Brian Carey (site, Flickr) just sent me a very cute mod/hack to create a flash bouncer (much like the omni bounce) only it can be made in 5 seconds and it folds crumbles flat.
It allows your strobe to fire light in all direction much like a bare bulb studio flash. And aside from providing a bare bulb mode on your strobe, it also doubles as a gel holder.
Read Brian’s Flash Bouncer/Stopper/Gel holder tutorial after the jump
To illustrate the uses here are two images taken with this wonderful and sophisticated device:
Flash + bare bulb mode
Flash + gel holder
For many years I, like many of you, have been trying to find a flash diffuser/bouncer I’d be satisfied with. I bought some, made some out of different materials but I was never happy and kept looking.
Now I can say I finally made one I’m happy with and can use in many applications. Also a couple of things I like about it is it didn’t cost a cent to make and takes up no room in your camera bag!
My camera bag was often packed so tightly, even the tiniest of space was hard to find.
I made it out of packing material. It is very flexible and can be left on the flash, can be put in your pocket (and you won’t even know it’s there) and also serves as a gel holder. It will work great to convert your flash to bare bulb mode indoors and as a gel holder outdoors.
Build Instructions
1. Place the flash over the material and draw out lines around the flash extending 1½ inches, 4cm around the flash. Draw lines from the corner of the flash to the corner of the material and cut along these 4 lines.
2. Fix the material around the flash and tape in place. Don’t tape it to tightly, you want to be able to remove put it back on easily.
3. The final product
4. Doubled as a gel holder
A small word of warning: the if you are using packaging material for this, be aware of heat. Using the flash with full power pops rapidly can melt the paper. So fire gently 🙂 Another option is to use baking paper like this mod does.
