I was given this book several days ago for my birthday. Its an amazing book and exactly what I needed. I am only just starting to learn about studio lighting so this is really going to come in handy.
Since I have the book I decided to make another DIY soft box that was much proper than the one I made before and this time in a larger size and in a rectangular shape. I used my own measurements for everything so I didn't document what I did because I wasn't sure if it was going to end up in disaster.
It nearly did though, I measured the size for the end for the flash head wrongly but fortunately I could create another flash mount that could be taped back onto the soft box. That's what happens when you spend over an hour and a half making mistakes when trying to plot out the measurements onto the material.
The material used for the entire structure is
coroplast which if you live in KK, you can definitely find in Popular bookstore. The inner part of the soft box is lined with aluminium foil to make full use of the light output.
I noticed It didn't have a mount that could hold up the soft box so I made a cuboid shape out of some left over coroplast and attached it to the soft box so that it can be held up by a normal tripod. It's really light so I don't think there would be any weight issues.
In the end, it turned out solid and I used it to light the book on the first photograph. I was too excited to use the soft box that I completely forgot to make sure the cover page was clean (The room was a little dusty)
Materials
5 pcs Corrugated Plastic/
Coroplast (Approx 21.5"x 15") [Four black pieces and one translucent white]
Aluminium Foil
Black Cloth tape
Scissors
Double Sided Tape
The diagram above shows how the four pieces of black coroplast [Represented in black and gray to illustrate sides with the same measurements] are supposed to be pieced and taped together with cloth tape. The inner part is then covered in aluminium foil using double sided tape. The entire structure should be completed by taping the first and the fourth piece together with cloth tape.
The translucent white coroplast is then taped onto the front end. This isn't too hard to figure out. Fold the smaller back ends outwards and tape it together with the rest from the other sides to complete the flash mount and secure any other parts that seem loose with the cloth tape.
The only problem is that the cathlights have a slight hot spot in the center but you only need slight adjustments in editing to correct that.
I had this shoot with my cousin last Monday. It was the first time I could use my DIY Soft Box outdoors. The other people that were present were Joanna, My sister, and Francis (My Lighting assistant :D ) Mahira came a few hours later for a different shoot.
Big thanks to Francis for helping on such short notice :)
