Naomi Charles wrote:

You can now buy 27 watt spiral fluorescent bulbs that output 100watt
daylight 5500 Kelvin at homedepot. I have even seen them at walgreen
pharmacy. They are coollights and last for 7 years.  I have also seen
daylight bulbs from revel and Philips but they are hot lights and last the
same as a regular light bulb. Some if them have a blue tint to them.

I also have a tip on how to diffuse the flash on your camera. tape a piece
of tissue or tissue paper over the flash to reduce red eye.  You can also
tape a piece of posterboard at an angle to bounce the flash of your
camera.  I really like this site.  I can use some of the ideas to really
help me out.  thanks a bunch Naomi

Click here to see DIYPhotography.net answer

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Hi Naomi,
I am glad that you find the projects on the site useful. Feel free to share your ideas.
Florescence bulbs are cool, they are really good for "over head" lighting. just make sure you buy a daylight balanced one (5000K – 5500K). It is also worth mentioning that florescence do terrible job at getting dimmed – so no dimmer can be connected to them.

you can see the flash diffuser for canon s2is article for more info about your diffusion ideas – or check out the flash mounted softbox and flash diffuser articles for even better results.

cheers,
Udi.

John Wilkins writes:

I’ve been reading your site diligently since I found it late last year.
Love the site btw.
I don’t have a full article, but I’ve made my own flash diffuser with a piece of tape and a snip of paper for my Canon S2 IS. I have to say that even though it’s very lo-fi, it has very dramatic effects on my photos. It’s very easy to do, and takes no dexterity at all. Just cut a 1 inch by .25 inch piece of paper, take a 2 inch piece of tape, fold one end for quick removal, place the paper on the tape, align it over the flash, affix, and wham-o. Instant diffuser. The corners on top can be trimmed to fit the flash, and like mine there will be a piece of tape covering the name Canon on the flash.
Whew! How’s that for a geeky run-on sentence?

I had no idea how dramatic the difference was until I gathered the images to send to you.I took the example pics of the SD400; the images of the diffuser on my camera were taken by someone else; I hope this helps some other budding noobie like me!

Enjoy!

Canon S2IS with diffuser #1

Canon S2IS with diffuser #2

A picture taken with the diffuser

A picture taken without the diffuser

Click here to see DIYPhotography.net answer

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This is what DIYPhotography.net has to answer:

Hi John,
Thanks for the letter and photos. I think your idea is great, and very easy to build.
I have one suggestion for improvement. Tape the paper in a way that it will not be totally glued to the flash, that way the light will have some more space to get out of, and you will get even more diffused light. Now it looks like this: ||, and if it looked like this: |) it would be even better. You can also try using a special peper used for engineers which is half transparent to loose less light.

Also you might take a look at the flash mounted softbox and flash diffuser articles to get inspired.
Warm regards,
Udi.