Photography has come through many phases during past few decades. The simple black and white photography has turned to the most modern one where reflections and shadows play a very important role. Due to this advancement, lighting meters and lighting support and accessories has become the equipment of daily use in photography. One of the equipment that is very important for photographer so as to get proper reflections is softbox.
Soft box is a type of lighting device used in photography. It falls under the category of soft light device. Soft lights are created through the use of some diffusing material or by bouncing light off a second surface. The most commonly used bouncing source is the umbrella light where the light from the bulb is bounced off the metalized umbrella to create the soft light effect. However, softbox is an enclosed box around the bulb that provides reflective sides and it uses a diffusing material at the front of the light to produce the soft light effects.
Reflection is very important for the good functioning of the softbox. Therefore, the sides and back of soft box are covered with bright surface using aluminum foil or any like fabric surface. Aluminized surface provides an efficient reflector required to create soft light. The light coming from the softbox is easy to control as it is directional and diffused. It equally distributes the light and removes the hot spots. In order to avoid light spilling into unwanted areas, accessory grids can be attached to the softbox. Softboxes are generally used in portrait photography or for other types of commercial photography.
Softboxes can be used with studio and battery portable lampheads. It is also used with electronic flash systems. It can be affixed to monolights and other flash heads as conventional reflectors are attached. It is available in various shapes like square (22 x 22, 36 x 36 & 48 x 48 inch), rectangular (10 x 36 inch) and octagonal (36 inch and 60 inch diagonal). One of the famous forms of softbox is the westcott softbox. Westcott softbox is popular among the renowned photographers and is focus of various amateurs.
Softboxes are used to produce a large soft light on the subject. In order to make softer light, the source of light must be larger than the size of the subject. Also, the closer the soft box is placed to the human subject, the softer will be the light. Therefore, the smaller size softboxes are used for small sized subject or for the dramatic lighting of large subjects. They can be closed and when closed, they are compact and lightweight to be carried to shooting areas.
After the interesting discussion regarding the softbox and the softbox lighting, the question that comes to mind is how to assemble a softbox or how to make a softbox for photography? The homemade foamcore softbox is the simplest answer to the question. The laminated foamcore is the best suited for the box structure. The inner walls are white that provides smooth bounce. The four sides are taped together firmly. The trickiest part, which is the back, is made using speedring that has gaps normally drilled for softboxes. The rays of two ballpoint pens can be used to connect the speedring to the box. And the soft box is ready. Now the question remains how to assemble the softbox for use? The answer is simple again. Your homemade softbox can conveniently be use with a light bulb and it can easily be used in your shooting area together with other equipments, giving the very well reflected soft light required for the best shoot.
