Monday, July 20, 2009

Super Flash Extravaganza BM 1.0 Flash Attachment

Problem:

1) I’m cheap. I don’t really like spending money on stuff unless I really need it.
2) When I take pictures, I want them to look as good as possible.
3) I live in an apartment whose lighting resembles that of a cave.
4) The built in flash on any camera is anything but flattering.
5) I’m a dork and I like to build things from household parts that function less efficiently than product they are trying to replicate.

Easy Solution: Buy a flash. This violates rule number one and five, therefore this solution is not viable.

Dorky (but cheap) Solution: The Super Flash Extravaganza BM 1.0 flash attachment. This little gadget will give you soft lighting for your indoor pictures using the built in flash. It resolves every one of the above problems. Not only that, but it is sleek and stylish.

The results: Here are three pictures with different flash settings.

No Flash: The natural light looks good, but the shutter speed is slow and the ISO is all the way up to 1600, making it both noisy and blurry.

Standard Built in Flash: As expected, the shadows are harsh and the lighting is very unnatural.

Super Flash Extravaganza BM 1.0 Flash Attachment: Soft natural lighting without the noise or the low shutter speed issues.
Not too bad. I wouldn’t say that it can replace having a solid flash, but for pictures taken in my cave of a home with a low white ceiling, it works quite well. Costing a total of a few cents, basically to cover the cost of hot glue, there’s no real harm if I happen to lose or break this thing.

Oh right, here's a picture of it. Notice the modern sharp edges.

4 comments:

Melissa said...

That's SO funny we pretty much did the same thing, but different.

I like the mirror idea, brilliant.

Art by Leonhardt Photography said...

you can create something more compact out of a white plastic film canister. just cut a section out to fit over your built-in flash, and you meet the requirements of rules 1, 2 and 5.
have fun with that rapaz!

Giandrea said...

nice!

The A Team said...

I know nothing when it comes to photography so iso speeds and so on don't make much sense to me yet but I do think your concoction did a fabulous job of capturing little slim at what she does best...being beautiful!