DIY Ring Light

I needed something to soften my 500W halogen a bit, but still be more direct than bouncing light off a wall. I built a ring light diffuser adapter to accomplish this task. It sits on top of my halogen work light, then enters the ring, where the light scatters and bounces forward, Illuminating the subject nicely.

dual 500W halogen work lights and stand: $30
bowl: $2.99
aluminum foil: $1 (uses about 1 meter of foil)
duct tape $5/roll (only a few strips are needed)
plastic cup: free with bulk store peanut butter or hummus
wire cutters: free from friends tool kit while he wasn't looking

so, this is about a $40 project if you are starting fresh, or a $10 project if you already have a light source. Wait for construction work lights to go on sale at a local hardware store, then pick up a bunch. they are very useful. they help with photography, video, or even a home construction project!


Kyle Clements
2010
cc-by-nc-sa

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• Kyle
• Clements
• DIY
• do
• it
• yourself
• ring
• light
• diffuser
• diffuse
• soften
• harsh
• harshe
• halogen
• reflector

[koj1]

why do you whisper in all your videos?

[theheadlessrabbit]

@koj1

My apartment has hard tile flooring and old hard plaster walls/ceiling.

loud noises = ugly echos

[libramoonchild]

yay! i'm glad you found a way to make a DIY ring light :) i think you bought a metal food/fly screen cover. great bargain.

awesome tutorial :D

[TheComplicatedmind]

very cool. the band aid part was funny. is there a site that you find DIY projects on or do you come up with them yourself?

[redman68au]

interesting setup, I think your bowl thingy is actually a cake cover to keep flies off ;)

[theheadlessrabbit]

@Adavur

I tried cinelerra for a bit, but found it rather difficult to use.

I've heard that Ubuntu 10.04 has a new built-in video editor that is very simple, but I'm still on 9.04, and I haven't tried it yet.

'avidemux' works on both windows and linux (i think it's in the repositories) but it can't do everything I want to do, so I'm stuck with windows, just for sony Vegas.

[Adavur]

@theheadlessrabbit I use Ubuntu too. I've been looking at Cinelerra video editor which seems kind of advanced, but I haven't tried it out yet. But you're right, if you wanna do more on your computer than just surfing the internet and writing some documents it's still hard to live without windows or mac :)

[theheadlessrabbit]

@Adavur

sadly, no. video editing on linux is still terrible. for audio/video work, I still have to use windows (sony vegas 7 for these vids)

But for everything else (including this reply) its Linux...specifically Ubuntu, cause I'm still a *nix noob.

[Adavur]

@theheadlessrabbit i've ben training for years ;) anyway, may I ask if you edit your videos on Linux too?

[theheadlessrabbit]

@Adavur

wow, you can tell that I'm using linux by the quick 2 second view of my desktop, even when it's zoomed in that much?

good eye.

Thanks.

[Adavur]

youre using linux. cool :D like your vids

[theheadlessrabbit]

Ah! That's what it is.

I will show my appreciation by thanking you in six languages

Thank you

Merci

Danke

Shea Shea

Arigato

감사합니다.

Spending $2.99 sure beats spending $2399, although the top of the ring doesn't get much light, i might have to modify the centre thingy, maybe reflect more light up before reflecting it out.