Ryan,

Where do you get your supplies like foamcore, gaffer tape etc?

Charles

Gaffer tape I got from when I worked for crew one as a rigger hehe. Foamcore should be available at lowes or home depot, but my partner that does still photography has a few sheets.

you can get white and black foam-core at any wallymart.... and guerilla duck tape is the most hard core black duct tape I've ever used.... spensive, but strong.

I've been a still photog professionally for over 20 years... and foamcore/gator board is a must have in my studio and on location. I've built entire sets with 4'X8' foam-core.... and even a temp darkroom with black gatorboard. ( gatorboard is like foam-core, but with a firmer foam inner.... you can get it as thick as 2" )

Diffusion for very hot lights
 

Find the closest hot air balloon manufacturer and get a few yards of their flame proof fabric. it's a little thicker than regular scrimming fabric, but lots of peace of mind; I have several yards of the stuff, ordered it over the phone from someone in Ft. Worth as I recall; I use it often with my 6" fresnels when I need more soft light, and those babies are lamped at 650 to 1000 watts. I just pull the lenses and slide the lamps to the front (flood) position.

And I'm with the "diffusion's too close in these solutions" camp... even a 3' softbox is just a fairly hard light once it gets a few feet away... nice for closeups, but for broad, soft light, I'm still a believer in hanging big sheets of white fabric from c-stands and using 4x8 black foam to control it. essentially you end up with 4' x 8' softboxes this way, with a big enough sweet spot that talent can really move around, all for a couple bucks.

Thats good if you have a large room or studio to work in, but we change location frequently, and space is always at a premium. We have been bouncing the lights and diffusers I made off the ceiling a bit if things get too bright. We're going to try the diffusers plus bouncing off the foam core this week and see how that goes.

The 'source' for your soft light, is the last surface it departs from. That's why the larger the 'face' of the softbox, the broader and softer the light. Hence the need for the actual element to be further away from it. You don't want a concentrated hot spot to show up on the white surface. If you bounce the small soft element onto a 4x8 softcard like foamcore, than you'll wind up with a much softer 4x8 'light' to work with. That's great. Of course the trip TO the surface of the bounce element and then FROM the surface of the bounce element diminishes the intensity of the light. Remember, light falls off at the inverse square of the distance. So it happens exponentially.

How soft is the light from the sand-blasted worklight?
Can you show us pictures taken with this reportedly nice light? Thanks!

used diffuser and reflector combination today on a shoot and worked out beautifully.

Hey Ryan

Are you saying that the work light/ezfoil/diffuser improv was shone onto reflectors? Did you use foamcore or regular reflectors?

Just wondering.

Charles

I guess we'll ever know exactly how soft the sandblasted worklight is.

Is there a reversible way to soften a halogen worklight? I'm thinking of spreading something like face powder over it. Something removable.

I just wanted to take a second to thank Ryan for his excellent tutorial on making a soft box, I've been using these workshop lights for a few months now but the extent of my diffusing was simply bouncing the light off nearby walls, I'm sure your softbox idea will be much more practical in the future, heh.

I used actual reflector material in this case rather than foamcore, though I had both available. I had stands to use for the reflectors so it gave me more ability to position them how I needed. I dont always have those available though. Sorry for my neglect in responding but Ive been in Vegas all week for an industry trade show. Just got back yesterday.

No problem I just hope it was useful to some people. :)

Hey Ryan

No problem. Thanks.

Charles

That was awesome and honestly the best work light difuser tutorial I have ever seen. And the girl at the end WOW. What can I say. I actually bought a similar work light but from Sears that I will try it with. I am definitely sold on that. Great job! And I will try the same!