Saturday 5 January 2008

Blue Peter Extra Large Gridspot Part 1


If, like me you have a very small area to work in, you might want a light source that's big and soft but also very directional, so that it doesn't bounce around and light up the room.

What would be ideal would be an eggcrate. Eggcrates are panels made from a black material that splits the area of a softbox into square sections. The sides of these sections act like straws in a straw snoot to restrict the light. My ambition is to build a collapsible eggcrate for my silver umbrella, but thats going to be a bit of a long term project, alternatively Westcote among others sell eggcrates that will fit on your softbox.

Blue Peter 24cm Grid SpotAnyway, I digress. Eggcrates being out of scope for the present, I thought I would try building something using materials that I had to hand. Having enjoyed one or two bowls of profiteroles from Marks & Spencer's over christmas, I had a surplus of plastic bowls. I also had an A2 sheet of black coroplast, which I had been using to make small grids with. I thought I would make a grid out of the coroplast that was 24cm in diameter, which would fit over the end of the bowl. Add a bit of diffusion to scatter the light internally so that it reaches the edges and you have a 24cm tight beam of light. At least thats the theory.

Tune in for part two and I'll show you how to build it.

No comments:

Post a Comment