Couldn't sleep, so I decided to make a snoot and grid for strobist fun. This was super easy and cost less than $1 in supplies.

Snoot is made from cool foam. It will fit either my 430EX or SB-26.
Removable grid is made of drinking straws cut into thirds.



fun little beam of light



All three of these were taken 10-12' feet from the wall with my 28mm

bare flash:


snoot only:


snoot + grid:


Now I have lots of control where my light goes.

nice!

i love the pattern on the snoot/grid combo. nicely controlled!

damn, nice deathray of light!

I wouldn't want to be looking at that when it goes off.....

sam, I'm going to paint one side of mine black and leave one side white. That way you can have a harsh or diffused edge.

luckily the little colored stips on mine don't cause any color cast.

very true, but if the straws are small enough the whole thing does not have to be black.

The grid is about 2" long, if I painted half of the inside black, then most all of the internal reflections should be killed as the straws are pretty tiny. Then reversed I'd get a softer edge because I could get some reflections with the white to the outside.

Sam, you should check out a party store, or the Halloween store at Southpoint, if they still have stuff/are open... I'd bet they have black straws....

Originally Posted by Idjiit

When you say "paint the inside black", what do you mean, exactly? The inside of the straws? Do a dip or something? That would be pretty slick.

yeah.

black coroplast works great too - http://www.coroplast.com/

Check local sign places. Its what they use for election, for sale, and reality signs

Hrm, I wonder what happened to the sheets of that stuff I had here at work..... Like 500+ 12"x12" sheets.