Hackszine.com: Film canister flash diffuser

Film canister flash diffuser

When you take pictures with the built-in flash on your digital camera, it's common to get a washed-out, deer-in-headlights result from your subject. This is particularly noticeable with portraits and close-range photography. To obtain a softer, more natural look from your photographs and eliminate the glare, you need a flash diffuser to help disperse and soften the light.

If you have an old white film canister and an x-acto knife, you can make a clever little flash diffuser that will slip over the flash on your typical SLR camera. Photojojo has a guide for making one. It should really take you about 5 minutes (assuming you have a canister on hand), so give it a shot. Your photographs—and your photo subjects—will thank you for it.

Make Your Own Flash Diffuser from an Old Film Container

Posted by Jason Striegel | Aug 2, 2008 09:02 PM
Photography | Permalink | Comments (2)

Comments

Newest comments listed first.

Posted by: Jeff on August 3, 2008 at 3:37 AM

Gels

You could also use free sample color gels inside of it for different effects. Some of the samples are even stop downs for the flash intensity. theres alot you can do with something this simple. There's an instructable on how to get free gels to link below:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Free-Flash-Diffuser-with-hundreds-of-free-colored-/

Posted by: Nathaniel Reinhart on August 4, 2008 at 11:41 AM

Even better, bounce the on board flash

For even better results diffusing, tape a small thin piece of white fabric (for instance a bit of a white, "no static" glove) to the front of the flash - if done right your flash should be soft and still be able to close.

Diffusing is alright, but it tends to eat up your flash power and not give you a lot to show for it. For much better results, try bouncing the onboard flash. Check out these instructions for making a "finnbounce" - http://www.prime-junta.net/pont/How_to/hc_Bounce_Built-In_Flash/a_Bounce_the_Pop-up.html