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My home made snoot - I
Antonio Correia
Registered Users Posts: 6,241 Major grins
I have been reading a lot about flash photography latelly and - following some ideias I have seen in Strobist, photography and design 101, Lighting Modes, this one from a compatriot and others - I decided to "cook" my first home made snoot.
1. First I collect an empty white plastic bottle from laundry detergent.
2. I have cut it's bottom and top.
3. I have covered it with reflective tape or otherway it would lose too much light to the sides.
4. I cut little pieces of straws which were stolen in the cafeteria
5. I taped them together.
6. I joined them in a kind of circle and slided them inside my snoot.
7. I went to the garage and made two shots:
7. a. No snoot, bare flash
7. b. With my home made snoot
I was some 4/5 meters from the garage door using the 16-35mm set on 16mm on the 20D (or was it on the 350D ?).
I don't care about the quality of the photos herewith, not now.:wink
We can see that it concentrates the light.
However I can see that its end is too wide and it spreads the light too much.
I am on the way to make a better and simpler one.
1. First I collect an empty white plastic bottle from laundry detergent.
2. I have cut it's bottom and top.
3. I have covered it with reflective tape or otherway it would lose too much light to the sides.
4. I cut little pieces of straws which were stolen in the cafeteria
5. I taped them together.
6. I joined them in a kind of circle and slided them inside my snoot.
7. I went to the garage and made two shots:
7. a. No snoot, bare flash
7. b. With my home made snoot
I was some 4/5 meters from the garage door using the 16-35mm set on 16mm on the 20D (or was it on the 350D ?).
I don't care about the quality of the photos herewith, not now.:wink
We can see that it concentrates the light.
However I can see that its end is too wide and it spreads the light too much.
I am on the way to make a better and simpler one.
All the best ! ... António Correia - Facebook
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Comments
It packs flat also.
Moderator of the Technique Forum and Finishing School on Dgrin
If you just want to buy a cheap kit for this, the Strobist has a link to a vendor that has this very "kit" for sale. About $10.00 US I think.
Go to the strobist site and search for "black straws".
I'm under the distinct impression that a snoot only acts like a barn door on all sides. WHen you add the straws, its a grid..
Moderator of the Technique Forum and Finishing School on Dgrin
A honeycomb is just a cluster of little snoots. The angular dispersion of the light is 2*arctan(radius/length). You can tighten up the spot either by increasing the length or decreasing the radius. A spot grid reduces the radius to give you a tigher spot with a shorter length tube.
As an example, if you build a 10cm long spot grid out of 4mm straws you will get an angular dispersion of around 4.5 degrees. To get the same angular dispersion with a 4cm diameter tube would require a 1m long snoot.
That is good stuff!
Thanks LA!
All very usefull.
Boys and girls, you are missing the greatest part of the think:
the fun and pleasure it returns to make your own snoot/grid.
I bought the very nice snoot from the link I posted - it stores completely flat, is silver inside, black vinyl leather outside, and attaches firmly with a velcro keeper. Less than $20 for the short one.
I am glad you enjoyed gluing straws together
Moderator of the Technique Forum and Finishing School on Dgrin
"Your decisions on whether to buy, when to buy and what to buy should depend on careful consideration of your needs primarily, with a little of your wants thrown in for enjoyment, After all photography is a hobby, even for pros."
~Herbert Keppler
BTW Pathfinder, thanks for the link. I have been looking for those speed straps for a while so I bought a couple. Hopefully will be here in a few days. I probably will buy more there as he has interesting products and reasonable prices. I already had built a large foamy based on the design on Chuck Gardner's site. I just could never get it secured properly. The speed straps seem like just the trick. Had I not already built the large foamy reflector I probably would have bought his. I may get one yet to use a a gobo but I have a fair bit of fun foam left so maybe I get the glue out instead...
Thanks for the link,
Mike
Mike Mattix
Tulsa, OK
"There are always three sides to every story. Yours, mine, and the truth" - Unknown
. . with longer straw sections, and your spot will be tighter. Also, I'd worry about getting some really strange color temperature from all the little stripes on those straws.
Natural selection is responsible for every living thing that exists.
D3s, D500, D5300, and way more glass than the wife knows about.
To create shadows, or an absence of light.
Photographs are "drawings made with light" and contrast control is a key element in a scene. Think of a theatre production on a living stage, and how spotlights and shadows are used to create drama by the director.
The same thing can be done by a savvy photographer. A snoot might be used to light only the eyes, and not the hair or the mouth for instance. A snoot gives greater control where the flash goes and does not go, just like on a movie set. They're cheap too
Moderator of the Technique Forum and Finishing School on Dgrin
I use the big foamie diffuser too, and fixing it to the flash has always been a pain. I found some velcro wrap bands, about 3/8th in wide, and 8 or 10 inches long that do the trick for me.
His wrap straps are appealing also though. And the price is reasonable.
Moderator of the Technique Forum and Finishing School on Dgrin
Thanks!
dak.smugmug.com
Here's a sneak peak at the Dave Honl snoot. I put it through the motions last night and had a blast doing it. There were a few things I was a bit picky about. You can wait to read that after I write up the product review on the 6" snoot, 8" snoot and barn doors. There are a few things that seperate this from it's DIY counterpart (which I have quite a few if those already that I'll keep in case these grow legs..)
What you see in this image is the 8" snoot and the speedlight band that fits onto the flash. I'll admit the whole setup is simple yet pretty ingenius.
You could make a soda straw grid to fit inside his snoot I bet too, since it velcros together....
Moderator of the Technique Forum and Finishing School on Dgrin
Indeed, indeed Jim.
A snoot like this with black long straws inside ...
Simple yet pretty ingenius, yes. Very KISS !:D
Since I got to test his gear for an equipment review. I'm not going to pull any punches and give an honest critique.
I don't want to recommend a piece of photo gear w/o providing full disclosure on my thoughts of the gear.
BTW I'd definately recomend his gear!
Hey guys n gals. I finally made up a product review on the David Honl lighting gear I said I was going to write.
Link.
Cheers,
-Jon
With a flash to my left and one to my right to raise the room brightness, I still needed to brighten the woman and cat. A third flash would not work, as it created harsh shadows behind her. Because the 3rd flash was so far away from her, I used the long snoot and aimed it at her and the dark cat. It illuminated them both, but did not spill past them onto the wall. It did the trick.
Just one example of the need for a snoot. And Jon, thanks for writing the review. It works well, as you said. Jim
I don't want the cheese, I just want to get out of the trap.
http://www.jimwhitakerphotography.com/
I recently bought a large bottle of Cyano-acrylic Crazy glue, and I am going to get my own home-made snoot with grid fabricated some time this winter when it is too cold to go outside.
Moderator of the Technique Forum and Finishing School on Dgrin
I don't want the cheese, I just want to get out of the trap.
http://www.jimwhitakerphotography.com/
Sorry about that antonio, I just wanted to post the link where I knew it was mentioned before.
Cheers!
-Jon
Crazy glue has a polymer that dissolves quite a few types of plastics. Do a test run before you commit to the project and have a huge pile of melted plastic madness!
Jim. I am happy you hijacked my theard
I have made a snoot myself.
Look: Just a A4 sheet of paper and some black strwa I glued with tape like I did the pther time.
Now the snoot, later - in some hours - the test.
I got two different types from the local hobby shop. It is branded with the hobby shops name, and it is a local ( non-chain) mom&pop store, so who knows?
I'll do a trial run, before committing hari kari with it:D
I did also purchase the spray-on activator which hardens the Crazy Glue immediately. The airplane model builders all use it. I used to have to pin balsa parts together, and then wait for the glue to dry. No more - position, spray, move on to the next step. Model building is much faster due to the use of spray activator for cyano-acrylic glues like Crazy Glue.
Moderator of the Technique Forum and Finishing School on Dgrin
When I wrote about the hijack I was only writing only to PF because I couldn't see
Now that I have, I want to thank you all for having hijacked the thread because everybody earned something with that procedure.