posted 03-01-2005 11:50 PM            

Low-tech solutions to problems appeal to me, so I thought I'd share this. This morning I tripped and smashed the "soft box" I'd made a few years ago to photograph silver.

As you know, photographing silver without a soft box leads to images with distracting flares of light and reflections of the photographer and the surrounds of the object.

I needed a replacement soft box today, and I didn't have the time or materials on hand to fabricate one. So, I went to Target and bought a $9.95 lampshade (11" high) that's made of a plain white opaque material.

I snipped out the harp parts, set the shade over a sheet of construction paper, and used the undamaged top from my old soft box. (The camera lens fits through the hole in rectangular top) Better than the old box!

The opaque shade diffuses light from the blue photo bulbs I use, and there are no reflections...even on spoon bowls.

Some photographers just diffuse the light from the flash or the floods, but while this prevents flares it does not solve the reflection problem. This type of soft box takes the photographer out of the picture. Literally.

posted 03-02-2005 07:58 AM            

Nice, elegant, inexpensive — I like it.

Thanks for sharing.