jim mij wrote:
Mike Engles wrote:
Yes I have seen that, yet if he used that on the ladybird, it still has a hot spot. Sadly shiny objects reflect The goal is to make the reflection not 'burn out' the reflective surface. It should still be wholly intact and correctable in post to some degree. I have just made a new internal baffle that has 4 concentric discs of tissue, diminishing in size that I hope will progressive 'cool' the centre of the spot without making a doughnut hole . I hope it does not show as a hot spot with concentric rings of light!
more baffles, good idea, worth a try
I had some luck today, I found a ladybird, so I tried adding the tinfoil from a pineapple tart to the center of my latest diffuser. While it gave interesting results like your "ring" flash and its better than before its still not what I'm after (eg no glare). It also needed 1/2 power from the flash so its a battery hog. It was probably 70% the size of the diffuser. I was also disappointed that the pineapple tart was actual a lemon one, that went straight in the bin
I think the flash is just too bright, or too close, and probably this new diffuser is too small - about 4in diameter
I think other diffusion materials are needed, but not sure what. I was looking at the "pope shield" diffuser for inspiration and noticed the material is 5ish mm thick so perhaps I need more layers
I've also ordered an off camera a flash cord, fingers crossed
however My second lucky find of the day seemed happy enough with the diffuser, pic 3, these are the first bugs i've found in ages
sometimes though it is just not possible as natural light causes the issue. This is especially true with creatures that have simple eyes as if you try and shade the natural light they flee.
Both these shots exhibit that.


Ring flash I find has to be used carefully or images can look very flat, at least that is what I feel of them.
It also looks like your light source could be closer to the subject. That effectively makes it larger and more diffused
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Just enjoying photography
https://www.flickr.com/photos/distinctly_average/