Wesley Scoggins
Indy Mogul
Wesley's Weekly HOW TO: Diffusion Panel
Indy Mogul has covered lighting on more than one occasion, showing you how to make an adjustable florescent light kit, the basics of three-point lighting, Bounce Boards, and Advanced Lighting Techniques Part 1 and Part 2. Lighting is an art, and one of the most important parts of the filmmaking process (and the most important part of making a good looking image), so there are always need things to add to our already extensive arsenal of lighting based discussions. This week I am going to talk a little about diffusion panels, and show you how to make your own based Diffusion panel for relatively cheap.
I started out with a PVC frame instead of another material like wood for two reasons, 1. PVC is lighter. 2. PVC is collapsable. With the PVC I can pop loose the elbow joints and roll the panel up and fit it in my trunk or my back seat a lot easier than if it was fully poofed out. For the supply list, you'll need PVC tubing the length and width of the cloth you've got access to, and 4 elbow joints.
For my diffusion material I got some old torn up bedsheets that I was going to have to throw away anyway, you could probably stretch an old T-shirt, or a pillow case over smaller panels, but i've found king sized bedsheets at local dollar stores for like 8 dollars, so new ones shouldn't push you over budget.
Now drill holes in the tubing. I drilled them along the longest side so the top and bottom sections could more easily be removed making collapsing it easier.
I then laid it out onto my fabric, stretched it onto it...
Then flipped it over, and started poking holes through the fabric into the holes I drilled into the tube.
I then took a bolt (you'll want thick ones, thinner bolts will tear the fabric more easily) and pushed it through the hole, securing the sheet to the frame.
You now have your diffusion panel, this can be held in front of lights (or between your subject and a light source such as the sun) to soften the light. It can also be utilized as a bounce pad, by holding it at an angle from the light. And remember to check out our other lighting tutorials for some techniques on how to make your lighting better.
14 Comments
Add a Comment