The How Zone

Homemade Lighting Softbox

All about light

This article presents an inexpensive, homemade softbox. A softbox is used to fully illuminate photographic subjects, helping to reduce glare and hard shadow definitions. And, in my case, to keep the bugs in!

Photography is all about light. Natural or artificial, bright, dim, harsh, soft, morning, mid-day, evening, overcast, moon, and even star light. There's all kinds of light and how you use it greatly influences your photographs.

Bulbs

When you are outside, traipsing amongst the daisies and hilltops, there are only so many things you can do to control lighting. Reflectors, diffusers, and flashes can help to manage or augment the available lighting. Time is also an option; as in waiting until the light gets better.

Winter here in New Hampshire provides even less in the way of ideal outside lighting. Days are shorter and the skies are often cloudy and dark. Sometimes you can wait and sometimes you have to make your own magic...or light.

I wanted to create an inside lighting setup for macro photography and product photos. It won't be for photographing human models, so a small setup works fine. It will need plenty of light, from a variety of angles, and the ability to have a consistent background.

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