Bored At Night? Build A Softbox!

Last night I decided I need a small softbox for my flash. Something light, that can be taken apart and constructed from things I could find in my house at 11pm.

First, I cut out the bottom of a plastic food box. I then cut out the shape of the flash in the middle of the plastic sheet at the bottom of the box, so that it would fit snugly on the flash head. While heating it over the stove, I shaped it into a flowery shape and cooled it down under running water. (If you are going to do this please, please! be careful)

Using a metal string, I tied the sides of each plastic corner to create a channel that would house a wooden skewer.

I took 4 wooden skewers and soaked them in hot water for a few minutes, bent them a bit and tied to a round object, to create a small curve. When they were dry, I took them off and cut them to size.

The skewers could now be pushed into the plastic channels and create the skeleton of the softbox.

I traced the size of each side of the skeleton onto a piece of paper and cut out the different shapes out of a silver/white lycra fabric (light-proof).

I cut the shape of the front square out of white silk.

After sewing the 5 pieces together, it looked like this:

The final step was to turn the fabric inside out so that the silver side was on the inside of the softbox, to dress the skeleton with its new outfit, and to mount the whole thing onto the flash.

A test shot was then taken on my roof, in the afternoon sun (sun is behind the model).

About The Author

Ben Saar is a photographer and DIY-er based in Tel-Aviv, Israel. You can follow his work here.