The One Ring

A ring flash is commonly used in portrait and fashion photography to create a distinct look where the light seems to ‘wrap’ itself around the subject. Aside from the even illumination, the subject is often seen outlined with a soft-shadow halo, which means there are fewer distracting hard shadows in the picture. This look, however, is an acquired taste and can be quite divisive (just like Lady Gaga). People love it or hate it.

As I cannot afford a ring flash, I had to settle for an adapter for my hot shoe flash (more commonly known as a ring flash adapter). And since I couldn’t justify getting an adapter that’s more expensive than the flash I’m putting it on, I had to settle for a no-name alternative (also because my DIY skills end with making cardboard snoots). This simply means it’s not a Ray Flash or an Orbis, but if I should receive one as a gift (Universe, are you listening?), I would weep in gratitude for days.

Having lost my shooting buddy, Kaloy, to the city-state that is Singapore, I mainly have to fend for myself during most of my shoots. I sorely miss having someone assist me especially when I’m shooting my nephew, Jace. I can only imagine how baby and child photographers must feel while they’re trying to wrangle their lights and gear into place, only to find out upon turning around that their subject has now moved out of the shot area. And so I thought that the easiest way to do this without sacrificing the quality of the light would be to use the ring flash adapter and knock back ambient contribution from the overhead CFL’s until it doesn’t register in the image.

This first shot was made with the ring flash adapter used on-camera.

Not your cup of tea? Well, there’s always the option to take it off the camera and see how the light falls on the subject from different angles.

More after the jump …

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In the picture below, I positioned the flash on lower camera right while trying to distract Jace so he wouldn’t try to make a grab for the shiny circular object in front of him.

While the little guy was busy with his water bottle, I held the flash on upper camera left while making this picture. This is by far my favorite from the images I made that day.

In the last image, I placed the flash in front of Jace as he was busy ‘teething’ on his water bottle.

Taking the ring flash adapter off the camera does create a lot of interesting results. Although my hot shoe flash doesn’t have enough juice to allow me to move the ring flash adapter farther away from the subject, the setup did give me a single-strobe option that provides both soft and even light.

More to come …