A professional ring flash is invaluable to a photographer.
Many professional photographers consider a ring flash an essential piece of equipment for shooting weddings and other events. These specialized, expensive flash units spread light out without diffusing it. which produces photos with fewer shadows and better skin tones. Luckily, there are many do-it-yourself versions available, and the following version is simple to build, though it requires an external flash unit.
See the link below for instructions on a more complex ring flash built completely from scratch.
Instructions
1. Prime the plastic bowls and PVC pipe. Apply one even layer of spray paint primer to all three items and allow them to dry before proceeding to step two.
2. Paint the two plastic bowls and PVC pipe piece using mirror finish spray paint. This will produce an extremely shiny mirror-like silver finish that will reflect the light of your flash.
3. You will have to cut circles in the bottom of both bowls that are an exact fit for the PVC pipe. To do this, turn the bowls upside down, and one at a time place the PVC pipe on top of the bowls. Trace the perimeter of the PVC pipe onto the bottom of the bowls, then use the razor to cut out along the lines traced. Depending on the thickness of the bowls, it may take several tries to cut completely through them.
4. On the side of the large bowl, trace around the head of the external flash with a permanent marker. The head is the end from which light comes out. Then cut out along those lines with the razor. This is the hole that the flash will slip into during shooting.
5. To assemble the ring flash, use a glue gun to fasten the small plastic bowl inside the large plastic bowl. Once it has dried, glue the PVC pipe to the edges of the hole in the bottom of the unit created by the bowls. Allow the glue to dry before attempting to use the ring flash.
6. To use the flash, place the PVC pipe over the lens of a camera, then place the external flash through the hole on the side of the bowl. Turn on the wireless TTL function or the wireless flash trigger. You are now ready to take a photo and test your new ring flash.
Tags: ring flash, external flash, bowls pipe, flash will, place pipe, plastic bowl, plastic bowls
