looking for post on softbox material :-)

Hi All,
I wonder if you could help me, I have read a thread once which gave a link to somewhere (in uk I think) where you can buy the diffusion material and more importantly the reflector material (black backed) that they make softboxes out off.....

I am looking to make a couple of softboxes and want to buy the material... if any one knows the thread I am looking for, or perhaps knows the website that sells the black backed reflector material that goes on the outside of softboxes then that would be fab...

cheers guys

Alan

BH Photo has some fabric available


http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …ghType=category​Navigation


I also found some discussion about using "pellon" available from any fabric store for the diffuser. One person said they constructed a soft box out of foam board and made a diffuser panel out of wax paper. Also read about someone shooting through a shower curtain.

Why not make diffusion panels rather than softboxes which will give you a fixed size light source. There have been many great threads that discuss the benefits of using a diffusion panel and since you are going to design and construct something you might as well eliminate the headache of the mount and weight assocated with the box and uee a more flexible panel where you can change to any size you want.

You could use fabric, but you could also use foamcore, sheet metal, or a variety of materials to construct a softbox.

The "soft" part in the name comes from the quality of the light, not that fabric often used in construction (there are commercial softboxes made of rigid materials, they are just not as common as fabric ones).

If the softbox does not need to be transported and break down, I suspect a home brew softbox constructed of light rigid materials like, foamcore or sheet aluminum, would be far easier to construct that intricate sewing rigor. Inexpensive cans of spraypaint would get you the proper reflective surface you desire.

Enjoy! Lon

Hey Lon,

He'll have so much more control with a diffusion panel than he would a softbox. Can you explain the technical reasons why you feel a softbox is a better solution?

Robert, I can't speak for Lon, but I like my main light in a softbox on wheels. I move my main light quite a bit depends on the subject's posts, moving the diffusion panel then readjust the light is just too slow for me. Plus I can't do butterfly or under lighting with the panel, I can't put the panel on a boom for overhead small product shots. The panel doesn't work well in a client's small room full of furnitures. A softbox is a fixed diffusion panel without spill through the back, with more mobility, I mean I can literally take the sb into the bathroom and... never mind on that.

I do understand the diffusion panel has more controls and does well in a studio, but the softbox is more pratical to me.

Heys guys thanks for all the replies I have been reading avidly all the posts about light panels and softboxes and barn doors I have already made a 6 foot by 4 foot light panel and it is great..... amazingly soft light with a huge spread.... just going to try and make some barn doors to control the light next... but the reason for wanting to make a softbox or two, was that ther are times when I need to be a little more controlled with the light and raise it higher or lower it etc and acouple of 90x90 or 100x100 boxes would be spot on. I have 3 60x60 softboxes (prolinca) and they are good but I wanted something as mobile as the softboxes but a bit bigger then the 60x60 ones... I also use my light panel as backing sometimes and would use the softbox for fill....

I made my light panel out of plastic pipeing and a white shower curtain. The curtain was £2 the pipeing was more expensive but I plan to make other materials to fit the frame that will act as reflector material, such as gold and silver

the reason I wanted the reflector material for the softbox was to keep a hold of the light and not let it spread other places..(I know barn doors can help there)

thanks for the link Poloman, although that isn't the one I saw.. it was a site that sold rolls of the black backed material with silver on the reverse, very much like elinchrom use on their softboxes........

cheers guys.
Alan

Hi guys
Interesting thread. Guess I better put my two cents in here. I work with a small soft box for office location head shots where I need something small and fast but when I set up for portraits in my garage/studio or on location my diffusion panel is the best light modifier I have ever seen. I bought the same panel that Robert did from www.lightingmagic.com and I have more control than I thought was possible. Compared to a large soft box, the price was a steal.

I don't know about londuck and his suggestion on trying to build a soft box out of sheet aluminum, foam core and spray paint! Sounds like a lesson in how to waste time. (no offense)

Lotto, I agree, I wouldn't take a panel into a tiny room but fortunately I don't get asked to work in tiny rooms very often. I can't agree about spill from the back. When you use a panel like you are supposed to, there is no problem about spill. When you talk about speed, I can't think of a faster modifier than my panel. I just grab it, move it a few inches, grab the light and move it and that's about it. I have no lag time at all. I like my box for that once in a while situation but I wouldn't trade my panel for anything. It put me way ahead of the game.

homera, you said you wanted control and that would come with raising and lowering soft boxes. I use my panel and control how high the light is by moving the light head up and down behind it. You don't need a big softbox to raise light up and down. Just raise the light behind the panel. it's a no brainer. My only other advice is to not fill up your shooting room with a lot of devices that you don't really need.
Cheeers

AHDL247 wrote in post #2648173
Hi guys
Interesting thread. Guess I better put my two cents in here. I work with a small soft box for office location head shots where I need something small and fast but when I set up for portraits in my garage/studio or on location my diffusion panel is the best light modifier I have ever seen. I bought the same panel that Robert did from www.lightingmagic.com and I have more control than I thought was possible. Compared to a large soft box, the price was a steal.

I don't know about londuck and his suggestion on trying to build a soft box out of sheet aluminum, foam core and spray paint! Sounds like a lesson in how to waste time. (no offense)

Lotto, I agree, I wouldn't take a panel into a tiny room but fortunately I don't get asked to work in tiny rooms very often. I can't agree about spill from the back. When you use a panel like you are supposed to, there is no problem about spill. When you talk about speed, I can't think of a faster modifier than my panel. I just grab it, move it a few inches, grab the light and move it and that's about it. I have no lag time at all. I like my box for that once in a while situation but I wouldn't trade my panel for anything. It put me way ahead of the game.

homera, you said you wanted control and that would come with raising and lowering soft boxes. I use my panel and control how high the light is by moving the light head up and down behind it. You don't need a big softbox to raise light up and down. Just raise the light behind the panel. it's a no brainer. My only other advice is to not fill up your shooting room with a lot of devices that you don't really need.
Cheeers

Amen AHDL247!

It’s pretty much been said but I do want to add just a bit in response to some of Lotto’s comments.

You said that you couldn’t put a diffusion panel over the subject for a product shot. I respectfully have to say that is simply not correct.

I have been using panels suspended over products and customers for decades and it’s far easier and faster than trying to position a huge soft box hanging from a heavy boom that takes up a lot of floor space. With two small light stands and Photoflex T clamps, it’s a simple task to place a large panel over any subject you desire. I have even done this for a couple who wanted a romantic portrait of themselves together.

The panel can easily be raised up or down, positioned at any angle and tilted all in only seconds without any hassles' at all. In a working studio one has to be able to create whatever lighting is needed and do it fast and efficiently. The panel excels at this. There are two examples of commercial product images below that show a large panel suspended over the work table with other lighting devices being used at the same time. You can also see what a T clamp looks like. Once attached to a light stand, you just snap your panel right into it and you are done. Easy.

With regard to the comment “...moving the diffusion panel then readjust the light is just too slow for me...”
I can’t figure that one out because that it the number one advantage of working with panels. Speed. It’s no more difficult than just grabbing the light and moving it. Speed is a big advantage with panels and as has been discussed many times in these forums, with a soft box you are stuck with only one size light whereas with a panel, you have an unlimited number of different sizes all instantly available.

With regard to the other comment about butterfly lighting, you said that it can’t be done with a panel. Again, that is simply not true. I do it all the time. I demonstrate it at all of my seminars. If one wishes to do straight on butterfly lighting, a panel can be set up just like with the commercial product. For portrait work however, butterfly lighting is not usually the best choice because, you are lighting the subject ear to ear which adds weight to the subject. It’s fine for slender face models who have small ears but for the average person it’s not always a flattering lighting pattern.

Creating butterfly lighting with a floor standing panel is also extremely easy when we have the subject turned in the typical 2/3 portrait view showing only one ear. The panel lights the face precisely perpendicular as is required with fast adjustment done easily.

Lastly, you said that you can’t do under lighting with a panel. Why? I do. A panel is quickly and easily position below and in front of a subject at whatever angle and position is needed. Once again I do this all the time and it’s easy. A lot of people don’t yet understand all the advantages of diffusion panels but little by little they are learning and enjoying the extra control they have.

You are right about one thing, however. I won’t be taking my 7 foot panel into the bathroom to do photography. I will be taking my 3 foot panel.
Best wishes,

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I was able to make one using a work light, sheet metal (Thank god my husband is a sheet metal mechanic) a window curtain fabric, it's works beautifully until I can buy something a little more practical