Have you ever made your own light modifiers?

[ellis_vener_photography]

Not so much because you can't afford off the shelf models but because you've never seen another one like the one you have an idea

for?

 

The first person I saw do this was (former) Houston Chronicle news photographer Ben DeSoto back in the earlyy '90s. Instead of

using a simple bounce card or the tiny little StoFen cup that was popular back then, he took a one-quart size translucent plastic milk jug,

cut a hole near the top and mounted it on his hot shoe mount flash. It was ugly as sin but worked like a charm. About the same time I

read about National Geographic photographer William Albert Allard doing something similar with Tupperware containers.

 

In his book "50 Portraits" Gregory Heisler (http://www.gregoryheisler.com) discusses how he often makes customized light modifiers for

his shoots, including some which were used as major magazine covers (time, Life, Sports illustrated, etc.)

 

My friend Cameron Davidson just won a slew of awards for a series of portraits of soccer playing kids in Haiti, all lit with a modified Gary

Fong diffuser and a single Nikon Speedlight.

 

These days. I'm working on and with a couple of custom made modifiers and rigs myself these days. One involves a beauty dish and

more diffusion material and the other uses a bunch metal fence rails and caps I bought at Home Depot.

 

So what are you doing to make your light different?

[Bill C]

<p>Oh gosh, tons of stuff. But mostly prototyping. As you may recall, I've spent time with a large chain outfit, so anything worthwhile would ultimately be manufactured on a larger scale.</p>

<p>One sort of interesting thing I did sometime back was trying to make a reflector to use as a hairlight. (This was in the interest of saving $, as well as eliminating the need to ever replace flashtubes.) On the surface, it seems like this won't be bright enough - it would never be quite as bright as the main light. So I worked out reflector shape to "focus" the light into a smaller zone. I cut the curved shapes into about 4 or 5 foamcore "ribs," then pressed the foamcore reflector panel into these and glued it down. Tin foil, shiny side out, was the reflecting surface.</p>

<p>The first test worked great, metering about an f-stop brighter than the main light. But the "beam" came from behind and to the side of the subject; if it worked while standing up, fine, but if they sat down the beam passed over the top of their head. So for volume work, the better solution was a real hairlight.</p>

<p>But someone with a home studio, who enjoys tinkering, might find this to be an alternative to buying another light.</p>

<p>Some good ideas also come from Steve Sint's videos; he always includes clever ideas for getting some effect. In the photo.net search box, put in "setshoptutorials."</p>

[nail33]

<p>There is a new DIY column in Dpreview's forum section. I'm sure some people will be posting some DIY light modifiers. Here's a link:<br>

http://www.dpreview.com/forums/1062?utm_campaign=internal-link&utm_source=mainmenu&utm_medium=text&ref=mainmenu</p>

 

[lex_jenkins]

<p>Yup. Back in the 1990s and early 2000s I made lots of lighting modifiers. For home use, most of 'em were junky looking, from aluminum pie pans and even large disposable roasting pans, with diffusers made from white craft paper, white sheets, cambric or whatever I could find. Some of them worked pretty well but were too cumbersome and impractical. I tried to rig up a ringflash-type light from those homebrewed materials but never got the right look. There was also a pie pan reflector with white styrofoam diffuser. Looked like hell but worked great.</p>

<p>There are so many affordable commercially made portable lighting modifiers now, those homebrewed rigs aren't practical. And some of the rigs you can buy for well under $50 are ingeniously designed to be both portable to fit in a bag and large enough to do some good when deployed. After using a 42" Photoflex 5-in-1 reflector once, I never wanted to bother with makeshift reflectors/diffusers again.</p>

<p>For portable flashes it's still hard to beat that translucent white plastic bottle trick. I probably read about it in a magazine or heard another photographer mention it in a camera shop. Rubbing alcohol bottles are perfect - usually just the right size for a typical large hotshoe flash with tilt head. I still have one of those cut to fit my Nikon SB-800 and similar sized flashes. At close range it works a bit better than the smaller pop-on/off dome that comes with the SB-800. Painters' blue masking tape works great for holding this stuff together.</p>

<p>I've also used homebrewed snoots from poster board, rolled and creased to shape and taped to the hotshoe flash. One particular homebrewed snoot was really useful for those little "peanut" flashes with optical triggers. Without a snoot they just sprayed light all over the room and weren't really useful for hair lights or highlights. But a quickie homebrewed snoot made 'em useful.</p>

<p>I have a couple of pretty durable snoots for my larger flashes made from oval shaped Blue Bunny ice cream containers. Don't even need to cut them. I just tape the container directly to the flash with white duct tape (peels off more cleanly than gray duct tape). The bottom of the Blue Bunny containers is translucent white plastic and works as a diffuser, while the container casts an oval light pattern.</p>

[rodeo_joe1]

<p>Has anyone <em>not</em> wrapped a tube of black paper or card to make a snoot? Or stretched some white material or tracing paper in front of a light?</p>

<p>There are far too many ready-made modifiers on the market - most of which claim to give your light some "magic" property that no other modifier will do. Pure bullshot!</p>

<p>"Parabolic" modifiers made out of flat sectors and finished matt white for example. As for the Fong Dong; don't get me started on that.</p>

<p>Also see this thread: http://www.photo.net/nikon-camera-forum/00cCWO</p>

 

[craig_shearman1]

<p>Back in my newspaper days before I could afford to buy anything, I would staple white paper to the cardboard flap from a reporter's notebook (like a steno pad but skinner so it fit in your pocket) and rubber band it to a Vivitar 283 or 285 with make a scoop to throw light forward when it was in the bounce position. I think almost everybody did this. I would also covered the flash with a couple of layers of white handkerchief either to soften the light or cut down output. (Still do this sometimes when using a shoemount flash as a hairlight on a boom). Cut the bottom off a large coffee can and spray painted it black inside and out to make a snoot for my Novatrons. Mounted a light socket inside a coffee can to make a small improved spot when I was a teenager. Lots of times I've clipped sheets of foam core to a stand or just propped it up as a reflector.</p>

[thomas_k.]

<p>Daily use of white cardboard in studio. I cut it, bend, twist, attach, throw on the floor - and the best part is: it's free - comes as a part of packaging for bulk ordered items.</p>

[bob_bill]

<p>I regularly use a 6.5' square scrim as a huge diffuser for my hot lights. I don't have soft boxes fthat handle the heat. Or I bounce them off a wall or white board. Out doors, I made a 2x3' plexi mirror I bang through a 3x6 scrim for soft light out doors. I use the diffuser panel for the 6x6 c47 ed to the bottom of blinds then raise them to give me an instant window/softbox. Understand light, see light then adapt, improvise, overcome. Rodeo, I second the Fong Dong comment. I usually see it on flashes of people who don't understand lighting. One told me it makes the light softer. Black cinefoil and gaffer tape make adapting so easy. Light weight, bendable flags. Again c47's. One that I have not had enough need for is mounting a hot light on an arm on one side of a rolling stand and a 4x4 white card opposite on another arm. Roll it in, place the soft light. </p>

[twmeyer]

<p>I've got a 3/4in conduit frame that was made to hold a king sized fitted bed sheet perfectly taut. I wouldn't want to use it in even a mild wind. <br /><br />Other than that, just dangling various things between the subject and the light... they shaped and changed the light, but I would not call such an assemblage a "modifier"... t</p>