Softbox Internal Baffles? - DPChallenge Forums

W.R.Miller

Tamron SP AF 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di for Canon

10/15/2004 01:53:49 PM · #1

Hello!!!

Was just wondering when I would use the internal baffles on my softboxes with my strobes? I didn't use them the other night for my shots and I just found them in the box and was wondering what they were. Should they always be used? Do they help achieve a different affect? Can anyone explain when you would use them and when you wouldn't want to use them?

Pics from the other night without the internal baffles.

Would they have looked any different if I had used the internal baffles?

Thanks!
Bill

KevinRiggs

Canon EOS-1Ds

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM

10/15/2004 02:37:25 PM · #3

Bill,

My softboxes came with internal baffles and diffusers for each. The basics of the instructions I got (although I haven't experimented much with them -- still trying to setup a shoot) say that the more layers of semi-opaque material between the light and the subject, the softer and more full the light will be. The light with the softbox around the flash but with no baffle or diffuser will be slightly softer than just the silver reflector on the light. Add a baffle and the light is still pretty directional but it is softer and fills in shadows better. Take the baffle out and add the diffuser and the light should be slightly less directional because the diffuser is all the way out at the far outside of the softbox so once the light gets through the diffuser there is no more white/silver/whatever inside walls of the softbox to help direct the light. Add the baffle back in so that you have both baffles and diffuser on the softbox and you should get a soft light that fills in shadows very well because it has no strong directional sense but provides a glow. Put one of these on one side of the camera and one on the other and you should knock out almost all the shadows (assuming your subject is even a moderate distance away from the background and you haven't set the lights at some extreme ratio).

Now, I'd suggest taking shots without anything in/on the softbox, with just the baffles, just the diffusers and with both the baffles and diffusers in them. I noticed slight differences when I played with my lights like this.

Kev

W.R.Miller

Canon EOS-50D

Tamron SP AF 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di for Canon

10/15/2004 02:48:39 PM · #5

Originally posted by KevinRiggs:

Bill,

My softboxes came with internal baffles and diffusers for each. The basics of the instructions I got (although I haven't experimented much with them -- still trying to setup a shoot) say that the more layers of semi-opaque material between the light and the subject, the softer and more full the light will be. The light with the softbox around the flash but with no baffle or diffuser will be slightly softer than just the silver reflector on the light. Add a baffle and the light is still pretty directional but it is softer and fills in shadows better. Take the baffle out and add the diffuser and the light should be slightly less directional because the diffuser is all the way out at the far outside of the softbox so once the light gets through the diffuser there is no more white/silver/whatever inside walls of the softbox to help direct the light. Add the baffle back in so that you have both baffles and diffuser on the softbox and you should get a soft light that fills in shadows very well because it has no strong directional sense but provides a glow. Put one of these on one side of the camera and one on the other and you should knock out almost all the shadows (assuming your subject is even a moderate distance away from the background and you haven't set the lights at some extreme ratio).

Now, I'd suggest taking shots without anything in/on the softbox, with just the baffles, just the diffusers and with both the baffles and diffusers in them. I noticed slight differences when I played with my lights like this.

Kev

Thanks, Kevin! Excellent explanation. That really helps and what I suspected.

Thanks again!
Bill

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