Another DIY Softbox Post :) Maybe its just a diffuser?

[royey123]

Here's what I did yesterday to soften my lighting. Perhaps maybe its more of a diffuser rather than a softbox?

I took PVC pipe and made a 4x3 ft frame. Wrapped a vinyl shower curtain around it. Attached it to a $30 work light and BAM.

Cost: $40 - simply because the work lights were $30.

[inkista]

Originally Posted by royey123

Here's what I did yesterday to soften my lighting. Perhaps maybe its more of a diffuser rather than a softbox? ...

"Scrim" is the word you're looking for. Cool!

[OsmosisStudios]

Its a bit cold (from the shower curtain), but thats an easy WB fix. The only issue I can see is that it likely isnt as powerful as a flash, so you may need a second set of those lights on the pole to get decent exposure with a higher shutter speed or deeper DoF or lower iso. I dont know what settings you used here, though, only that the girl looks a bit blurry from motion.

[zona5101]

nice job, that would work for strobes as well and it would be great outdoors to even out light...lots of ways to put it to use.

[royey123]

Here's my first shot and I thought it looked too warm so I changed the WB. But here it is.

These were all shot at ISO 800 f 4.5 and shutter of 1/40s.

I really wanted to increase the shutter speed and lower the ISO but they looked a bit dark on camera. Once i got them to the computer I think I could have sped up the shutter.

My daughter wasn't much into taking pictures yesterday and she moves around as most kids do so I definately do want a faster shutter in the future! They didn't look so blurry on the LCD.

As for the purpose of the SCRIM it worked excellent for what I intended but next time I try it out I want to MOVE IT CLOSER for sure!

[karen_s]

I just bought a work light (just the 500 watt) and am about to make some kind of diffuser for it. Thanks for sharing what you did, I might give this a try.

[RLucas]

Nice start! I think I may try this with some work lights I have. Be careful though! Those things get super hot!

[royey123]

Originally Posted by RLucas

Nice start! I think I may try this with some work lights I have. Be careful though! Those things get super hot!

They do get very hot - so I made sure to position the scrim and the lights a good decent distance from each other.

I used my nearest outlet and I wish my daughter would have participated long enough for me to get an extension cord and move the scrim closer to her - I think the light would have been much brighter then. I'm very pleased with it though and it all stores nicely. I didn't glue the PVC together and the shower curtain is affixed to the PVC using velcro.