DIY Bare Bulb Attachment

This attachment is meant to expand the capabilities of your shoe-mounted flash by giving it the appearance of being a bare bulb, which spreads light in 360 degrees, not just in the direction the flash is pointed.

You can buy similar attachments that cost upwards of $100 or more that do the same thing.  I made this one for about two-and-a-half bucks and maybe 15 minutes of time.  You do the math.  Then go spend that saved money on something worthwhile, like a couple of new games for your X-Box.

This attachment is made using a plastic box that’s in the shape of a Chinese food takeout container.  I bought this one at a craft store (Michael’s) for around a $1.50.  It’s about 4 or 5 inches square, and is made of a light-weight frosted plastic material.  They sell similar ones in smaller sizes (~2x3 inches) or in different colors, and are marketed as goodie bags/boxes for children’s parties.  If you want, you can use the smaller clear frosted ones to put over your flash…they are very similar in size to the Sto-fen Omni Bounce, and you can probably adapt that size to fit over any size flash head without any issues.  I opted for the larger size.

Do yourself a favor…don’t reach in the back of your fridge and use the food carton with the 3-week old leftover lo mein in it.  There are 3 reasons:

            1).  The lo mein will make the outside of your flash stickier than all get-out;

            b).  The soy sauce will short out the electronics in the flash;

            3).  The cardboard is opaque, and light won’t travel through it.

If there is a sticker or label on the bottom of the box, remove it first.  It’s easier doing it when you can get your hand inside the box, than later…like I did the first time I made one.  Note To Self #1.

Next, you would cut off the wire handle…you don’t need this.  Unfortunately, the handle also holds the sides together, so now you have to secure them together.  I didn’t think glue would hold, given the side-to-side forces it would experience, so I used staples…three per side.

Now that the sides are secured, you can turn your attention to the top.  The four lid pieces all fit together in an overlapping fashion, similar to how you would close the flaps of a cardboard box.  I used quick-setting epoxy to seal the lid, so with the lid closed, I figured out where on each flap I needed to spread the glue…call these “target spots”.  You don’t want to spread the epoxy over the whole flap…you’ll end up with a gooey mess when you’re done.  To ensure a good adhesion of the epoxy on the slick plastic surface, it lightly sanded the “target spots” with sand paper…just enough to rough up the surface.  All glues and epoxies need a little “tooth” to the surface to stick well, and the surface on this box is really slick.  I used two-part epoxy, so I mixed up parts “A” and “B, then spread them on the “target spots” of the flaps, then carefully closed the flaps, so that the glue would not get on any surfaces that would end up being exposed.  You don’t want your sticky goo on exposed surfaces...just ask Monica Lewinski.

The epoxy needs some time to set up, so you can temporarily tape the lid shut, to keep it immobile while the epoxy takes hold.  Set it aside for now.  While the epoxy is working its magic, go make yourself a sandwich.  Or finish off the lo mein in the cardboard carton in the fridge…it’s on the 2^nd shelf in the back left corner, behind the mustard.

Cut a square from the craft foam that is approximately 3 inches square.  I used black foam (also purchased at your local craft store).  You won’t need the whole sheet for this project...and you’ll find plenty of other uses in your studio for it.  The cut piece of foam should fit the bottom of the plastic carton, but doesn’t have to cover the whole carton.  I rounded the corners of the foam once I cut it out.  Ask anyone who has ever patched a piece of clothing…a square corner on a patch is always the first thing to start pulling up.  Once the epoxy on the lid has set up, I used a hot glue gun to attach the square of craft foam to the bottom.  It’s important that the label has been removed from the bottom of the box, because the foam and hot glue will eventually pull off the label.

Once the glue has cooled and set, set the box upside-down on the table and trace the head of your flash on the craft foam.  Don’t worry, you don’t need a dark line; you just have to be able to see it to guide yourself to make the cut…I used pencil.  Now draw a diagonal line from corner to corner of the traced rectangle, extending beyond the edges of the rectangle by approximately ¼”.  Use a utility knife to cut along these two diagonal lines, which will result in an “X” shaped cut through the foam and the bottom of the box.  If you’re under 18, get your parent’s permission before using the knife.  If you’re over 18 and super klutzy, get your parent’s permission and have a first aid kit handy.

Now simply insert your flash into the bottom of your new bare bulb attachment.  The craft foam provides some friction and holds the attachment securely on the flash.  Otherwise, you have the slick surface of the box sliding on the slick plastic surface of the flash, and you’ll be spending more time picking your bare bulb attachment off the floor than you’ll spend using it.

You can now enjoy the benefits of a bare-bulb flash with any shoe-mounted flash.  Use it during wedding receptions to bounce your flash all around the dance floor and off the ceiling, providing a nice, soft light for your dancing fool subjects.  If you want to make the box more efficient and project more light forward (and waste less light out the back of the box), you could always cover one of the interior walls of the box with silver or gold reflective material before you seal the box shut.  Just be sure that when you are tracing the head of your flash on the craft foam prior to cutting it, that you orient the flash so that its back is in-line with the side of the box with the reflective material.

  

I use this modifier most often as a background light, when I need the hot shoe flash to throw light in all four lateral directions and up (or three lateral directions, if the reflecting cardboard is used).

For this on-location high school portrait image, I sent my unknowing assistant down into the deep, dark, spider web-covered stairwell with the appropriately-outfitted flash, which also had an orange gel taped to it’s head, to warm up the dark and dank red brick.  My trusty volunteer assistant for this job did not get paid well enough to do this, as I’m sure this staircase descended directly to Hell…it was the steepest and darkest stairwell I had ever seen.  But the light modifier was up to the task, lighting the pitch-black stairwell into a nice, warm, glowing, and inviting.  Not bad for $2.00 and 15 minutes of construction time.

If you wanted to extend its use even more, surround the four side of the box with black craft foam and turn it into small soft box, suitable for table-top still life images.  Or extend the black foam on all four sides and make it a snoot, and use it as a hair light or localized accent light.