spill as well as I would have liked. I used my 5-in1 reflector (reversed) as a black background resting on a chair.

_DSC5197.jpeg
 
here's the original RAW NEF files opened in mac preview - so zero processing

Original NEFs.jpg
 
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