DigitalCamFan

Soft Box in the making

I am getting ready to take some product pictures for a friend. I told her I would do it just for fun since I am brand new at the DSLR thing, and she is a friend.  Of course I still want to come up with something amazing for her. I didn’t just want to take a bunch of pictures the same way I would have with my hand held point and shoot. I wanted to see just how amazing I could get them, and learn some new tricks along the way. That is when I started reading about a soft box!

First thank-you to some tweets of advice along the way!

@Salfrico
@cyberjim

This is where I started… 20×22

The theory goes the larger the box the softer the light will be, and this was the biggest box I could find in the house.

I measured around all the sides 2 1/2 inches wide.  Make sure you use a ruler you want to make sure your measurements are correct around the entire box. It will make it easier when you cut your white strips later on.

You want to cut white poster board into strips 2 1/2 inches wide + the length of your box. You will need 16 strips total.  Once done go ahead and glue them into the box.

It is hard to tell in this picture, but I taped two pieces of white poster board together so it would be long enough.  When you place the paper inside you will want to gently go around the back corner. Don’t push it in or you will get a crease in your picture.  If you can find away not to tape the poster board together perhaps a longer sheet that might be a wise idea as well.  If I photograph something tall I will see the line in the picture.  That is on my list of things to do – buy new longer poster board, check!

And last of all you want to put the material around the box. I used rip stop nylon. Any white material that you can see through will work even a white sheet,  I was able to purchase 1 yd of the rip stop nylon and it covered all the sides and top. Of course you want to leave your opening in the front to take the picture. I used clear tape to get the material on, but you could use glue. I would guess I hot glue gun would work great.

I don’t have a picture of this part yet, but the 2 1/2 inch high lip in the front of the box I ended up cutting that right off so it opened up all the way to the floor. Seemed easier with my camera set up.

It really didn’t take long at all..

What I used:

20 x 22 box
2 1/2 strip of white construction paper
4 white poster board paper
Glue
knife
1 yard material (it was the exact amount)

I took this picture of the tape measure right after I was finished, no flash no light bulbs. I had the box sitting on the table where there was sun light coming in.

Shutter Speed 1/40 sec
F-Stop: f4.5
ISO: 800

More pictures and playing with lights to come!