mbb-LightTube ver.1 Flash Diffuser

[mybearbrick]

I made myself a DIY flash diffuser,
though may not be good looking (a joke at first sight) and not function as well as the famous aftermarket flash diffusers,
but it sure does eliminates a certain amount of harsh shadows.

mbb-LightTube ver.1
©mybearbrick 2007

A detailed WIP is documented here:
http://ayellowpostitnote.blogspot.com/2007/05/mbb-lighttube-ver1-diy-flash-diffuser.html

The Trial

 

[creampuff]

Nice attempt. Picture 4 looks good. Keep it up.

 

[OlyFlyer]

It may work, but unfortunately it is difficult to see the degree of effectiveness due to the underexposed sample images. :dunno: I think your metering got fooled by the black background.

 

[mybearbrick]

I did a second trial with a different setup.

TRIAL II
Read more about it here.

The results

 

[eow]

if it take inside hdb flat
try bouncing straight up at the ceiling without any attachment....it should be the best among the lot...

 

[OlyFlyer]

I did a second trial with a different setup.

Yes, much better. Clearly shows a difference, even if now the bottom one (direct flash) seems a bit overeposed and the top two a tiny bit underexposed. Look at the black details in the images. Sorry for critisizing, you did not ask for it. Anyway, being a DIY man myself, I think the shadows looks much better diffused with your bottle diffuser than direct.

It definitely works.

 

[OlyFlyer]

if it take inside hdb flat
try bouncing straight up at the ceiling without any attachment....it should be the best among the lot...

Yes, ceiling is good but not always. It will cast shadows under the subject if you are too close and can not direct the flash backward. Also, some times ceilings are just too high or have the wrong colour.

BTW, I think the second figurine picture in the first post is bounced from ceiling. The shadow under the figurine indicates that anyway.

 

[mybearbrick]

if it take inside hdb flat
try bouncing straight up at the ceiling without any attachment....it should be the best among the lot...

Thanks eow, for this pic, it is bounced off the ceiling (of HDB flat) from my table top setup.

for the trial II, I used a larger background while can only be setup on the floor.
I tried bouncing it off the ceiling with manual mode maximum power,
I had to pump up the ISO pass 500, generating noise,
result is still overall underexposed (not shown),
that is while I used a white paper bounce card.
as OlyFlyer has mentioned, it still gives a rather unidirectional lighting effect from the top,
face hidden in shadows.

Yes, ceiling is good but not always. It will cast shadows under the subject if you are too close and can not direct the flash backward. Also, some times ceilings are just too high or have the wrong colour.

BTW, I think the second figurine picture in the first post is bounced from ceiling. The shadow under the figurine indicates that anyway.

 

[mybearbrick]

Yes, much better. Clearly shows a difference, even if now the bottom one (direct flash) seems a bit overeposed and the top two a tiny bit underexposed. Look at the black details in the images. Sorry for critisizing, you did not ask for it. Anyway, being a DIY man myself, I think the shadows looks much better diffused with your bottle diffuser than direct.

It definitely works.

Thanks OlyFlyer,
as I have mentioned in my link that I had kept all parameters (settings) constant through the shoot to compare the effects. I had looked at the Histogram of the first picture,

thought it looked rather alright,
so I used that same set of settings throughout to make a comparison in the effects of different tilt/rotation, diffuser/bounce/direct,
thus explaining the over and under-exposures.
I guess even the diffused pictures are a tad underexposed, however, I will always edit the levels in CS, though for this trials, I had intentionally not adjusted the levels.

One interesting point to make is that with tilt and rotation at 0 degrees, I got this:

It seems to me that the length of light travelled inside and the slightly thicker end of the LightTube gave a strong warm cast on the overall image.
I have used AWB, so I thought I should have defined a temperature setting.
so in conclusion, I will avoid using the LightTube at tilt 0 degrees,
but instead tilt it to 45-60 degrees,
I have tried rotation (not shown), same exposure except clearly light is coming from the side and mild shadow fell to the other side.
I can also use a white bounce card to achieve if not the same but similar effects as the mbb-LightTube ver.1