DIY Light Modifier (Small product and Macro)

[mjhoward]

So I made this light modifier a little bit ago and decided to post it up in case others are looking to make something similar. I made this mostly for use with macro but it can also be used for photographing smaller items. It's made of... cardboard and a sheet of plain white paper!!

I basically just cut out the cardboard pieces and taped them together. So it didn't look so terrible I spray painted it black and then put the piece of paper in front of the cutout hole. On the inside I glued some aluminum foil to reflect the light. To help spread the light evenly, I only glued foil about halfway down the taper and left the 'tip' exposed by cardboard.

and with the flash firing on low power to see how even the light is:

Here are a few samples taken with this modifier... unfortunately I don't have a lot of shots yet, but I plan to start using it more. These are pretty much SOOC:

Low key zippo:

Small fleur de lis medallion about the size of a thumbnail:

Snowman candle holder about 3" tall:

 

[EIngerson]

Pretty cool. You use it off camera mostly?

 

[mjhoward]

Yes, I can hold this in one hand and the camera in the other for many shots less than macro. I also have one of the giottos mini ball heads that I can screw into the tripod thread on the camera body. The other end has a flexible gooseneck the screws into the flash/trigger and I can, for the most part, move the gooseneck and position the flash with modifier where I need it.

 

[WesternGuy]

Looks neat - I just made something similar using two sheets of "foam" board and some Velcro tape that I bought from Michaels - haven't quite finished it yet. Hope it works well for you - looks like it will, so far.

Cheers,

WesternGuy