With a new set of Pocket Wizards in my toolbox and a good start on a small strobe collection of Nikon SB28s' , I decided to scavenge for materials and make myself some homemade modifiers. Aside from the obvious money savings that comes from making your own gadgets, my favorite advantage is that of being able to create something that is lightweight, compact, and durable. The resulting grids were born from a fairly sloppy process of cardboard cutting and hot-gluing but I am very happy with the final product.
The cylinders are cardboard as is the corrugation.
As long as you have velcro on your flash, all of your
modifiers can be made to fit right on it.
I put velcro on my gels too for a quick conversion of
color temp, neutral density or diffusion.
This was my first design and it was made using pieces of black tubing. It is heavier than I would like, too much rubber and gaffers tape, but the light quality seems very nice.
My nephew stood in for me
while I tried a few test shots.
Here are results from some testing with the 2 grids pictured at the top. On one of them, I made the corrugation 1.5 inches deep, and the other 3/4 inches deep.
This test shot is from the 3/4 inch grid
...and the 1.5 inch with the flash
in the same spot.
I am working on some snoots now, stay tuned for results.
