Soft box
Encyclopedia
A Soft box is a type of photographic
Photography
Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...

 lighting
Lighting
Lighting or illumination is the deliberate application of light to achieve some practical or aesthetic effect. Lighting includes the use of both artificial light sources such as lamps and light fixtures, as well as natural illumination by capturing daylight...

 device, one of a number of photographic soft light
Soft light
Soft light refers to light that tends to "wrap" around objects, casting shadows with soft edges. The softness of the light depends mostly on the following two factors:*Distance. The closer the light source, the softer it becomes.*Size of light source...

 devices. All the various soft light types create even and diffused light 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
Flash (photography)
A flash is a device used in photography producing a flash of artificial light at a color temperature of about 5500 K to help illuminate a scene. A major purpose of a flash is to illuminate a dark scene. Other uses are capturing quickly moving objects or changing the quality of light...

 or continuous light sources such as fluorescent lamps or "hot lights" such as quartz halogen bulbs or tungsten bulbs
Incandescent light bulb
The incandescent light bulb, incandescent lamp or incandescent light globe makes light by heating a metal filament wire to a high temperature until it glows. The hot filament is protected from air by a glass bulb that is filled with inert gas or evacuated. In a halogen lamp, a chemical process...

. 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 it is attached to in order to avoid fire hazard.

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