Monday, July 29, 2013

DIY softbox

http://99thingsyouwishyouknew.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/f77c6_diy_3695091505_97d408d888.jpg

Check out these diy images:


DIY softbox

Softbox DIY softbox



Image by Nick.Allen

this is my FANTASTIC DIY softbox. i have been attempting to expand my off camera flash accessories as of late. since i have been staying with my bro in ny, i have had extensive access to great tools to do some diy photography gear. i spent about a week thinking about it and a day to build it.


before i ramble too much, a special thanks to diyphotography and nick wheeler


basically the softbox is made of ‘oak tag’ and duct tape. i probably spent ~, and i am overwhelmingly impressed with my results. i spray mounted some black fabric to the outside and some aluminum foil to the inside, used some simpson strong-ties, a gutter c-out, a few nuts and bolts, and some fabric remnants…wham-bam-shazam-done!


i have used it at two family gatherings over the past two weekends (i will post the pics soon…i’m falling way behind…sorry family)


its an awesome toy and i would recommend that EVERYONE try this or another DIY project to fit your photography needs…


DIY Gel Wallet

Softbox DIY softbox



Image by Ahd Photography

When I attended a session of The Flash Bus Tour, I received this compact flash wallet for free. I didn’t know what to do with it because I don’t use compact flash cards and I already have a place to keep my SD cards. My second problem was that I didn’t have a place to store the free gels they gave away or the gels I had previously purchased.


I guess sometimes, two problems can add up to one solution.There was stitching on the wallet that seperated each of three large pouches into two flash card sized pouches. I used a knife to carefully remove that stitching and voila! I now have aperfectly sized gel holder.


Strobist:

See the setup shot here: www.flickr.com/photos/ahdchild/5613604886/

Shot in DIY lightbox

Vivitar 285 in silver umbrella placed in front of lightbox, above and very slightly camera right

Lumopro L160 behind and above lightbox


DIY half-frame cam

Softbox DIY softbox



Image by bricolage.108

After thinking about how i could create a homemade half -frame camera and seeing a much more simpler attempt to achive similar results, this is what i came up with.


First i modified the camera so i could do double or multiple exposures. Made this by dismanteling the camera and discovering where the cocking mechanism was. Then i tied a string to the that mechanism so it was possible to re-cock the shutter by pulling it from outside the camera.


After that i pierced three holes in the plastic to create an axis for the banner that will block off the selected half the frame. Unless you got a Dremmel or somekind of rotary tool this takes some pacience. I used a small precision screwdriver and keep pushing and turning it until the hole was opened.


Then unfolded a big paper clip until it made a 90ยบ angle and stick it through the holes. Prior to that i’ve cuted a piece of thin cardboard (from a cereal box) half the size of the camera’s inside 35mm plastic mask. This is really important because it will determine two things:


1. if the cardboard won’t fall inside the camera hole. Usually that hole is in a angle so you have some room for error, but not much.


2. the space between the resulting two frames. In my case i made it to wide so the resulting image has a big black strip in the middle of the images. See an example.


Then another tricky part. You have to pass the tape, already half taped to one of the sides of the cardboard through the space between the plastic and the clip, and then taped to the other side.


Ok the main work is done now all that is needed is to seal the holes to avoid major light leaks. I glued a piece of sock but i believe it’s possible to use other material with same effect.


To use it: simply select the top or the bottom frame to be masked using the paper clip, having that in mind, shot, then re-cock the shutter pulling the string, select the other frame and shot. Then advance the film.


Considerations:

It’s important to have in mind what’s the frame that’s being masked since there’s no indication in the viewfinder about that. Maybe next time Softbox DIY softbox

Another thing that i think it could work is to make, for example, double exposures in just one frame and not the other or in both.

Also yet to try, that might be interesting is to shot multiple shots with the mask not completly down or up.


You can check the resulting images using this cam.

This camera hack got blogged in the great nicolai g’s photondetector.




99 Inspirational Words from the Mouths of Greats...


The post DIY softbox appeared first on 99 Things You Wish You Knew.






via WordPress http://99thingsyouwishyouknew.com/diy-softbox.html

No comments:

Post a Comment