Tutorial & DIY: DIY Soft Box

Professional photographers often use a soft box when they can’t harness enough natural light or they want to control the light more efficiently. I tend to stick to natural light but gosh-darnit sometimes you just need an extra bit of oomph.

What’s a soft box? Well, it’s a diffuser on the end of a light source that spreads the distribution of light more evenly. It’s more flattering to the skin/complexion and easier/more advantageous than an umbrella diffuser because you can get them in many sizes.

While I have a pro light kit, it’s pretty cumbersome to pull out every time I need it (which isn’t very often). That’s why a simple, small DIY alternative is just the ticket! This size is going to be ideal for one to three young children, just a portrait. It’s not ideal for on-the-move shots or adult group shots. (Though, this would work for an adult portrait as well.)

And guess what? It’s so ridiculously easy.

This old lamp has seen better days and, most recently, was crushed during a move. Not only that, but it’s chunky squared off design is going to help stabilize the lamp during use as a soft box since it will need to be turned on its side. Perfect. It doesn’t have to be pretty to get the job done right.

I just turned the shade upside down and fastened it with some heat safe glue. Then, I installed the brightest bulb I could while adhering to the allowed maximum wattage the lamp could handle. This one was 150 WATT which is perfect as 60 wasn’t going to cut it.

The last step was to adhere something white across the opening of the shade. If the lamp turns on/off via a switch on the cord, you could glue paper across for a tight seal. Since my lamp turns on/off via a knob on the neck, I needed constant access so I opted to cut a piece of white heat safe fabric and secure it to the edges with some paper clips.

The most important thing is to have a shade that is deep enough so the bulb isn’t coming into contact with the paper, fabric or whatever else you’ve used to spread over the shade. Also, don’t let the kiddies play with this. Since the shade is secured, the bulb could be knocked… Oy, the possibilities to fret over! Just remember: Safety first.

To use, again, turn the lamp on its side and prop up either on a table or with books to get the angle just right. You’re going to want to play around with the direction of the lamp and the distance between your subject and the background in order to eliminate shadows (or create them, depending on the look you’re going for.) Since this isn’t a traditional light that would fire off every time you snap a photo in varying strengths that you set, you might find an interest in having two again, depending on the type of photo you want.

As for settings, play. Every situation is going to be different, especially if you’re using this in a low light evening set up or as a supplement during the day. You can try starting in and around an ISO of 400 with an f/4 and a shutter speed of 1/160. But again, play, play, play!

I just made mine today and Isla has been napping a lot so unfortunately, it’s just the toys that have made their DIY soft box appearance. I’ll have examples very, very soon!