DIY removable velcro strap and cookie for cheap

I recently purchased some of the gels suggested on the strobist site from Midwest Photo Exhange. I pretty much did what was suggested and placed the velcro on the gels. The one thing that I didn’t want to do was to permanently attach the other piece of velcro on the flash… at least on my nikon flashes. I did put it on my vivatar flash but my nikons have multiple uses and the velcro would just be in the way.

I also purchased an 8″ HonlPhoto speed snoot and one of the speed straps. I am very happy with my purchase of the snoot and like the fact that it will lay flat in my bag and the construction of it is very good quality. I know that there is a lot of people that prefer to go cheaper (as I did when I started) but this is one piece that I do not regret purchasing. On that other hand I was a little disappointed that the strap was not included and that it was a little pricey. I again feel that the product is constructed well but would rather spend the money on items like the snoot rather then the strap. That is what brings me to my post. I decided that I needed one more velcro strap but felt that making it out of items I already have is a better route to go.

Removable velcro strap

I did have to make one purchase to create the strap and that was non-slip drawer liner. It cost all of 98 cents. The velcro is something that I already had but I am sure would cost less then 4 dollars.

This is a pretty easy project and requires about 10 minutes to do. I used a piece of velcro that was the entire width of the liner. Pretty much peel and stick. Afterwards I cut the liner/velcro piece off and trimmed any extra liner away.

Last but not least I stick the hook piece of velcro on one end of the strap.

WA LA! A reusable non-slip velcro strap. The only little fall back to this route is that I ended up with a lot a drawer liner that had no purpose. I figured for 98 cents I couldn’t go wrong…. I could always use the rest as actually drawer liner. As I stared looking at it though… I wondered what else I could make out of it.

Cookie

I played around with folding the liner and placing it in front of the snoot. What I got was some nice “random” patterns. I decided that since I had the time and materials I would go ahead and make some cookies. I stared by sizing up the liner so that it was bigger then the snoot.

I cut a long strip of it so that I had enough to make two cookies. The smaller one was folded in half and the longer one was folded twice (in thirds). I did this to so that it would create more area in front of the flash. I decided to use thread and stitch the loose edge to hold the whole thing together. I played around with tape but found that it made it a bit too stiff and also ate a little to much of the surface area up.

This is also creates a bit of a pocket in the middle which will have its use…. and allows the fabric to be manipulated, twisted, stretched and moved to create different effects.

What I end up with was a two ply and and a 3 ply cookie. I applied some velcro to the top and bottom of the front of the snoot and also to the cookies. I fired a couple of test shots and was pleased with the subtle effect that it created.

I also played around with using a combination of the cookies and the gels. The nice little side effect of the the folding and stitching the material is that it creates a pocket in the middle. This worked perfect for slipping the gel in to. I placed the gel in between the folds and fired away.

Well there you have it! Hopefully some of you creative types can make something out of this mess. I really like the almost “instant canvas” feel that comes from these cookies… kinda looks like material a bit. As a final note I would like to say again that the snoot and other products that I referred to are very good quality and I plan on purchasing more of them in the future. In no way am I attempting to draw business away from anybody but saving a little money in one department allows you to splurge in others.

As always all the images are available in larger format on my flickr page.

IKEA – A strobist’s best friend… part 2

Back for more… In the last section I listed some items from Ikea that I found to be very useful. In this post I will be covering a few more finds.

Gobos/Snoots/Decoration

What you see in the above photo is nothing more then some thin spongy place mats. The thing that I found useful about them is that thin spongy part. At around $1.50 each they can be used in a number of ways and because they are so thin you can carry a stack of them around. My inital though was to wrap them around the flash and use a rubber band to create a on-the-fly snoot. After playing with them for a bit I also figured that they would work for a small gobo as well. I aslo liked the idea of using it as part of the macro studio. The circular design is subtle and if used as a base to set something on could make a nice image.

Backdrop

Sorry for including my washing machine in the photo but I took the photo in a bit of a hurry. Anyway…. What you see is curtain type thing. Its 24″ wide and 118″ long. I imagined this being used in conjunction with the tension cable (see previous post) to produce a backdrop. I am sure with some finesse and proper set up it could also be used as a light diffuser or even a cookie. It cost $10 and was the cheapist one they had. There were some other designs as well but they were all $15 – $20.

Ringflash

Ok… what we have here is the result of weeks worth of contemplation and some really good timing. I had my mind set on making a ring flash but I kept going back and forth on the design. I decided to use this idea from a fellow strobist which involved plumbing parts. When I found it hard to get the parts I ended up putting the plan for the flash on hold for a bit. Soon after that we made the trip to Ikea and I found exactly what I was looking for… the light fixture in the photos above. I bought the fixture for $15 bucks and figured that I would come up with some idea of how to transform it into a ring flash. As luck would have it… when I checked the strobist blog later that day I found the post about the 2 ring flash designs  that Tanya Shields and David X. Tejada had made. I ended up using David’s idea for the bulk of my creation…. but with a few minor changes. Of coarse I used the light fixture in place of the work light housing  but the other main difference is that I used the lid from the plastic container (mentioned in the previous post) for the diffuser. Its fairly thick and sturdy but was pretty easy to cut and attach to the light. Since it would be redundant to post instructions on how to make this light I am going to give you this handy dandy link to David X. Tejada’s post instead. I do have more photos of the light and usage of it on my flickr page. Please feel free to browse at will.

IKEA – A strobist’s best friend… part 1

Last weekend my family and I made the trek up to Ikea. The whole point of the trip, for me, was to try and find supplies that I could us for my photography, specifically the lighting. The trip was a success. I tried to spend as little as possible (doesn’t everyone) but still end up with items that I would really use.

The total bill came to around $65 dollars but I have been able to turn most all of the items into something very useful.

The macro studio

The idea to use this container as a macro photography studio came from this post on the strobist site. The container cost $12 and came with a lid. Its a fairly large contianer and works well in a landscape or portrait style setup. The really nice thing about this container is that the whole thing is made of the same translucent plastic. This makes it easy to play around with the placement of the flashes. Did I mention that it came with a lid…. I did didn’t I…. remember that!

The multipurpose cable

Another item that I picked up was this wall mount cable system. I had purchased one in the past and was very happy with the appearance of it and the multifunction uses that it provides. The cable system is simply a piece of metal cable that is stretched tight in between two mounting poles. The whole rig is very sturdy and pretty simple to install. As you can see from the photos above I used one of the cables to make a sort of “gallery” hanging system. Using it in this way is a quick and simple method for showing off artwork, photos or anything else you can come up with. The reason that I am including this into the strobist category is because of its use for backdrops. Because I do not have a dedicated space to permanently hang or setup backdrops in my home I installed one of the cable systems in between the dinning room area and the living room. When not in use the cable pretty much disappears and doesn’t make the place look cluttered. When I need to use it then in a matter of minutes I can hang whatever needs to be put up and get to work. The kit that is in the photo above does NOT come with any clips or hooks… those come separate. For the cable hanging system and the package of hangers look at putting down around $22 bucks.

The sub blog…

Welcome to the Right Eye Open sub blog. I decided that I needed a regular “word” style blog on top of my photoblog. That is why you are reading this. There has been too many instances where I wanted to share something besides a photograph and didn’t have a place to put it. I am still going to be posting photos on the photoblog but over time I am hoping to migrate it to another location. As for now it will stay where it is and move along until that time.

As for now enjoy the new blog and please check back for new stuff.