Build your own Ring flash

*Update* - Thanks to all my new visitors who are leaving comments and sending emails. I'm really glad people are finding the articles interesting. I can tell because it's generating one heck of bandwidth bill!!!!! :-)

One of the cooler lighting effects that we have left over from the 90's era fashion photography is the use of Ring Flash as a primary light source. Ring flashes are often used in either fashion photography or in macro photography where the ring of light helps to eliminate shadows. When used in fashion or generally people photography it has the effect of creating a flat but almost iridescent lighting quality with a 'halo' effect around the subject. Cool yes, cheap? No. Flashes designed for macro photography generally will set you back about $400, while ring flashes for medium format and intended for fashion photography cost well over $1000!

Well fortunately, building your own ring flash is a fairly easy project with results that can easily rival professional ring flash assemblies for only a fraction of the price. The magic of a ring flash is that it manages to output the light in a 'ring' around the barrel of your lens, so that your otherwise harsh shadows on one side of the subject are compensated for by the light on the other side. Pretty clever really.


What you need:
1. A flash. Any flash will work for this but if you want to use the ring flash for more than just macro work, you'll need a strong flash. Get the strongest one you can get your hands on. Seriously.
2. Styrofoam
3. Cardboard
4. Aluminum foil
5. Tape
6. Lens hood. (This is important this is the device you will be using to mount the flash directly to the lens. It's important that you use a hood/shade thingy and not just a lens filter. There's a bunch of flare to be dealt with)

Alright- So first you'll need to measure out your piece of Styrofoam. Take into account the width of your lens, the width of the 'ring flash' itself and extra room for light reflection. The magic of this little device is that it creates a reflective cavity around the lens where light can bounce around and only escape around the ring of the barrel, this giving our 'ring flash' effect. Traditional ring flashes work by just employing a circular bulb that fits all the way around the barrel of the lens. Well, we aren't. Instead we will take one flash and bounce the light all around the inside of our device to create the same effect.

Take note that here I have measure off an indicated on the Styrofoam the space for the camera barrel (the inner circle) the ring flash itself (outer circle) as well as the space for the flash, (at the bottom). Then, cut the Styrofoam into three parts (well four counting the space for the flash).

Then, (and this is the slightly tricky part) you'll need to carve out the Styrofoam along our lines we drew to create a reflection chamber for the light. The key part to remember is that you'll need to make sure the light is bouncing out of the chamber. To do this, make sure the section around the barrel is at an incline so the light reflects out. (I know the pictures probably don't do enough justice to the concept, hopefully I'll work out diagrams sometime soon).

While we are working on this, we will make the back and front sections of the flash using the cardboard. The back piece will provide the backing and support for the device, while the front part will primarily be reflective to bounce around the light. Cut circles in both of our pieces of cardboard (each needs to be the same size as our Styrofoam when it was still in one piece). Then cut circles in both pieces, (the back piece needs a hole the size of the lens, and front circle needs to have a diameter of the entire ring flash it self, so that's the flash and the lens barrel). Then cover the front section with foil so that it reflects light.

At this point things should start coming together. Glue the Styrofoam parts down to the cardboard backing and glue the lens shade in the center of the Styrofoam. (Make sure not to get any glue in the threads of the lens shade or it won't screw onto your lens!)

Additionally cut out a short strip of cardboard (its length should be equal to the circumference of the lens shade) and cover one side with foil. This is a sort of extra-protective measure to guard against flare (when the light reflects off the glass of the lens and ruins your images). Depending on how deep your lens shade is, you may or may not need it.

Okay, now put everything together, the front piece of cardboard attached with tape (or glue) foil side down. Slide your flash up into the space you cut out for it. However you want to attach this is up to you. I frankly don't attach it at all, and I just shoot holding the flash in. It's not such an inconvenience.

Fire it up, see if it works. It does!

And this is what it should look like attached to your camera.

So there you have it. Your own home built ring flash. It works, and if you have a strong enough flash, it works really quite well. Be forewarned however- you'll look geeky and if you take it into the studio on a real shoot, people will laugh. But don't be discouraged. Here's a photo I took using this actual contraption as an outtake on a real shoot I had awhile back. She's a model in Prague and is on the cover of B East magazine this month.

See? It does work.

Okay and here is some legal stuff. This article was originally published in DigitalniFoto Magazine. I am the author so this work (along with most everything else on this site) is copyrighted by me. That means (especially for this flash) no making money off of it. I might even pursue a patent on this thing so build it for fun, but not profit- altough if you build one, feel free to take all the cool pictures you want with it I'm just talking about the device itself,not the stuff you make with it. Cheers!