Another DIY Flash Diffuser

Yes, I know there are a thousand versions of DIY flash diffusers out there; for both pop-up flashes and external flashes. Well; I created my own, so here’s another DIY Flash Diffuser for you. This one is for your pop-up flash and can be used on cameras with or without a hotshoe.

What you will need:

• 1 opaque plastic gallon size jug such as a milk jug
• 1 brass paper fastener (I think we used to call these brads)
• clear tape
• scissors and/or a craft knife
• hole punch
• a paper pattern (you have to make your own from an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper, these directions, and the quick drawing below)

The first thing I did was to make the paper pattern. It looks like this…

…and the approximate measurements are as follows:

• the long strip across the bottom 10″ x 5/8″
• the square with the rounded corners 4 1/2″ x 4 1/2″
• the red outline 5/8″ (the thickness of the long strip) x 6/8″
• the slits on the two ends 7/8″ from edges
• the two slits in the middle 3/4″ from center

You will want to adjust this for your camera. I think if I make another one for my own use I might make it just a bit wider. Do a test fit with the paper before you start cutting on the plastic.

Your directions are to cut on the black lines and fold on the red lines….

…tape your paper pattern onto the plastic, I positioned mine over a slight bend in the plastic to give the finished project a bit of a curve. Now carefully cut out the shape of the pattern and all 4 small slits. Once you have all the black lines cut fold the horizontal red line up towards the main square piece so that the strip lays over the main piece. Use the hole punch to punch a hole in the center of that red box and through both layers of plastic. Now fold the two vertical red lines; the one on the right towards the right and the one on the left towards the left. Clear as mud? Crease your folds tight by pressing with a wooden stick or even the handle of your scissors. Careful not to rip the long strip at the little slits! Again it’s a good idea to practice on a paper pattern until you get this figured out. Now use the brass paper fastener to hold the two layers together by inserting it from the front towards the back (the back being the side with the strip folded up). Leave some play here you are only preventing the plastic from falling down flat against your lens but you don’t want it held tight against your flash either, think something a bit less than a 45 degree angle. Fold the ends of the fastener around the edges of the plastic to get it out of your way and help it hold tight.

To attach your diffuser to your camera sit your camera on something solid like a table. Pop-up your flash. Hold the back side of your diffuser (the side with the long strip) towards your camera and put both ends of the strip through the space under the flash and above the camera body. Now take the right end of the strip and bring it around the right arm of the flash and lock the slit into the right center slit; take the left end of the strip and bring it around the left arm of the flash and lock the slit into the left center slit. Still with me? I know clear as mud, but I think you’ll get it once you see it. Make sure you have the little slits locked together, that’s what holds this whole thing on!

And now you are done!!

Ok, so I’m not the best at writing directions but maybe you get the idea. Here’s some shots I took with my cell phone so you can see how it looks…

And  now for some results…

The data is the same for each of these shots so I’ll only include it once…
shutter 1/80
aperture 7.1
ISO 200
focal length 50mm
pop-up flash fired

Well it didn’t get rid of the doggy version of red-eye but that can be fixed in Photo Shop…

Anyone else have a fun DIY project to share? Include it in the comments.

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A Dozen Tips For Taking Holiday Photos

Let’s face it. The holiday season is here. I was thinking about this and hope to get some good shots of family members over the next few weeks. I’ll be visiting #4′s farm for Thanksgiving, hanging around home for Christmas, and maybe visiting the in-laws for New Years. (D hasn’t said anything about that one yet.) I thought before the first bite of turkey I would share some tips with you on taking those holiday photos. If you’ve got more tips please share them in the comments so we can all learn from each other.

1. Keep your main subject off-center, you know the old rule of thirds. Place Grandma towards the right of your viewfinder with that delicious golden brown turkey on the table off in the background towards the left. Keep the focus on Grandma’s eyes and you’ll get both a great shot of her as well as a remembrance of the holiday meal.

2. Avoid your pop up flash indoors when you can. I know you’re saying, “but I  need my flash!”. Do you really? Sometimes yes, it will help to stop motion and light up a dark room, but sometimes no. Everyone knows about red-eye and harsh shadows. Yuck. Open your aperture as wide as you dare to get in lots of light, turn up your ISO if you can just not so high that it causes that ugly noise. Try shooting with your subject next to a window with  natural light coming in. Don’t get the window behind your subject or you’ll end up with a silhouette. If you are shooting at night turn on as many lights as you can. Oh, and don’t forget portraits by candle light can be nice too. Just be sure to tell them to hold very still and use a tripod.

3. Fill the frame by moving in closer. Take a shot of that delicious golden brown turkey up close and let the rest of the table fall a bit out of focus. Yummy! (use a wider aperture to get those backgrounds nice and soft)

4. You can’t avoid those group shots so be ready. Keep in mind that you can’t please everyone with one shot so take lots and lots and lots and… well you get the idea. Get everyone in close, arrange them in groups and levels. Maybe pull that couch out just a bit so some can stand behind, some can sit on the arms, children in their parents laps, and teens on the floor in front. Narrow your aperture to get everyone in focus, turn on lots of lights, and use a tripod. Don’t forget to set the timer and get yourself in the shot too! This is one you might have to use that flash for just tell everyone not to look directly at it; that will help cut down the red-eye.

5. Shooting Christmas lights or ornaments on your tree? Open up that aperture nice and wide. Focus on one light or one ornament and let the rest fall into a nice soft  bokeh. These look great taken in a darker room with the tree lights on, just be sure to use a tripod.

6. Make sure to get close up shots of the kids faces as they open those gifts. Their expressions on Christmas morning are, as the commercial says, priceless. Remember to be careful of that pop up flash. You might check out what I’ve done with my flash for an idea of something you could try in a pinch. 

7. When shooting the  kids get down on the floor and shoot from eye level. We’ve all seen those shots taken from above looking down on them; that rarely works.

8. Make a quick check of the background. Looking through the viewfinder do you see a tree growing out of  Uncle Fred’s head? I don’t think it’s suppose to be there. Take a step to the side or ask him to move a little.

9. Include those four-legged furry friends. If they will sit for a photo shoot get them in there. You can chronicle the growth of your child and Rover every year as they sit near the tree. Who’s growing faster?

10. Go candid. Don’t make all your shots posed. Lurk around the corner and catch Aunt Martha stirring up that turkey soup, sneak up on neighbor Sue standing under the mistletoe, is that cousin Pete playing that video game? Those fun moments are the ones you’ll really want to remember.

11. Get better snow shots by increasing your exposure just a bit. If you don’t have full manual controls look for the little +1 or +2 symbol. Try shooting with +2 for a brighter more true to life scene. Just don’t forget to change it back when your done!

12. And finally; be prepared. Make sure your batteries are charged and you have plenty of film or memory cards at hand. You don’t want to miss out on the perfect shot of Grandpa napping after dinner because your batteries died.

Playing With My Flash

I have been playing with lights lately. Mostly for use in taking product type shots for stock.

I’ve got a new light tent and lights but the lights could stand to be a bit brighter sometimes. So I played with my flash to see if I could improve the shots a little.

I’ve got a Professor Kobre’s LightScoop that makes the pop-up flash much more usable. My living room is the worst place for taking pictures and the scoop really does make a big difference in there. So I thought I’d give it a try with the light tent. It helped but I wanted to find a way to make sure it always had something white to bounce the light off of.

The scoop works by bouncing the light off a mirror and up towards your ceiling. So, if the ceiling is low enough and white. It can really improve on the blinding straight on light of the pop-up flash.

But when I used it while seated at the kitchen table in front of my light tent, it ended up reflecting the peach color from the walls into the tent. That wasn’t exactly what I wanted.

So I cut a piece of white poster board and held it at the top of the camera for the mirror to bounce the flash from. It worked great!

I wanted to make it a little more convenient to use so I backed it with some black paper to add a little stiffness, cut a notch at the bottom to fit over the eye piece, and added a rubber band to hold it on the camera.

I know, that’s all clear as mud. How about a visual aid:

I used L’s point and shoot to get a shot of my camera with the Light Scoop and my DIY reflector attached.

I sat it up on the tripod in my living room and took a series of shots to show you how much of an improvement the scoop and poster board make.

It’s not as nice looking or as convieniant to use as an actual flash. And the results could be better.

But it does help and my acceptance ratio at Dreamstime has gone up since I added this contraption to the mix when shooting products in the light tent.

I think it will come in handy until I can get a flash!

See for yourself what a difference this makes. I grabbed the camera as it was and did not take the time to make any changes to the settings or even change a lens.

(ISO 400 — 1/100 — F/9.0 — so you see there was room for improvement here)

Here’s a shot in my living room with just the ceiling lights on, no flash of any kind.

Yes, the lights are really that bad in there.

The same shot with the addition of the pop-up flash.

A little bright!

And the same shot with the pop-up flash and the Light Scoop.

Now if you are standing and the camera is closer to the white ceiling the results are better.

I had the tripod set down shorter and was sitting on the floor, so the mirror was further away from the ceiling here then the manufacturer suggests. And I think it was mostly bouncing off the peach colored walls, again.

And the last shot using the pop-up flash, Light Scoop, and poster board reflector.

All right all you DIY’ers out there. What do you think of this!

How do you make the most of your pop-up flash?