Wildflower Photography Hack: DIY Soft Box

Getting great wildflower photos requires photographers to deal with, or at least consider, the weather conditions. Too much sun, wind, or rain is not conducive to making great flower photos. At least, not the kind I prefer to make. However, there are ways to workaround these issues. Let's discuss how to create your own soft box you can use to deal with harsh sunlight or light winds.

You will need the following supplies:

• 1 cardboard box - I have found square ones to work better than oddly shaped rectangular boxes
• 2 to 3 white plastic trash bags
• Duct tape
• Scissors for cutting the trash bags
• Knife or box cutter to cut the box

Cut off the top and bottom "flaps" but leave the 2 side flaps.

Cut out large squares from the top and sides. Then cut out most of the bottom, as shown in the photo. This allows you to get your camera very close to the ground when shooting.

Cover the top and both sides with pieces of white trashbags using tape to hold them in place.

Remember to cover the back of the box as this will be the background of your photos. You can use your imagination/creativity for this. I have used velcro strips to hold squares of felt in place on the back. This allows me to change colors if I chose and they store easily inside the softbox.

I have also used this hack for product images. In that case, I placed the items on a piece of white posterboard and used a white background. With constant lighting on the sides and top, the images looked great on the website.