Softbox

Two soft boxes

Outdoor portrait photography with a soft box

Photograph of fruit with (top) and without (bottom) soft box lighting

A soft box is a type of photographic lighting device, one of a number of photographic soft light devices. All the various soft light types create even and diffused light^[1] by directing light through some diffusing material, or by "bouncing" light off a second surface to diffuse the light. The best known form of bouncing source is the umbrella light where the light from the bulb is bounced off the inside of a metalized umbrella to create a soft indirect light.

A soft box is an enclosure around a bulb comprising reflective side and back walls and a diffusing material at the front of the light.

The sides and back of the box are lined with a bright surface - an aluminized fabric surface or an aluminum foil, to act as an efficient reflector. In some commercially available models the diffuser is removable to allow the light to be used alone as a floodlight or with an umbrella reflector.

A soft box can be used with either flash or continuous light sources such as fluorescent lamps or "hot lights" such as quartz halogen bulbs or tungsten bulbs. If soft box lights are used with "hot" light sources, the user must be sure the soft box is heat rated for the wattage of the light to which it is attached in order to avoid fire hazard.

References

↑ Brooks, David. How to Control and Use Photographic Lighting. HPBooks, 1980, p. 54. ISBN 978-0-89586-059-0

Photography

Outline

Terminology	35 mm equivalent focal length Angle of view Aperture Black and white Chromatic aberration Circle of confusion Color balance Color temperature Depth of field Depth of focus Exposure Exposure compensation Exposure value F-number Film format Film speed Focal length Guide number Hyperfocal distance Metering mode Perspective distortion Photograph Photographic printing Photographic processes Reciprocity Red-eye effect Science of photography Shutter speed Sync Zone System

Genres	Abstract Aerial Architectural Conceptual Conservation Cloudscape Documentary Ethnographic Erotic Fashion Fine-art Fire Forensic Glamour High-speed Landscape Lomography Nature Nude Photojournalism Pornography Portrait Post-mortem Selfie Social documentary Sports Still life Stock Street Vernacular Underwater Wedding Wildlife

Techniques	Afocal Bokeh Brenizer Contre-jour Cyanotype ETTR Fill flash Fireworks Harris shutter HDRI High-speed Holography Infrared Kirlian Kite aerial Long-exposure Macro Mordançage Multiple exposure Night Panning Panoramic Photogram Print toning Redscale Rephotography Rollout Scanography Sabatier effect Stereoscopy Stopping down Strip Slit-scan Sun printing Tilt–shift Miniature faking Time-lapse Ultraviolet Vignetting Xerography

Composition	Diagonal method Framing Headroom Lead room Rule of thirds Simplicity

Equipment	Camera light-field field pinhole press rangefinder SLR still TLR toy view Darkroom enlarger safelight Film base format holder stock Filter Flash beauty dish cucoloris gobo hood hot shoe monolight Reflector snoot Softbox Lens Wide-angle lens Zoom lens Telephoto lens Manufacturers Monopod Movie projector Slide projector Tripod head Zone plate

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Digital photography	Digital camera D-SLR comparison MILC camera back Digiscoping Digital versus film photography Film scanner Image sensor CMOS APS CCD Three-CCD camera Foveon X3 sensor Image sharing Pixel

Color photography	Color Print film Reversal film Color management color space primary color CMYK color model RGB color model

Photographic processing	Bleach bypass C-41 process Cross processing Developer Digital image processing Dye coupler E-6 process Fixer Gelatin silver process Gum printing K-14 process Print permanence Push processing Stop bath

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Softbox

See also

References