Having a ring flash at the front element of your lens means having a subject that is well lit. On a cloudy day, the bright sun flash head is directly above the clouds, but once it filters trough the cloud layer plastic diffuser, everything is uniformly lit with no shadows. Seven great macro photography ideas to shoot at home. How to make a flash diffuser for macro photography. Lets have a look at different light diffusers and their diy counterparts. As you are getting closer and closer to your subject, youll find your lenses stop natural or flash gun light. In this video i demonstrate how to make a diy flash diffuser to use for macro photography. Here the balance of daylight and a hint of flash has worked and brought out the detail in the butterfly wings and. The 2nd gen wings output 30% more light than the 1st gen wings the 2nd gen wings now shoot at f8f10 depending on distance to subject the 2nd gen wings can also disperse light.
Download popup flash macro photography by arthur vaughan. This also means you can keep iso level as low as possible typically iso 100. Like most oncamera flash diffusers, it looks like it offers some softness while forcing your flash to work much harder. This works really well, but there is a lot more these cans can do for your lighting. The best light modifiers for bounce flash and off camera lighting duration. Smaller reflectors lose less light, bigger ones provide more diffusion. Macro photography lighting tutorial diffusers page 4 of 6. The first one is that ive never used a ring light for my macro shooting, and the second is that ive found ringlighted macro shots to have a recognizable and to my taste an unappealing ring light look. It gathers light from any regular flash and redirects it into two wings atop your camera.
Pringles are probably one of the more popular foodstuffs diy project. Polaroid plmrfs 48 macro led ring flash with 4 diffusers. How to use a speedlight for macro photography light stalking. However, master the idea of balanced lighting flash and ambient and. Shown with a wing nut keeper on the camera mount knob, mounted. But in macro photography it doesnt at all work the way it should.
The ultimate example of a flash diffuser is clouds. How to make an easy diy flash diffuser for macro photography. This allows for softer, less unidirectional lighting. All test shots were taken with sony a6300, 90mm macro lens, diy flash diffuser, step up adapter ring and cheap flash.
How to make a cheap diy flash diffuser for macro photography. This discovery led me to research more about flash diffusion. But there are many different options if you want to pop some type of diffuser directly on the. On the right, a proper large diy diffuser, causing light to come from a large area like good diffusion should. Diy flash diffuser for macro photography insect macro photography. How to make your own flash diffuser for macro photography. Or you can have a smaller degree light spread using silver tape glued inside the tube. Nikon r1 closeup speedlight kit with the sbr200 flashheads. Generally i would also recommend to the diy diffuser. You can use the shiny side for maximum power, or the frosted side for more diffusion.
While the primary purpose of this diffuser is for macro photography, it can also be used for general purpose photography. Your friendly photography forum lighting techniques, diffusers, nikon, diy. Although the 580ex2 is quite large, and you might want to consider a smaller flash. The wing light is a flash diffuser with an adjustable adaptor to fit most common flash guns including nikon or canon speedlights and, as seen below, the olympus fl50r. Not too bad if you are on a budget andor need to travel light, but as others have pointed out, 2 strobes would have more reach and last longer between battery changes. Flash diffusers for the canon macro twin lite mt24ex speedlite. Diy macro lighting diffuser diy photography stuff diy. My minimalist diy diffuser for canon mt24ex twin flash may 22, 2016 i was looking for a diffuser but i could not find the one that will no add to the bulkiness of the flash and when i saw one of the filter case i see one side is suitable as a diffuser. If you are looking for a great diy macro diffuser for the mt24ex, look no further. In the video, ed specifically mentions the stofen omnibounce. Winglight dslr diffuser studio and lighting technique. Then, it reflects that light wherever you want it go. Use a pringles can as a cheap diffuser for macro photos.
The stofen diffuser the best known and also least effective one of all is the stofen diffusor, a simple plastic cap that pops on to the flash. There is nothing wrong with the canon 580ex2, it is just that for a lot of macro photograph you dont need this power. Popup flash lighting shot through a diffuser made from the bowl that comes in a. Do realize the more diffused your light is the less powerful it.
With the new material they are now manufactured from you dont have to apply any stickers to the. Here you can see the most basic diffuser, mounted onto a flash to diffuse the light. On the left, an ornamental diffuser, not useful for macro. It attaches to your external flash and increases the surface where the light originates from. I was testing out a diy flash diffuser to use with my macro shooting. Preferred flash diffuser for macro work in reply to prashant04 oct 16, 2015 type 1 is really intended to spread the light in all direction so it can be bounced off of walls and ceilings. A macro diffuser is similar to the soft boxes used by portrait photographers, though significantly smaller.
The results with our cheap diy macro flash diffuser were just what we were looking for. Setting yourself up for low cost macro shooting and getting outstanding quality is easier. Read here on how to make a fantastic diffuser with it. A lot of diy beauty dish projects have been done with metal salad bowls. The fotodiox square flash softbox softens the light coming from your external flash providing an even diffusion of light while staying out of the way of your lens.
A single flash with a small softbox is a great start. Three modifiers to improve your light when working with on. Diy create awesome flash diffuser for macro photography. A diffuser disperses directional light from a flash and makes it look like its emanating from all around. Today, well add to that list by showing you how to make a simple diy flash diffuser.
See edinz blog post for her account and more photos. Opaque plastic sheaths that are nestled over the flash head are sold and described as diffusers. With most photography, especially supermacro, you want the light from the flash to be unnoticeable. How to use a ring flash for creative lighting expert. Light as a feather, built like a tank, highly versatile, and great fun to build and use. My minimalist diy diffuser for canon mt24ex twin flash. The flash diffuser is one of the most basic yet powerful light modifiers. How to make a cheap diy flash diffuser for macro photography flash.
This is how i made a diy snoot diffuser that would work on a 40d, canon 100 mm f2. Velcro is the perfect material for attaching modifiers to your speedlight. This diffuser aims to be practical as well as easy to put together. Neewer pro universal soft mini flash bounce diffuser cap for on camera or off camera flash gun, for canon, nikon, sunpak, vivita flash, nissin, sigma, sony, pentax, olympus, panasonic lumix flashes pangshi flash diffuser reflector twosides silverwhite bounce for speedlite nikon sb600, sb800, sb900, canon 380ex 430ex 550ex 580ex vivita.
Macro flash solutions can vary from a single flash, to complex multiheaded units that allow remote positioning of individual light sources. The final photo is one of the spider shots that edin got using the diffuser at night. The best flash diffusers for macro photography petapixel. This first modifier, or something like it, often comes supplied with a speedlight. Flickr user steve kushnir came up with this neat idea of building a cheap diy diffuser using a pringles can, two layers of paper towels, and some rubber bands. The power of the flash will allow you to use a small aperture for deep depth of field. I know my nikon sb900s all came with one, although many 3rd party flashes do not. How i made a diy concave flash diffuser for macro photography. In the event you cant or dont want to get your flash offcamera, the ring flash diffuser is a tool that might just do the job. In my opinion the result from a plastic diffuser is just awful. These modifiers will take the light from a standard flash and spread it out in a ring around the lens, mimicking the look of the popular ring light. A slight modification to the sony macro twin flash concave diffusers.
Make your wideangle macro photos pop by mixing natural and. A light compact setup giving diffused light covering an area close to the lens. Typically, at least in macro photography, a diffuser is used to soften the light from an oncamera flash. Preferred flash diffuser for macro work in reply to prashant04 oct 17, 2015 definitely type 2, and get it as close to the subject as possible to get good diffusion and to keep the flash duration as short as possible to freeze motion. There is an incredible amount of different flash modifiers. In this tutorial well go through the steps needed to make a descent diffuser for an external flash. You get a fun snack and then an even funner diy project. Macro ring flash photography, travor 18 led flash light with lcd display power control 8 adapter rings 4 light diffuser for canon nikon sony panasonic olympus such as canon 550d 70d nikon 4. Puluz round flash softbox diffuser 18inches 45cm portable ring flash diffuser soft box for speedlight macro portrait shooting photography studio light modifier 3. Heres a stepbystep tutorial on how you can make a pretty nice flash diffuser for your macro setup for just a little time and a little money. I have used my sb900 flash gun offcamera with a diffuser and it. Why and how to diffuse your light in macro photography.