Rix Mascarenhas
It’s not because I’m a poor, but sometimes buying a lot of equipment that you might only use once is a very boring thing, so today I’ll help you create 10 flash modifiers that won’t even come close to scratching your bank account.
10 FLASH MODIFIERS you can make and will completely change your photos
Flashes are one of my favourite light sources. They are portable and easy to use, quite different from the gigantic studio monolights. And when it comes to versatility flashes check almost every box on the list.
Some things aren’t always as easy to find for a flash as they are for big studio lights and one of them is the modifiers. Having available some flash modifiers is a tremendous hand on the wheel and transforms the photo fully.
Silicone kitchen accessories become filters and snoots
Your local supermarket is full of useful things that you can turn into mods for your flash. You just need to ignore the original goal and find new ways to use them. One of these items is the silicone folding cups and silicone funnels, which can serve as filters and also as a simple snoot.
Just put them in front of your flash and ready you have lighting with a new colour or much more differentiated light that does not spread on all sides.
Of course, silicone accessories aren’t always the cheapest things on the planet, but they will be more into account than a flash-specific modifier.
Parchment paper to soften the light
Another item you will find on the market is the parchment paper and will buy by me why it can save you when it comes to spreading the light.
You can use virtually any paper here, can the amount of transparency of the parchment paper is great to diffuse the light and make it much softer, and beautiful. Just wrap your flash in parchment paper and take it to the oven... wrong blog opss.
Just follow what is in the picture below and there is no error, you will notice that the lighting gets more controlled and also a little weaker.
If the business is to soften the lighting, you can use a multitude of things, the parchment paper is just more of them.
Steel Wool Diffuser
The supermarket is full of hidden pearls for us photographers, and this one comes from the cleaning session. You can use steel wool to modify not only the intensity of your flash but also the colour of its light.
The mesh in which these steel wool balls are made is perfect for working as a light diffuser. You just need to put it in front of a flash.
Pringles chips can turn into a snoot
If you became hungry you can run to the session, snacks, chocos, pop…… Faack this talk is making me hungry now. Returning to the main subject, in the session, you will find those tubes of potato chips type Pringles. That’s great for a lot of things besides being a great base for creating a snoot or a grid spot.
With the potato tube you can do more than one project, so buy more than one potato, and of course, as the tube is relatively sturdy you may want to make some of these flash modifiers official in your modifier kit.
You can use a few things to improve not only the appearance of your modifiers but also their function. A can of matte black spray will be everything you will need besides the potato cans.
Note: Consider wearing gloves if you do not want to paint your fingers black.
Then cut the bottom of the tin and snap the tube in front of your flash. This may require a bit of modelling to adapt to the shape of the flash head.
Use the plastic cap on the front of the tube to produce a smooth focus. To make this focus narrower, you can use black straws in front of the tube.
Straws force light to go in only one direction. And that will produce a harder and more concentrated point of light.
A different approach is not to cut the bottom of the can, but rather to cut two side tabs that work like barn doors.
This will offer a way to control how the light will hit the subject of the photo, depending on the position of the tabs and the desired light effect.
Other variations include cutting different openings in the can to produce other lighting effects.
Drawing transport tube turns into a light saber
Calm down, easy if you’re a Star Wars fan just like me, it’s not a real lightsaber. It’s a tool that can help you enlighten your subject.
This you can find in any craft shop. It’s really easy to convert into a lightsaber-type light modeling tool.
It is important to choose a white and light translucent tube. Otherwise, it can cause too much tension in the flash head and potentially damage its tilt mechanism.,
The idea is to turn the small beam of light coming out of the flash into a large tube of light. This will produce a wide variety of soft and uniform light.
This uniform propagation of light along the tube is due to the use of a convex blind spot rearview mirror on the opposite side of the flash inside the tube. The mirror reflects the light, making it uniform.
You can also use aluminum foil to reflect light. It will not give the same result as the convex mirror that reflects much better light, but it is an option.
With this light accessory, you can create a 360° light spread with the tube as is
Disposable plastic bowls can turn into a beauty dish
Many DIY beauty dish designs were made with metal salad bowls. And most of them are pretty cool. But they tend to be complicated and time-consuming. This is because they involve cutting and grinding metals.
For whom something easier is worth experimenting with making using simple plastic bowls. Also, plastic is much easier to cut and shape than metal.
You will need two bowls and two screws and some nuts.
Start by drawing the shape of the flash head with a sharp pen to get an idea of where to cut.
Then I cut an X in the centre of the described form.
Fold the four tabs back to use them as the support base for the accessory in the flash.
You should do all this carefully, as plastic can break.
Drill two holes in the top and bottom of the smaller salad bowl and put the nut and screw, tightening it completely. The easiest way to make these holes is to use a hot screw that melts the plastic.
Then paint the smaller bowl silver and the outside of the larger one black.
This is an optional step but take into account that the plastic used is thin and translucent. It is advisable to paint it so that you do not have light spills.
Painting it will also make it look more “professional” and not just two plastic bowls together with a few screws. It is important to ensure that the paint you are using is suitable for use with plastic. Otherwise, it can create a reaction and melt.
When drying, it is easy to drill two holes in the large bowl and use the remaining four screws to attach the smallest bowl to the largest.
To hold it in your flash, you can use elastic bands. They are easy to use and do not need a Velcro collar in both parts.
The light produced by this simple beauty dish is excellent. You can’t ask for anything more for less than $10.
Conclusion
Even if your problem isn’t money, it’s worth testing all the modifiers you can because they produce different results and if you can’t spend too much on the process even better.
Always look for lighting options that might be versatile, so you don’t get on hand just because you can’t come out with your flash modifier on the street because it’s too big. That’s it, share this post, follow there on Instagram and Pinterest that soon comes more content here.
