Show Your Lens Some Love By Making It A Carbon Fiber Hood

Carbon Fiber is the new Titanium! All the good stuff is made with carbon fiber, the nice tripods, the nice monopods, the nice rigs and the nice stabilizers. With all those carbon fibers accessories, your lens is must be feeling left out.

Fear not, this guide by Laya Gerlock will show you how to spoil your lens with a Carbon-Fiber hood in 5 easy steps. (OK, it’s a decal, still is pretty awesome)

Equipment needed

• Lens Hood
• Carbon Fiber Stickers (for cars)
• Scissors or blade
• Hair Dryer or Heat Gun
• Cloth
• Clear Lacquer Spray Paint [Optional]

Step 1 – Clean your lenshood.

I mean really, no point in spoiling your lens with a messy hood. Besides, the carbon fiber won’t stick on a dirty hood and you’ll get all those nasty air bubbles.

Step 2 – Measure

Now that you have a super clean hood, measure how tall and how “wide” it is. And by wide I mean measure the circumference. You can do this by wrapping a piece of string around the lens. Add another inch or two and cut away. (Don’t peel off the adhesive part yet)

Step 3 – Apply

The Best way to apply the sticker is to carefully go arond the hood cylinder part without getting too concerned about the top and bottom curves. We’ll get them later.

Go slow and only peel the parts that you are sticking to the lens. So peel slowly as you go. Always try to stretch sticker when coming to the sides of the lens hood so you don’t get air bubbles and don’t cut of the excess sticker yet. It also helps to use a piece of cloth to press down on the sticker as you go to drive those nasty air bubbles away.

Step 4 – The top and the bottom.

After you have done the whole 360* of the lenshood covered, it’s time to do the Top and Bottom parts – this is the hard part. Use a Heat Gun or a Hair Dryer to slightly warm the CF Sticker. It will stretch more easily and it will be easier to mold it on the curve sides of the lens hood. Then use a blade or scissors to cut off the excess sticker.

Step 5 – Le finish [optional]

To make it look like a real Carbon Fiber, spray 3 coats of Clear Lacquer Spray Paint on the exterior of the hood. REMEMBER NOT TO SPRAY the inside of the lens hood, only the outside. Put tape/paper on the inside of the lens hood so you don’t spray on it.

Step 6 – Why stop here [bonus]?

If you have some Carbon Fiber left overs don’t stop here, make a CF Ipad cover, Ipod nano, Cellphone, table and refrigerator.

P.S. There are also different colors of CF Stickers, I think a White Carbon Fiber sticker would look cool on a lens hood.

About The Author

Laya Gerlock is a portrait photographer based in the Philippines. You can follow his work on his web page, follow him on Flickr and if you happen to come by Cubao Quezon, (To Manila, Philippines) he gives a great workshop!