The Idea…
My son Dylan WeirdlyNaturalPhotography has been away from college, where he is studying to be an entomologist, due to Covid19 and lockdown so has been honing his wildlife photography and building his Instagram presence over the last few months. He has done amazingly well taking his quiet account to over 700 followers who comment, and interact on a daily basis. He gets ID requests from all over the world and is an active part of the community – I’m super proud of him. As with anything photography related getting the best results is as much about knowing your subject and having the basic skills as it is about good lighting – it can make or break shot. With this in mind he started using my Metz S500 BC light panel but was finding the exposed LED’s a little harsh for the tiny subjects he is interested in. Bits of tracing paper and sticky tape helped but a cardboard (as it turned out prototype) soft box which I knocked together for him made a huge difference…so we hatched a plan.
The Build…
I am very lucky to have an amazing friend who runs his own business – 4130photography – making equipment for the TV and movie business. He uses a laser engraving and cutting machine to make custom designed clapper boards, filter tabs and other one-off perspex parts so a quick call, an hour slinging about ideas over a coffee and some rough pencils drawing later we had something that could be transferred onto computer and a date set at his studio to make a more permanent soft box/diffuser. This was always going to be a suck-it-and-see project as the laser machine isn’t really designed for making construction parts but to be honest it tuned out better that I’d hoped for.
Using a rough plan for a 200x150mm box with 50mm deep sides and a custom fit holder on the rear we set about inputting, cutting and building something that would give a nice soft light, be portable and be easily mounted to a tripod. The parts were glued, taped and magnetically held together (the front white panel comes off so it can be tweaked depending on the lighting required) and a finished product started to take shape.
I had ordered a cheese plate from Smallrig so the soft box can be tripod, flexi-clamp etc mounted so with the main box taped, the front held on with magnets the plate was glued in place and as a final touch a name plate was made with Dylan’s Instagram handle on.
It needs a couple of finishing touches, some red tape to seal the edges and possibly an angle bracket for the tripod but all in all it looks good, works well, its solid, easy to carry and the light from it is spot on.
Out Testing…
Been out for an hours bug hunting tonight, the dog needed a walk so it seemed like a god excuse and it works, brilliantly, I’m please to say. Dylan is chuffed and with luck his photography should get that little bit of extra polish that will help it stand out.
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