Modifying a square softbox to octagonal

Just want to know if anyone has stuck or clip black paper to the

corners of a square or rectangular softbox to make it work like an

octagonal softbox.

You can do anything to the front of the softbax to create interesting effects such as your example of masking a square to look like octagonal or round. Your imagination is your limit.

Tape a square grid pattern on and you get a quasi window effect - etc.

Hi,

Yes, I used to do it all the time, for two reasons: My softbox was a little too large to give

good modeling in portraits, and I prefer a round highlight in the eye.

Recently, though, I have changed my procedure, and use a large 22" pan reflector with a

translucent material taped over it. To soften the hotspot, I tape two smaller translucent

circles, one about 12", the other about 8", ove the first layer of translucent material. Three

layers in all. This give a light very similar to the softbox masked down. The advantage is

that the 22" pan reflector is much smaller than the softbox, and just a lot easier to handle

in the studio.

Tom