My favourite rim light photos

Rim light is my absolute favourite lighting recently. Here are some of the best photos I shot this year:

Rim light

My previous two projects aimed to create ringflash adapters. However, the effect with a ring flash is getting boring after a while. My favourite home studio pictures were actually taken with the fiberstrobe V3 adapter using extreme angles:

The adjustment of the arms were not always simple so I decided to create someting really easy to use adapter. I think the picture below is quite self-explaing:

I still have to do some experiments with the mask (on the right) designed for small subjects to photograph.
At the end a new picture I really like. It has a nice 3D effect, which is impossible to get with a simple ringflash.

And shooting with the rim light adapter is really effortless and just by changing the plane of light really dramatic changes can be observed.

I'm back (with rim light)

Blogging is not really my style and during summer I used simlpe set-ups. Nothing fancy lighting with fiber optics. So there was not much to post and I was quite busy with other work related things. Now the winter is back and I had a bit of time to create something from the leftovers of my 1mm diameter fibers. Now I post only the results and will come back with the details about the new fiber optic flash adaper. For the photos I used a nex-5 and a yongnuo YN460-II flash.

super macro mod

When I tried the new ringflash adapter for the 100mm macro, I noticed that the very closed subjects are not well illuminated, especially when there was something tiny in the middle of the frame. It's probably due to the narrow beam of light coming out at the end of the fibers (I have to check the correct angle). So I decided to modify a bit the adapter to tilt a bit the fibers towards the center. I added foam stripes with a velcro and attached to the ring (hairy part of the velcro stripe fixed to the ring) leaving a bit of space also for the fiber stripes. Sounds confusing but the pictures below will explain it better:

 

Now, the fibers are looking more to the centre:

I had not so much time to test the rig, but it seems to work quite well. Some pictures below (iso200, f16-18)

Big Brother is lighting you

Although the NEX5 is not yet a perfect system for macro photography, I really enjoyed the ringflash project. So I decided to make a bigger version for the my DSLR (sony a100). I have two macro lenses for this camera, a minolta 100m f2.8 macro that is one of the finest piece of glass. I also like my sigma f2.8 50mm macro but the 100mm macro is more versatile and a bit bigger challenge to make a ringflash for it, due to the longer subject to lens distance. I had to use a bigger diameter tube to mount the fibers on it and tried to make the brunches of fibers adjustable. I'm still thinking how to make it appropriate for closer distance, when I use it for supermacro.
Few days ago I finished the Big Brother:

One added function compared to the previous ringflash adapter is that I drilled two holes to the bottom part in order to adjust the focus manually. It's not perfect but not bad. I used velcro around the tube to fix the fiber brunches. The idea is that in this way I can adjust their position and even their angle. The attachment of the other end of the fibers to the on-board flash is still not perfect, but it works. I used some cardboard, ducktape and a bit of velcro. And finally some pictures taken with the rig:

Saturday morning snapshooting

Every saturday my little son has sport. While he is doing his exercises I have a bit of time for photography in the little forest nerby. Approximately 45 minutes. Not much but enough for some snapshooting. I used this week the nex-5 (18-55mm+marumi 5dp achromat) with the new ringflash adapter. Some pictures below:

 

How to build a ring-flash adapter

There are many good optical fiber-based DIY ringflash adapters. For examples see the following links:

http://fuzzcraft.com/ringlight4-0.html

http://photos.soboring.org/fiber_optic_ring_flash/

However, I found a bit their installation a bit complicated. To make such adapter more user-friendly I built the whole concept around a tube that can be slide around the lens. Below I provide a tutorial on how I built my ringflash adapter for sony nex-5. You can follow the same principle to build your own for any camera type.
I bought a plastic waterpipe in the local hardware store. I used 75 mm diameter tube, but you should consider that there is an effective subject to flash (here adapter) distance for ringflash work. It's approximately between the half of the diameter and twice the diameter of the ring. So the optimum for my adapter is between 4 and 15 cm. For 100 mm macro lens with longer subject to lens distance you have to use larger diameter tubes.
 I cut a 10 cm piece with fretsaw:

I glued plastic-foam pieces into the inner part of the tube to hold it firmly around the lens. This way I can easily slide the tube to the lens:

For this adapter I used 36 pieces of 1mm diameter optical fibers but the 0.75mm one would have worked better. The length varied according to the placement of the end of the filament. I cut 3 little pieces of velcro stripe (hooked one, 25mm according to the opening of the flash) and glued 12 fibers into each leaving some overhangs:

Then I prepared the part mounting the end of the fibers to the flash. For this I used a plastic bag lock (I don't know the proper English term, I found this in the kitchen. Aluminium folie was used as spacer).

I glued the three velcro stripes together and fitted the fibers through the plastic mount and glued it (you have to use a special glue not dissolving the fibers. I used a polystyrol glue from pattex). Later on I trimmed back the overhangs and polished them.

The next step is the fixing of the end of the fibers to the tube. I cut a velcro stripe (hooked one) encircling the tube into 4 equal pieces and fitted the fibers in between the hooks spacing them more or less equual distance. The stripe going to the below part of the tube was further cut into two pieces:

 The velcro stripes were stuck to the tube (I used a self-adhesive type of velcro) and they were further fixed with duck tape. I still don't have a good solution how to attach the end of the fibers to the flash. I glued two layers from the plastic foam panel also used for the inner part of the tube to provide support at the proper height. After bending the bunch of the fibers (with the help of a hair drier, use it carefully!!) I glued the end fitting on the top of these foam pieces and  further fixed it with duck tape.

The flash adapter works well but the sony nex flash is really weak. It has a guide number of 7, but still at ISO400 I can use f16 most of time (depending on the distance and the colour of the subject).
For results, see my flickr page:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fiberstrobe/sets/72157626491664288/
If you have any question or suggestions, don' hesitate to contact me. You can also send me picures of your own version, I will post it on my blog.
Have a good tinkering.