Flash project Shoot crisply lit macro images

Jason Parnell-Brookes shows you how to light macro shots with a crisps tube

THIS project will get your stomach rumbling and give you well-lit macro photographs at the same

time. Put the light stand in the cupboard and the flashgun in the drawer for a well-deserved break, because this time all you need is your camera’s pop-up flash to light the scene.

We’ll be cutting a foil-lined crisps tube down to size and fixing it on our pop-up flash. With a silvery inside and nowhere else for the light to go, the pop-up flash light will bounce its way down the tube and across our macro subject. For better shadows, we’ll diffuse it with some kitchen towel. But first you have to empty that crisps tube, so we hope you’re hungry……

Step 1

Put your pop-up flash up, then hold the top end of the crisps tube up to the flash. Mark off areas of the tube’s sides that you need to cut into in order to fit it around the flash. Also cut the base off at an angle, to throw the light downwards and onto your subject.

Step 2

Use kitchen paper taped across the front of the tube to diffuse the light and make soft shadows. Don’t use too much, or it’ll darken your flash power too much and you won’t be able to illuminate your subject properly. If you want something more robust, use plain paper or a shower curtain cut to size.

Step 3

Poke holes near the top of the tube with scissors and push rubber bands into them. Strap the bands around your DSLR to make sure it’s secure. The rubber bands may not be elegant, but they make it easy to put on and take off the lighting tube when you’re shooting different subjects at the same time.

Step 4

With tall and narrow subjects, such as flowers and fungi, turn the camera vertically to complement their shape. Or shoot horizontally to capture a cluster. Just be careful not to bump your new make-shift flash diffuser into things – don’t damage the delicate subjects.