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Archive 2009My First DIY SoftBox
p.2 #1My First DIY SoftBox
There's a huge difference between using gaffers tape, cinefoil, bungies, or Home Depot clamps to supplement professional gear and hacking together your own rubbish "beauty dish" or SB or SB grids. All it will take is one person to trip over your stand for you to see how poorly your two hours of DIY work will hold up. When that SB crumples and tears instead of just flexing and bouncing back like a normal SB would, you'll wish you'd done the right thing from the start and bought that $100 SB or BD instead of wasting your time on crap that doesn't even work right.
It's like the whole tripod upgrading argument, except this time they're trying to use 2x4's instead of $10 Walmart legs.
It's like the whole tripod upgrading argument, except this time they're trying to use 2x4's instead of $10 Walmart legs.
Jul 02, 2009 at 09:09 AM
p.2 #2My First DIY SoftBox
Cordell, it's a sad but true thing that people are too often caught up in perception. If you want to get business you have to manage that by being able to look impressive. If you want to stay in business, you also need to be impressive.
People have problems with exponentials and intangibles. This is why they find it difficult to pay people for information, expertise, etc. That's an intangible. The same people that don't want to spend a couple hundred for an image will drop more for a cell phone. They simply can't pinpoint a fair price for an intangible. The market varies far too wildly because the providers of these services find it as difficult to price their work as buyers do.
So, you can fight it, and perhaps lose clients. Or you can play to it, and profit. Choice is yours.
Max
People have problems with exponentials and intangibles. This is why they find it difficult to pay people for information, expertise, etc. That's an intangible. The same people that don't want to spend a couple hundred for an image will drop more for a cell phone. They simply can't pinpoint a fair price for an intangible. The market varies far too wildly because the providers of these services find it as difficult to price their work as buyers do.
So, you can fight it, and perhaps lose clients. Or you can play to it, and profit. Choice is yours.
Max
Jul 02, 2009 at 10:32 AM
p.2 #3My First DIY SoftBox
shatterkiss wrote:
If after looking at your portfolio you walked in with a Kodak EasyShare I would be surprized. However, I would not doubt that you know what you are doing with what you have because I've seen the end results. This is to say that the SB created here is not bad at all. Heck, there is gear with gaffers tape and bungie cords all over it. Does that mean the gear is falling apart or does it mean there maybe something attached to it to alter the light?Sure, I get hired based on what results I'm capable of. But the real question is, would they hire me again after the first gig? And with any client their final satisfaction with your service is going to be a matrix of a number of factors...personality, how comfortable/happy they were with pricing and the business side of the process, your demeanor and comportment during the job, how they felt about the balance of pricing to value. Everyone defines "value" differently, and that's where an issue like this arises.
I've definitely had clients fail to hire me again because they felt that,...Show more →
shatterkiss,HEY:
I must say,any client that won't take you (in this case I'm talking about you) on base of the gear you use is probably making a mistake.I'm amazed by the pictures in your flickr and they are very inspiring.
About the softbox tut I wrote and linked here,I feel that I have say again:
This softbox isn't in exchange for pro equipment (photographer's level and pro need).
After all you don't imamging that I get to client house with carton box as a softbox and some clips to hold the backgrounds.What those DIY tut (mine and other on the web)
simple offers a cheap opportunity for people that already have the basic gear (today almost any photo amateur owns a DSLR and an of camera flash ) to test their abilities and expand their creativity.I probably don't have to tell the differences between the results of popup flash photography and of camera flash photography.
I do not advise photographers to use this kind of equipment for proffesional work.
cordellwillis wrote
I agree with SOME of this. But in all honesty I can't believe that any significant number of your paying clients contact you based on the gear they know you use. They contact you because the work you have produced and can produce for them. Unless of course you are speaking of something like an ad agency that need specific file types that a MF can produce....that's a different story.If after looking at your portfolio you walked in with a Kodak EasyShare I would be surprized. However, I would not doubt that you know what you are doing with what you have because I've seen the end results. This is to say that the SB created here is not bad at all. Heck, there is gear with gaffers tape and bungie cords all over it. Does that mean the gear is falling apart or does it mean there maybe something attached to it to alter the light?
I've definitely had clients fail to hire me again because they felt that,...Show more →
shatterkiss,HEY:
I must say,any client that won't take you (in this case I'm talking about you) on base of the gear you use is probably making a mistake.I'm amazed by the pictures in your flickr and they are very inspiring.
About the softbox tut I wrote and linked here,I feel that I have say again:
This softbox isn't in exchange for pro equipment (photographer's level and pro need).
After all you don't imamging that I get to client house with carton box as a softbox and some clips to hold the backgrounds.What those DIY tut (mine and other on the web)
simple offers a cheap opportunity for people that already have the basic gear (today almost any photo amateur owns a DSLR and an of camera flash ) to test their abilities and expand their creativity.I probably don't have to tell the differences between the results of popup flash photography and of camera flash photography.
I do not advise photographers to use this kind of equipment for proffesional work.
Jul 02, 2009 at 11:00 PM
p.2 #4My First DIY SoftBox
Just buy a $24 lumaquest mini softbox.
I never take it off my SB800s
Easy to take with you anyplace you go.
I never take it off my SB800s
Easy to take with you anyplace you go.
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Jul 03, 2009 at 02:28 PM
p.2 #5My First DIY SoftBox
digitaled wrote:
Just buy a $24 lumaquest mini softbox.
I never take it off my SB800s
Easy to take with you anyplace you go.
I have it,use it every day,But you know what people say about the size...
Just buy a $24 lumaquest mini softbox.
I never take it off my SB800s
Easy to take with you anyplace you go.
I have it,use it every day,But you know what people say about the size...
Jul 04, 2009 at 02:30 PM
p.2 #6My First DIY SoftBox
Interesting. This is the end result of your efforts.
http://diyphotographystuff.info/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/glue_the_drawing_paper_as_the_diffusion_panel.jpg
wow!
http://diyphotographystuff.info/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/glue_the_drawing_paper_as_the_diffusion_panel.jpg
wow!
Jul 04, 2009 at 03:11 PM