DIY Softbox for photography

About a year ago I built myself a soft box for portrait photography. 

The idea was to make this for cheap as possible out of stuff that I found around my house.

Step One: Lay out my lights

Supplies:
Old Powerstrip - FREE
Left over wood - Free
Ligh sockets - $4 I think? It was a year ago, so I'm not really sure.

I traced the powerstrip and where I wanted the light socket holes to be

Step 2: Drill the and fit the lights

Step 3: Shape the Frame

Supplies:
Old Bike Spokes - FREE
Duck Tape - FREE
Balsa wood - FREE
White tube things - FREE

Basically I used some old bike spokes and anything else I could find around the house to make the frame for the lightbox.


Step 4: Building the Tripod

Supplies:
PVC Pipe - Free
Duck Tape - Free
Shelf mounting brackets - Free
Pencil - Free

I took 3 old shelf brackets, and just duck taped them to the larger PVC pipe. I then drilled holes in the pipe every 2 inches or so up the pipe. By placing a pencil through the holes a peg I can slide the other smaller PVC pipe up and down to raise or lower my tripod.

(Because of the narrrow legs on my tripod I secure it by using sandbags at the base)

Step 5: Clamping the Frame to the tripod

Supplies:
Fishing Rod holder - FREE
Small wooden Block - FREE
Fishing Line - FREE

I screwed the small block to the back of my frame.

The metal thing you see is an old fishing rod holder I had never really used. I flipped it over and it worked perfectly as a clamp. I can raise and lower the angle on my softbox just by loosening one screw.

I also used some fishing line to tention the balsa wood at the top. This gave the frame a nicer appearance, and some extra stability.

Step 6: Starting to put it all together

Supplies: Zip Ties - FREE

Here is a front view of the frame on the stand. You can see the first piece of fabric hanging on here as well.

After this I mounted the lights strip to the box using zip ties. I then took the frame off the clamp and started to add the fabric.

Step 7: Adding Fabric and Finished

Supplies:
Black Fabric - Free
Needle and Thread -Free
Wood Glue - Free
Silver Survival blanket - $3
Safety Pins - FREE


I cut the fabric to shape, and sowed all of the black panels on. I also glued the back of the panel to the wood.

What you can't see is the inside of the box. I used a silver reflective emergency blanket (you can find them in the camping section of most walmarts) and glued this to to black fabric and the board at the back to reflect the light.

I then saftey pinned the white fabric to the front of the box to help diffuse the light.

There you go, all finished.

Step 8: Take Photos

Here is a photo of my wife I took with my new softbox.

I hope everyone enjoyed my Softbox build.  My total cost for this project was around $7.
This was not meant to be a real walkthrough, but more of a way to show you what you can create if you look around at the resources you already have available.
I hope this ispires others to go out there and create!