Softbox

Due to popular demand (well one comment and a couple of GTalk messages) I've decided to share the Softbox secrets, in my possession thanks to S and the internet of course. So, what's a Softbox? It's a simple contraption that basically helps soften the harsh naked light from a bulb. And so what that does is to cast a soft, even glow over the subject and when you play around with it, you can get many interesting configurations of shadows and light (look at some of my thumbnails below if you need examples). It's sort of like a lampshade, just much thinner to allow almost all of the light pass through, except softened.

So, what you need is probably just a bunch of things lying around. Let's make a list anyways (I like to list things... even if there are just 2 things on it... In this case however, it may as well be justified).

Stuff -
1. Cardboard boxes (shoe cartons, courier boxes, anything that is neither too big nor too small)
2. White trace paper
3. Halogen bulbs (say, 500W for the max impact; if you can't find one, go with whatever you get)
4. Extras - tape, lampstands (from table lamps or the likes), scissors and pen-knife.

How -
Fairly simple and self-explanatory!
1. Cut a hole on the back of the box to allow the insertion of your bulb through it. If you are using a 500W bulb, be careful about burning youself unknowingly.
2. Cut away the side/front flaps of the opening of the box so that you can cleanly tape the trace paper over the opening.

That's it! You're pretty much done. That's only the first step though. Positioning the light and then playing with the ISO, WB and other settings of your camera as you light different portions of the subject are the next steps. And it helps if you have atleast two softboxes for even lighting, if you desire. Look at the post below for our setup.

Model in me

Anyone who knows me knows that this post can't do with me modeling anything. But surprise surprise.. it is! Ever since S got very involved with the whole lighting nuances in photography and created everything from a lightbox to a softbox, he's played photographer and obviously, I get to be the model. Here's our current softbox setup (all of this is made from shoeboxes and the likes... the overall investment is under 10€ - have any questions, drop me a line).

And here's a bunch of the results - some are truly scary I accept.. but that's what you get when you attempt ghost lighting amongst other things. Lol. So that was our weekend. Go on, try your own softbox. Enjoy.

The lightbox

This is a remarkable post for many reasons, 1 -It's the 400th for MindBlogging (yippeee) and 2- it fulfills a project that S and I embarked upon ages ago after seeing Pattu's this post. Fascinated by the concept and seduced by his results, we set out to build our own little/mid-sized lightbox. We followed pretty much the same procedure. But for the unfamiliar here's a gist .

What you need -

How to go about it -

1. Cut out a rectangle from the top and the 2 sides of the box with the knife so as to be able to tape the trace paper over the holes and allow light into it for a reflection-less even light.

2. Paste the trace paper directly over the holes to cover them up. Tip: Tape from the inside of the box for better results.

3. Paste the chart over the inner back wall and the bottom of the box. The end result should look somewhat like this -

4. Position the lamps with the fluorescent bulbs (we found only a maximum of 40W) directly in front of the box on either side of the opening. We realized that this configuration was best for the low power afforded by our lamps.

Shoot away!

Here are some results -

We could've gotten better results with a more powerful lamp and that'll be part of our Lightbox Ver 2.0. As of now, here's wishing you all a fabulous New Year ahead!