Dan Cattermole
Dan Down - The Steampunk Womble
I think Hamish will appreciate this as he is also an experimentalist with this sort of thing too... lol
I decided to take the time to make a portrait flash diffuser from an old lamp shade that was not doing anything... in fact it was in the garage... really... doing nothing.
Firstly, the lamp shade is secured with steel to keep the structure of it, so it took a bit of bending and shaping to make a snug fit over my flash gun.
all you need is
Lamp Shade
Tin Foil
Tape
Scissors
Maybe a pen if you want
and.... if you so happen to have a flash diffuser sheet (or tracing paper will do the trick) which i had with my Powerflash studio kit (ancient lol)... then that would be appropraite.![Smile :) :)](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
Okay, Here is the equipment layed out on the work top.
Okay, now what I've done is lined the shade with some tin foil and secure it with sticky tape so it directs the light down the shade shoot and you also don't lose any flash efficiency.
like so
Next (here's one I made earlier) I get the Diffuser sheet and cut it so that it's slightly larger than the diameter of the largest part of the shade so that you can make fit and stick to the end by making flaps.
alot of tape later and you have something like this.
Now for the experiment......
Here are a few pics of the set up I done on my kitchen.
I used some A4 sheets of paper whilst conducting this experiment, and placed a fork (to begin with) on it so I can get a good visual of the shadow reduction I was hoping to achieve through this documented improvisation.
The Fork
Without DDD (Dan Down Diffuser)
With DDD
Okay, I liked what I saw and I was very impressed with the results...
Now.... a mouse! toy one of course
No DDD
And this was even with the pull down diffuser built into the flashgun :/
With DDD
As you can see there is a dramatic difference, but you all knew that was going to happen anyway
![Big Grin :D :D](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
![Big Grin :D :D](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
The shots have not been tampered with and are SOOC, taken with OM 50mm f1.8 @ f.4.
Prep shots taken with Iphone![Smile :) :)](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
And there we have it!!!
As you can see Ladies and Gents. Not all scrap is worth the bin, I feel like I've done my good deed for the day and rescued a lamp shade... GET IN!!!![Big Grin :D :D](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
![Big Grin :D :D](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
![Big Grin :D :D](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
![Big Grin :D :D](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
There's always light to give to an old lamp shade.
yeah
yeah...... oh...eermm..... I.. I'm gonna....I'm gonna go now...
Thanks for looking![Smile :) :)](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
I decided to take the time to make a portrait flash diffuser from an old lamp shade that was not doing anything... in fact it was in the garage... really... doing nothing.
Firstly, the lamp shade is secured with steel to keep the structure of it, so it took a bit of bending and shaping to make a snug fit over my flash gun.
all you need is
Lamp Shade
Tin Foil
Tape
Scissors
Maybe a pen if you want
and.... if you so happen to have a flash diffuser sheet (or tracing paper will do the trick) which i had with my Powerflash studio kit (ancient lol)... then that would be appropraite.
Okay, Here is the equipment layed out on the work top.
![208efc56.jpg](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fi1230.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fee491%2Fdajoolzcat%2F208efc56.jpg&hash=af66cd539cd76b8287b7707d01f0281e)
Okay, now what I've done is lined the shade with some tin foil and secure it with sticky tape so it directs the light down the shade shoot and you also don't lose any flash efficiency.
like so
![d09b2fe8.jpg](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fi1230.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fee491%2Fdajoolzcat%2Fd09b2fe8.jpg&hash=1a67aef31540fabb39672ee70844cdf5)
![615fe24c.jpg](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fi1230.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fee491%2Fdajoolzcat%2F615fe24c.jpg&hash=04758ae2a8e4cecb5795159befcdda49)
Next (here's one I made earlier) I get the Diffuser sheet and cut it so that it's slightly larger than the diameter of the largest part of the shade so that you can make fit and stick to the end by making flaps.
![44f25aba.jpg](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fi1230.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fee491%2Fdajoolzcat%2F44f25aba.jpg&hash=0b5fbca198d36513fcdafb69d9bf49f3)
alot of tape later and you have something like this.
![96bfe76f.jpg](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fi1230.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fee491%2Fdajoolzcat%2F96bfe76f.jpg&hash=5455f794ca0dcdff4c3a5df0d949499c)
Now for the experiment......
Here are a few pics of the set up I done on my kitchen.
![a418ff53.jpg](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fi1230.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fee491%2Fdajoolzcat%2Fa418ff53.jpg&hash=5625742c5ab2b66956acf7bff6a46b42)
![df9abd61.jpg](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fi1230.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fee491%2Fdajoolzcat%2Fdf9abd61.jpg&hash=8a78c61e8df2d0fe41731c860d6168b8)
![e731b7ad.jpg](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fi1230.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fee491%2Fdajoolzcat%2Fe731b7ad.jpg&hash=198baadf9d7b75417dda271b40fcd666)
![e9becd54.jpg](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fi1230.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fee491%2Fdajoolzcat%2Fe9becd54.jpg&hash=478bc155202c6a68d62fddf1a53de209)
I used some A4 sheets of paper whilst conducting this experiment, and placed a fork (to begin with) on it so I can get a good visual of the shadow reduction I was hoping to achieve through this documented improvisation.
The Fork
Without DDD (Dan Down Diffuser)
![P1056754.jpg](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fi1230.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fee491%2Fdajoolzcat%2FP1056754.jpg&hash=0aa544423b8cd200cc58dc0c32534598)
With DDD
![P1056756.jpg](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fi1230.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fee491%2Fdajoolzcat%2FP1056756.jpg&hash=7ba56bbd30cc38327edf3d3be04a5ecc)
Okay, I liked what I saw and I was very impressed with the results...
Now.... a mouse! toy one of course
No DDD
![P1056801.jpg](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fi1230.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fee491%2Fdajoolzcat%2FP1056801.jpg&hash=bd875429c2e419a1566bdc22d6ab9770)
And this was even with the pull down diffuser built into the flashgun :/
With DDD
![P1056802.jpg](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fi1230.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fee491%2Fdajoolzcat%2FP1056802.jpg&hash=44c9a9f71ddcd5736d25662154442db0)
As you can see there is a dramatic difference, but you all knew that was going to happen anyway
The shots have not been tampered with and are SOOC, taken with OM 50mm f1.8 @ f.4.
Prep shots taken with Iphone
And there we have it!!!
As you can see Ladies and Gents. Not all scrap is worth the bin, I feel like I've done my good deed for the day and rescued a lamp shade... GET IN!!!
There's always light to give to an old lamp shade.
Thanks for looking