Skip to main content

Testing the Ray Ring Flash

The Ray Flash is a piece of plastic that fits onto a on-camera-flash to provide the effect of a ring flash. Ring flashes are essential for certain macro photography, common, for example, in medical photography. When you're in close, an ordinary on-camera flash is shadowed by the lens itself, so only a portion of the subject is illuminated. As well, the ring flash is soft, because the light comes from a large area, compared to the relative point-source of an ordinary flash. Not as soft as a softbox or umbrella, but better than on-camera flash. So it combines the full-on lighting of on-camera flash, without the harsh shadows, and retains some texture thanks to the softer light source.

Click on the photos for a large version.

The trunk of my car, including the white Ray Flash box and the brown shipping box. ISO 400, 1/200 @ F/8.0, 24mm on EF 24-70, Canon 5D mark II.



Those military families are trying to invade my bookshelf. Notice how the soldiers are essentially shadowless, yet the detail is crisply delineated. ISO 400, 1/60 @ f/4.0, 66mm on EF 24-70, Canon 5D mark II.





Coffee table with glass top, antique box, glass bowl of eggs. Note donut shaped specular reflections. Notice the greenish egg on the right has a bright round highlight from the flash, and a paler, larger highlight with a vertical line from the french window behind me. ISO 400, 1/60 @ f/4 70mm on EF24-70, Canon 5D mark II.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Perl5, Moxie and Enumurated Data Types

Moxie - a new object system for Perl5 Stevan Little created the Moose multiverse to upgrade the Perl 5 programming language's object-oriented system more in line with the wonderfull world of Perl 6. Unfortunately, it's grown into a bloated giant, which has inspired light-weight alternatives Moos, Moo, Mo, and others. Now he's trying to create a modern, efficient OO system that can become built into the language. I've seen a few of his presentations at YAPC (Yet Another Perl Conference, now known as TPC, The Perl Conference), among them ‎p5 mop final final v5 this is the last one i promise tar gz While the package provides some POD documentation about the main module, Moxie, it doesn't actually explain the enum package, Moxie::Enum. But delving into the tests directory reveals its secrets. Creating an Enum package Ranks { use Moxie::Enum; enum by_ARRAY => qw( unused 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 J Q K A ); enum by_HASH => { 2 => 2, 3 =...
5 comments
Read more

AI crap at 100 words a minute

I requested an AI to  create an astable multivibrator that can oscillate at 100KHz with a 50% duty cycle. Of course, this isn't an essay topic, it's a (trivial) electronic circuit. But it set out to provide the required number of words without actually saying anything useful. Here's what came out ... Note the reference to an article from 1968, long before any modern technology. In particular, getting through several paragraphs about oscillators without mentioning the 55 timer ic is unimaginable.
Post a Comment
Read more

Making a Re-Saw Saw

I made a framing saw from a kit at a Lee Valley workshop, and it was fabulous. It's great as a coping saw, cutting curves, but the thin blade makes it hard to cut a straight line. So I made another one on my own, using a chunk of bandsaw blade, and this was better for straight cuts. But trying to resaw a 1" thick boards into two 1/2" inch boards was impossible. The cut would wander all over the place. I would practically wind up with veneer. I saw a number of articles and YouTube videos about making a re-sawing saw, and I decided to make one. But I'm not keen on kits. For one thing I'm stingy, and don't like giving away the profit. Besides, it doesn't feel like I made it, if someone else provided the challenging parts. So I made my own. The saw blade is cut from one of three rusty handsaw blades I got for $10 off Facebook Marketplace. I used an angle grinder to cut it out, a little over two inches wide, and to grind three-to-the-inch teeth...
Post a Comment
Read more