Let’s all just take a moment to appreciate how short and succinct this article is. Let’s all just assume that I’m being incredibly mindful of your busy lives and questionably short attention spans thanks to spending too much time on Instagram. Let’s definitely not just attribute this micro-bite of super-useful info to the fact that I’ve had man-flu all week and that I’m waaaaaay behind on my retouching! You’re welcome :D
Over the years I’ve seen all manner of crazy ways to gel a softbox. To be fair, yes it can be a real pain and the most common solution I’ve seen, is to simply gel the entire front of the softbox. This does make sense of course, but it can be pretty impractical. It’s certainly doable on a small 60cmx60xcm box, but on the larger models, it becomes increasingly difficult.
Back when we had tungsten modelling bulbs, we’d have to remove the bulbs first or risk the gel turning into a puddle!
In the olden days…
By far the best way to gel your softbox, is to simply open up the softbox and gel the actual flash tube itself. Years ago this was a pain, as we used to have to deal with very hot tungsten modelling bulbs, but even the old fossils like me are now using LED modelling bulbs in our strobes.
The previous fear of dripping hot plastic coating the inside of your softbox is thankfully a distant memory and even powerful LED modelling bulbs in strobes today still don’t get hot enough to melt the gels placed over them.
Don’t panic though, if you’re still using older strobes with tungsten modelling bulbs, simply do what I used to do and unscrew the tungsten bulb first. Sure, you won't have a modelling bulb, but you also won't start a colourful fondue party in your softbox!
Be one of the cool kids!
As I mentioned, I used to simply gel the inside of my softbox and I used to do that with gaffers tape. This was not pretty, plus it was a pain to do and sometimes the damn tape would even pull some of the silver lining away from the softbox too!
The smarter way to do it today is with magnets!
The Magnets
Get yourself some of those fancy ‘Rare Earth Neodymium Magnets’ and ditch that nasty old tape. The ones I use are about 3cm long and about 1cm wide. You can use any magnet, but I would highly recommend a strong magnet like these, as it’ll make your life a LOT easier when trying to attach the gels. I got told off for not warning people about these magnets last time I mentioned them and like I said, they are very strong and they’ll easily pinch your skin. Just be sure to keep them well away from children, pets and photographers that shoot black & white.
Metal Struts
Next up, simply open up your softbox - (I find it easier to open the back of the softbox as the inner diffuser can sometimes get in the way if you’re entering from the front), and check the softbox struts are metal. The overwhelming majority of softboxes have metal rods as their supports today and there are only a few very old ones that are plastic or very new ones that are carbon fibre. If they are metal then you’re good to go. Simply pop your gel in there and then place four magnets on each of the four struts.
Accessing the Softbox
I personally find it easy enough to put the gel over the flash tube when the softbox is mounted on the light. If you find it easier to attach the gel to the softbox with it off the light and positioned flat on the floor, then go for it. Just be mindful that some flash tubes will stick out more than others, so placing the gel over the tube whilst the softbox is on, means you’re less likely to pop the gel off when you attach the softbox afterwards.
Keep it Light-Tight
Once you’re happy the gel is nicely in place, be sure to button back up the rear flaps. I mention this here, and I know this seems obvious to some of you, but I see a lot of people with those back flaps open and they can allow a ton of light to bounce back out of the softbox. Gels can stop upwards of at least a stop of light in some cases and this means that any white light escaping from the rear here, will be very powerful and that white light can easily bounce around a smaller home studio and affect the gelled light being fired.
Check for Gaps
Lastly, it might be worth checking the gel is covering the flash tube as much as possible. You can do this from the back, but if you really want to check the gel is covering the flash, simply take a peek inside from the front. If it’s not covering it, simply pull the magnets out towards the edge of the softbox and that way it’ll spread the gel over the flash tube without having any unnecessary kinks and folds in it.
Check for Pure Colour
You should be all done! If you’re curious, fire a quick test shot just to double-check that only pure colour is coming out of the softbox. If it's not, just open it back up and move those magnets around on the struts until you’ve limited the number of kinks that might be spilling white light out.
It’s easier on larger softboxes as the strut angle isn’t so acute, but I did it here on a small 60cmx60cm softbox and it was still no trouble at all.
Closing comments
As I said, just a quick and simple PSA today and it really is pretty straightforward. Get those powerful magnets, make sure your softbox struts are metal (probably check that first), be sure that the gel doesn’t have large kinks that might let a lot of white light out, and you’re done!
I recently did some live demonstrations at the Photo Show here in the U.K. and I was very quickly swapping gels in my softbox using this magnet method. Several people mentioned that they’d never seen or thought of this, so I thought I’d share it here for those that missed it :)
Lastly…
I’ve recently switched to these new ‘FlatPak’ softboxes. I was sent a couple by Essential Photo here in the U.K. and they’re very cool. Why? They quite literally take 3 seconds to put up due to their very clever new quick-open design. By all means, follow the link below to check the video about them, but they really are the easiest and quickest to assemble softboxes I’ve ever seen.
I’ll speak more on these in the future, but for now, check them out!
FlatPak Softboxes
I got the 60cmx60cm and the 80cmcm 120cm softboxes and I’ve attached the links below if you’re interested.
Please note that I’ve included affiliate links below and I will benefit (albeit minimally) from the sales of any of these products should you purchase them. To that end, please feel free to use my discount code ‘HICK5-OFF’ at Essential Photo to receive a discount on any purchase via their site.
Thank You
As always, thanks for checking out this article and spending a little bit of your day with me here. I hope you found it useful and if you left with a little more knowledge than when you arrived, it’s been worth it.
If you have any questions or comments, or if something doesn’t make sense, by all means, fire away in the comments below and I’ll do my best to answer what I can. Thanks again and I’ll see you in the next one.
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JHP Livestreams…
If you give this setup a go, I’d love to see how the shots turn out, so feel free to share them my way. One way to do that is via my Livestream. I Livestream every other Tuesday night via my FB Page and there I answer your questions, critique your shots, take community images into Photoshop to work on them and discuss all manner of lighting tips and techniques. I look forward to seeing you and your work there real soon. JHP Facebook Page
