Quick DIY softbox grid

One of the things I love about being a photographer is I have the privilege of spending hundreds of dollars on accessories for my lighting equipment and cameras..... Not exactly. Actually it doesn't hurt to have a few carpentry skills if you are a photographer, or at least you should know how to cut cardboard with a utility knife;)

But seriously, there are quite a few things that you can do on your own, in a reasonable amount of time, that can save you some money.

What is the point?

So what's the point of a soft box grid? Well, Grids are essential in order to alter the shape and intensity of the light output from your modifier when mounted to your Speedlight or strobe.

A soft box grid will help you to center your light, making a more intimate style portrait.

As just a cut and dry example, look at the pictures here. Both pictures were taken at the same settings using a 20 inch soft box,like the one here or here, mounted on a light stand, I had a Lumopro LP160 Speedlight on one quarter power about 6 feet from the wall.

The picture on the right hand side was taken with a homemade grid attached to the soft box.

You will notice two things about the picture taken with the grid. First of all, the light is very centered and feathers out nicely. Secondly, because you are effectively blocking some of the light by putting a grid in front of the softbox, you will lose maybe a quarter to  half a stop of light.

How to build

My homemade grid in action

I'm not going to lie, this will take you about an hour to do. So if you have the money to plunk down $200 for a factory made grid, go for it. As for myself, I like to do it the six dollar way.

You will need:
Black Coroplast, black electrical tape, and a utility knife. By the way, Coroplast is basically plastic cardboard that sign makers use for outdoor signs. You can purchase Coroplast from many different places online including sign supply stores.  It costs a little more than two bucks for an 18"x 24" sheet if you buy it a piece at a time. This place sells it for $1.29 each if you buy 10. Of course you can get larger sizes if you need that. It cuts very easy with a knife but is very durable in use.
 For This soft box, I cut 10 strips of Coroplast 3 inches wide by 8 inches long. I did it using a simple straight edge and utility knife.
Now you need to cut the slots. The slots are 1 1/2" x 3/16". One slot every 2 3/4 inches.

You can see here how they're joined.

To save time cutting, you can stack three of your 3"x18" lengths together, tape them, then start cutting. ( see picture below). The slots don't really have to be perfect, as long as they're basically wide enough and deep enough you're good to go.

Pretty much all that's left to do at this point is to secure the strips together. Use a little black electrical tape or some other black tape and put a little piece on each joint ( one side only).You are basically done making your grid.
    There are a variety of ways you could attach this to your softbox. You could use gaffer's tape or maybe drill some small holes and use some 1/8" bungee cord, or you could do what I did. I decided to wrap Velcro around the ends of my grid so that it would naturally attach itself to the Velcro on the sides of my softbox. Most soft boxes have hooked Velcro on the front diffusion panel wrapped around both sides. Anyway, this worked perfect for me.

Velcro wrapped around the edge of the grid

This is how it folds up. This one folds to 30 inches long.

 So there you have it, a pretty cheap, pretty easy to build, pretty cool addition to your lighting kit.
Also, I forgot to mention that you can make snoots, gobos and all kinds of other things out of this very lightweight plasticky cardboard.