Ring Flash - Examples ?

Does anyone know of a site where I can see the effects of ring flash.

Ideally I'd be looking for shots taken with and without the ring

flash. I am particuarly interested in flower and still life macro

photography.

Thanks.

a quick <a href="http://www.google.com/search?

q=%22ring+flash%22+examples">search on the net</a> shows some pages with

examples. looks like the very <a href="http://www.dcresource.com/Ringflash/

ringflash_review.html">first hit</a> on google shows some clear examples of with/

without ringflash. there are lots of experienced people on p.n, but a lot of answers you

cana quickly find yourself with a simple web search.. just some advice..

Ringflash - the smaller, on-camera units, are often used in medical and forensics photography as well as macrophotography. You can see some typically garish examples in photos of dental patients' mouths or, if you have a strong stomach, bullet and knife wounds or other injuries seen in the course a typical big city medical examiner's day.

Ringflash for photographing models is pretty much the same thing but on a larger scale. The camera is ringed with studio flash units to produce a look that is very often seen in glamour and fashion magazines - flat, almost shadowless, with makeup used to define the facial structure washed out by the lighting, while the clothing and accessories are clearly shown.

It's occasionally been used in nude photography for Playboy and other magazines, tho' it appears to be a trend that comes in and out of fashion. The effect is typically more subtle when used this way.

For camera-mounted ringflash examples I'd suggest searching some of the many websites run by fans of the Olympus OM-series cameras. For a while Olympus offered an excellent flash system that was geared toward the macrophotographer in the field. A few still use the system for routine publication work such as in National Geographic.

With some macro subjects, such as shiny beetles, even the indirect form of lighting of the T8 can produce bright

rings (usually distorted by the shape of the subect) of white reflection as highlights on the image of the subject. More

conventional types of flashgun may be prefered for these.