My DIY Ghetto ringlight

[Village_Idiot]

Just copied and paster from another forum. I've been doing a lot of typing today.

I built a ghettofied ring light tonight. It's part of a large 10 1/2" light. I cut the fixture out of the middle and sliced inwards with a dremel creating tabs. I then used foil HVAC tape and the tabs to secure a 4" wide PVC pipe piece to the center. Cut a hole in the side for the flash and fixed paper over the light, cutting out for the hole. The light coverage is completely even for the most part. The first test shot turned out how I envisioned it. I'm replacing the printer paper with velum paper, I just didn't feel like running over to the studio to pick it up.

I have a small shoot setup for tomorrow evening. I'll post the results and pictures of the light then. I have a good idea in my head of what I'm going to do tomorrow, so hopefully it turns out.

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Here it is.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2365/2185339059_5f0c79127a_o.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2092/2185339061_025341ea83_o.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2182/2185339065_ce6649dd18_o.jpg

I spent a little time editing this one.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2058/2185339057_781b5925c3_o.jpg

These were just test shots. I didn't have much room, so the light is in the way and she's cut off on a couple. This is really intended for a slightly longer lens than the kit lens. I'm thinking 17-40L, 24-70L, or the cheaper tamron in the same range.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2203/2186146842_741e6fd069_o.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2166/2186146844_74a3a223fc_o.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2319/2186146852_8c41896507_o.jpg

[asianstutter]

i just saw this on vortex :)
excellent work!

[_aravena]

So what is it? bowl? I wanna see more steps and pics with the flash in it. I need to make one, but I don't seem to have the materials...at least that my mom will let me destroy.

[snedigity]

me2

[Village_Idiot]

It's a 10" light. The center of the light had a fixture that was about an inch and a half in the middle.

I used a dremel to cut the fixture without taking too much extra metal off.

It's aluminum and the metal is soft. I accidentally bent it with my while I cut it.

This is the exact light

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=203219-1373-FL-302PDQ&lpage=none

Materials cost about $35. I wouldn't reccomend trying this unless you have a dremel or some other tool for cutting the metal. I think if you tried to do this with metal shears, it would end up bending the surrounding metal where you're trying to cut.

Here is the light on the flash. With my Vivtar, it sits nice with the light inside and doesn't move around too much. This is only temporary and I'm going to try and build a bracket for it this weekend. Also, don't mind the odd test fire. This was before I picked up my velum paper and was two sheets of printer paper scotch taped to the fixture just to test light coverage. I forgot to wrap the PVC pipe with the foil tape, but I'm going to do that when I remove the velum and replace it with a more permanent solution, lexan.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2278/2185469499_4abc67d483_o.jpg

[shannyD]

that is awesome.. wanna build one for me.. then tell me how to use it??? lol j/k// i wonder if i should have my hubby build one.

great work.. and awesome pics with it.

shannon

[Village_Idiot]

that is awesome.. wanna build one for me.. then tell me how to use it??? lol j/k// i wonder if i should have my hubby build one.

great work.. and awesome pics with it.

shannon


The true test is going to be whether or not my 70-200 2.8 that I bought off of a member tonight fits. It's 4" PVC pipe. I just bought a 2 foot piece instead of buying a larger section, since all I needed was about a 5" length.

This was inspired by a strobist member that used a cake pan.

[shannyD]

the lens goes through the hole? holy crap.. im lost.. lol

like i tell people all the time.. i know nothing about lighting.,. but i would like to learn

[Village_Idiot]

the lens goes through the hole? holy crap.. im lost.. lol

like i tell people all the time.. i know nothing about lighting.,. but i would like to learn

Yes, that's what gives you the halo effect. If not, if would be something simlar, but you would have shadows showing you from which direction the light came from. The ring light, afaik, was originally used for fashion photography as it pretty much killed the shadows and showed off the clothing and not so much the model.

I'm sure with all the DIY ringlights that are popping up that it may eventually go the way of HDR, but then again, lighting isn't quite like doing an HDR photo.

Edit: And the depth on this light makes it suited more towards a lens that's as long as a 24-70. I used it with my kit and when it was on the wide end, it had a tendency to catch portions of the ring light. Most of the above photos are cropped and those that aren't, you can see the edge of the center of the ring light. A bracket would also help out massively with this.

http://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=3346371

[shannyD]

either way i think it looks great.. what kind of light goes inside of it? and does it stay on.. or fire when you pull the trigger?

[Village_Idiot]

either way i think it looks great.. what kind of light goes inside of it? and does it stay on.. or fire when you pull the trigger?

A speed light. I have a vivtar 285HV, but something like a 430EX or 580EX would work. Right now it's triggered via my pocket wizards, but by the time I'm done, I want to be able to have the flash fire from the hot shoe. It's definitely not complete, and there are some others out there that have a design that doesn't require a mounting bracket and fires straight from a hot shoe mounted speed light.

Just search here for ring light and you'll find tons of post.
http://www.flickr.com/groups/strobist/