Built your own softbox?

[retro]

I am in the process of designing a "poverty" studio in my room. I'd like to start small and cheap and then load up on some alien bees stuff. Have any of you built your own softboxes, designed your own lighting solutions or built your own backdrops? I would like to see some pictures of them if possible. I don't have a lot of room to work with, but the plan is to shoot some product shots and single person portraits. Any pics or info would be appreciated.

[redbutt]

My first ligting setup was two 500W Halogen utility lights form Home Depot, that I would hang around a room, or bounce off the ceiling. With a little work and creativity, you can build a setup to allow you to attach bounce/shoot through umbrellas to the frames of the hallogens. They worked quite well. These were shot with those worklights...

http://www.redbutt.com/bairdphoto/gallery/images/headshot/img_1448_b_w_std.jpg
http://www.redbutt.com/bairdphoto/gallery/images/headshot/img_1503_b_w_std.jpg

[Eric DeCastro]

after alot of thought about "cheap" lighting, i have come to the realizaton that this hobby is do or die. if you by cheap stuff, you will end up spending more money then you should have. I was going to build my own stuff, but it is much cheaper in the long run to buy it and buy the right stuff. now with that said, here is the link to the homemade softbox.

http://www.studiolighting.net/article.php?aid=1

good luck.

[mjordan]

I have build several light panels that work ever bit as good as anything you can buy... they might not be as "pretty" but still not bad. I made a 4x4' light panel using a aluminum window screen kit that has 4 aluminum sections with a channel in them. When you put the 4 corners together you have a square frame. Instead of screen material you lay a white translucent material (nylon or polyester type material) over it and then run the rubber band thing around it and push it into the channel. This tightens up the material and gives you a nice square light panel or white background for head and shoulders or product shots.

I also built a 4' by 6' light panel with PVC and sport nylon (I like it better than rip stop nylon because it's got an more even texture). I made two panels, one with white sport nylon for the lights to shoot through and one black that faced the camera so that it blocked any light from hitting the lens. With two panels on hinges it is free standing. Here is a picture of the frame before I finished it with the 4x4' panel hanging from the frame and the black material hanging. I was testing the idea.

http://www.sitnprettyphoto.com/display/d-panel3.jpg

http://www.sitnprettyphoto.com/display/d-panel4.jpg

Here it is with the full white side added during testing.
http://www.sitnprettyphoto.com/display/panel5a.jpg

I made the two sided 4x6' light panel for under $35. I could have made it cheaper but I over bought a number of things. The PVC can be sanded and painted to make it look better. It produced very soft and even lighting and can be used with hot lights (be careful of the heat from the bulbs) or with flash, strobes or monolights. It's very good at making a big light source out of a smaller one.

A good source of info is Scott Smith's web site... http://www.lightingmagic.com/directry.htm


Mike