DIY Ringflash

The DIY Ringflash (as opposed to the $910 Bowens Ringflash) is really creating a stir on the internet nowadays. I’m officially on the band wagon now. I invested about $5.00 on a trip to Wal-Mart the other night for a disposable casserole pan, 1 yard of white fabric and a plastic measuring cup. After about an hour or so of tinkering around while my wife watched Flip That House, I had a pretty effective little ringflash. It was inspired by Tanya Shields’ cheap DIY ringflash that I read about on Strobist last week.

If you’ll click on the photos, you can see my notes that I placed on them via Flickr.

I can’t say that there’s really anything unique about my setup; however, here’s the details:

(1) quart-sized utility cup
(1) casserole disposable aluminum pan
(1) small sheet of white fabric
(1) roll of black tape
(1) scrap of cardboard from an envelope from MyPhotopipe.com

Steps

trace the bottom of the cup onto the pan
cut a hole in the middle of the pan along your outline
fit the cup in the hole an mark where to cut the bottom out
cut the bottom of the cup out at your mark
trace the end of your speedlight along the side of the pan
cut along your traced outline
wrap a piece of cardboard around the end of your speed light and secure it with tape (make sure you can get your flash in and out)
insert your flash with cardboard into the cutout on the side of the pan
secure the cardboard in the pan with tape
spray paint the exterior of the cup with flat white paint (this helps bounce the light around)
secure the cup (now a tube) into the pan with tape
mark the fabric on the lip of the cup
cut a hole in the fabric just smaller than the size of the cup’s opening
secure the fabric on the inside of the cup’s opening with tape
trim the fabric along the exterior of the pan (I also cut into the overlapped portions to keep it from bunching up when I tried to lay it down)
lay fabric down along the edges and secure with tape
insert your gear and go take some test shots