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| Make your own soft-box for macro photography | ||
| To begin making my Speedlight soft-box materials are needed. I chose a corrugated plastic sheets for toughness and it's pretty light. Using a marker I trace the outline needed keeping in mind a space required for a diffuser material. You can click on the image to the right and print it to get a rough dimension. The one end that is critical is where your strobe fits into the box. Measure your stobe for this dimension. Cut out each piece using a razor blade. |  |
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| I'll use several one inch pieces of tape to hold all the pieces together to get a feel if my parts will fit properly. Now I remove all tap flatten out each part and apply two sided tape. |  |
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| Leave the narrow end of all parts without any glue/tape. This is where the soft-box fits onto you flash. Make sure all other areas are covered so your metallic surface will adhere to it. |  |
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| I like to use aluminum foil for my reflector material. I'll first cripple it just a little so light emitting from the my flash will distribute more evenly. Than lay on the glue/tape and smooth out. |  |
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| Using an razor blade cut off excessive material. |  |
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| Check all your parts making sure you have left room with nothing on the area where your flash is attached. |  |
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| I use small pieces of tape to fold and rough fit the box together. Than using black electrical tape I finish putting together the sides. The area with no material is where Velcro is placed. You'll now have a large opening and a much smaller one for your flash. For a diffuser material I bought a $6 plastic file box. I chose this because of price, durability and diffusion qualities. |  |
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| Lay the large opening to your box onto a diffusion material and trace the outline needed. Cut out the mercurial and also tape to you light box. All that is needed now is a little bit of Velcro on your flash and you have a really cheap but effective light box. |  |
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| I use this inexpensive box on and off the camera. On the camera gives me great soft light for macro field work and in the studio I'll use it as a fill light. Happy hunting. |  |
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| Macro Sample Shot with DIY Light-box (1/60th sec, f/14, ISO-400) | ||
Serving Punta Gorda, Charlotte County, Port Charlotte, Fort Myers, Cape Coral, Sarasota and the surrounding Southwest Florida areas.
