Repurposing A KFC Fried Chicken Dinner As A DIY Ring Flash

I have a two DIY ring-flashes. My first one was made out of illustration board, and the second one was made of out of a bucket of fried chicken from our local restaurant. Here is my step by step tutorial on how to make your own DIY ring flash using the leftovers of a KFC dinner. (of course you can but a DIY ring flash kit or a totally pro solution as well, but then the KFC leftovers will be thrown away rather than recycled).

It takes about two hours to make one.

What you need:

• a Thor Illustrated bucket (mine was from a 12pcs chicken bucket meal)
• Scissors / Cutter
• Aluminum foil (or you can buy aluminum tape which is better)
• Tape and double stick tape
• Tracing Paper
• A pen
• Plastic folder / illustration board (optional to be used for the snoot part of the ring flash)

How to do it:

Cut the main part of the ring, I made the length about 1 1/2 inch

Cut a rectangular portion about 2 inches wide were the light from the flash would come from.

Using the cover of the bucket trace the base of the ring. Also draw a smaller circle in the middle for the hole of the ring flash.

Cut the outside and the inside of the cover of the bucket which will become the base of your ring flash. (Don’t mind the 4 small holes if you have this because you can cover it up using tape later)

Using the remaining piece of the bucket cut a part for the inside wall of the ring flash

Use tape to stick the two parts and create a cylinder. It would look something like this.

You should have the main part of the ring flash by now.

For the snoot part, you can use the remaining parts of the bucket, but I prefer using old plastic folders (or illustration board) because it’s easier to shape and cut. First thing to do is make a rectangle shape where your flash would fit.

Put aluminum foil or aluminum tape in the inside before sticking it together

Next part is making the neck of the ring flash which will connect the body and snoot part of the ring flash. I used plastic folders for this part. Make sure to put aluminum foil in the inside of the snoot part before closing it.

It’s better if you get your camera and flash so you can measure the neck of the ring flash on how long it should be.

Tape all the parts together. The more the better.

Put aluminum foil on the inside of the ring.

 

(optional) I had some black suede tape so I taped the outside with it. One other option is to paint the outside.

The next part is the diffuser screen of the ring flash. Place the ring flash on top of the tracing paper.

Leave a little bit of allowance on the tracing paper and fold it over the outside of the ring flash and tape it. Cut the inside for the hole part of the ring flash.

 

Fold the inside part and tape it. You should have something like this.

The final product looks like this.

Some examples using a ring flash.