Ring Flash

anonymouscuban

OK... so I see a lot of buzz going around the net about ring flashes. All the ring flashes I've seen, mount right on the camera. Some attach to a hotshoe flash, others have their own light source. What I don't get is what value do they bring? I mean, everything I've read and learned tells you take the light off the camera. This is putting it back on. Is this just another gizmo to buy? :scratch

angevin1

anonymouscuban wrote: »

OK... so I see a lot of buzz going around the net about ring flashes. All the ring flashes I've seen, mount right on the camera. Some attach to a hotshoe flash, others have their own light source. What I don't get is what value do they bring? I mean, everything I've read and learned tells you take the light off the camera. This is putting it back on. Is this just another gizmo to buy?

YES! it also brings a given look to the photo. Some peeps seem to like it~

Most of the photos I have seen ...though cool, also look like the person has a "certs" right on their iris or pupil! And of course, typically very flat.

reyvee61

My eldest daughter had a shoot done with one of these and it blew out her entire face....

divamum

Ask Llywellyn about her wondrous ring-flash-fill technique. Amazing what it does for skintones + texture!

reyvee61

divamum wrote: »

Ask Llywellyn about her wondrous ring-flash-fill technique. Amazing what it does for skintones + texture!

Will have to look into that

Clixphoto

The idea is that the light source is essentially from every direction; hence no shadows.

Nikolai

Alex,
it gives a very specific "shadowless" look. It's a very "niche" instrument, and is often abused. I've seen some very cool high fashion images with it, but, just like with HDR or selctive coloring, 99% percent of what you see is, to put it mildly, sub-par.

dogwood

angevin1 wrote: »

Most of the photos I have seen ...though cool, also look like the person has a "certs" right on their iris or pupil!

So it's not the ringflash creating that "certs" look in the eyes -- it's the modifier.

Here's a ringflash around the lens shot:



And here's a shot with a beauty dish on a regular ol' monohead. Notice which one has the donuts/certs in the eyes.

ChatKat

The beauty dish is best used with a grid or a sock on it. Then there is no donut/certs look. The reason a ring flash (not the flash kind for macro or the Orbis for a flash/speedlight) looks the way it does is that it elminates the shadows.

r3t1awr3yd

ChatKat wrote: »

The beauty dish is best used with a grid or a sock on it. Then there is no donut/certs look. The reason a ring flash (not the flash kind for macro or the Orbis for a flash/speedlight) looks the way it does is that it elminates the shadows.

Wait, the orbis doesn't eliminate the shadows too??

ChatKat

Light Quality
There is a huge difference in the light quality from the Profoto Ring light and the Orbis. But there is also a huge price difference.

divamum

Dogwood, the lighting on both of those shots is just gorgeous - can you share your setup? I'm just gobsmacked by the combination of brightness, softness, and modelling shadows.

Nikolai

dogwood wrote: »

So it's not the ringflash creating that "certs" look in the eyes -- it's the modifier.

Here's a ringflash around the lens shot:

And here's a shot with a beauty dish on a regular ol' monohead. Notice which one has the donuts/certs in the eyes.

Pete,
do you mind posting a 100% crop of the eye(s) from the ringflash shot?
I'm trying to understand how come the very hole through which the lens sees the image is not showing...
TIA!
Nikolai

anonymouscuban

Taking all this in... so far great stuff posted.

Does a ring flash like the Profoto one go around the lens like the Orbis?

dogwood

Well Nikolai (sort of) busted me. When I zoom in on the RF photo, turns out the donut catch light is there:



Below is the beauty dish close-up. I think the donut is more obvious in the non-cropped version because the beauty dish catch light is larger:



But... below is a close-up shot with a Rayflash -- a hotshoe powered ringflash. There are no donuts in the eyes. So it really is the size of the modifier that controls the catch light. The first photo in this post was shot with the PCB Zeus Ringmaster with the standard reflector/modifier which is significantly larger than the Rayflash:




@ divamum - for beauty shots, I'm fond of using two gridded strip domes as rimlights, a beauty dish for the key, a white reflector as fill, plus two lights on the background -- all shot in a room with white walls/ceiling to further bounce the light around (see photo below)

@ ChatKat - I disagree that "The beauty dish is best used with a grid or a sock on it." It's a matter of personal preference and there is no "best" way. The photos below look okay to me and they were shot with a beauty dish with no sock on it. In fact, Paul C. Buff now has a beauty dish that works in several different configurations -- with and without the sock, with and without the direct light blocker, etc. To quote from the instructions that came with that beauty dish, "As with any light modifier, there is no 'right' or 'wrong' use. It's up to the photographer to use the light and modifier as best suits his intended purpose."

divamum

I always forget about striplights when I'm trying to figure out somebody else's lighting.... probably because I've never used any (yet). I can only say again that the lighting in those shots seriously rocks my world. Thank you for explaining!

r3t1awr3yd

Orbis closeup...



EDIT: Just showing the catch lights...

ilbcnu

Was just looking at this the other day - don't remember how I found it -might have ipad "stumbled" to it

And you can easily make your own. “Constructing my DIY ring flash was quite simple,” Becker explains. “I found a used angel food cake pan with a hole large enough to accept my lens in the middle. Then, using tin snips, I cut a hole in its side for the flash head to poke through.” He lined that hole with duct tape until it fit snugly around the flash, pressed tin foil (reflective side out) along the inside of the cake pan, and finally taped wax paper over the front for diffusion.

web page is http://www.popphoto.com/features/how/2010/10/how-photograph-your-own-eye

can def. see it in the pupil but still interesting

Amanda

anonymouscuban

Amanda,

I'm in the process of making a beauty dish with a few things I had in my garage. It is a proof of concept which I will then make with better materials if it works well. I should have it ready to take some test shots tomorrow. I will post results. Maybe I will try this ring flash next.

Llywellyn

The ring-flash-as-fill technique is something I stole from Strobist. I still have a key off camera, and I use the ring flash on camera for a smidge of fill. It lends something more 3-D, soft-yet-textured to the resulting image that I personally quite like. And my ring flash is DIY--a medium Tupperware bowl that came with one of those translucent lids.

ilbcnu

I like the tupperware diy better then the pan - much lighter sounding

anonymouscuban

OK... so I will finish my DIY B-E-A-UTY dish and then I will make a ring flash.

Nikolai

Pete,
thank you for clarifying, much appreciated!
Nikolai

Llywellyn

I dug up the post where I linked the tutorial and result for my DIY ringflash, in case it proves helpful.

dogwood

Llywellyn wrote: »

I dug up the post where I linked the tutorial and result for my DIY ringflash, in case it proves helpful.

Your link isn't working for me :cry

ivar

dogwood wrote: »

Your link isn't working for me :cry

Should be working now

anonymouscuban

So I finished painting my DIY beauty dish last night. Well... the prototype. Need to assemble it tonight. I'm making it from a 16" plastic terracotta-like plant bowl and a 6" drip tray. I will post some pics of it and some test shots as soon as I can take some. If this thing works well, I'm going to make the production model from a steel mixing bowl.

I already have some ideas on how to improve Kerry's DIY ring light a bit. That is next.