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Before we start

This particluar post is from my old blog. Back then it ran on Wordpress, but since I swapped my hosting provider from a Linux based one to a Windows based on, all the old posts were lost. Most of it didn't matter, but it appears that one particular post were fairly popular elsewhere since several sites were linking to it. Because of this I've decided to repost it so others might benifit from the information. I'm afraid the full size images were lost in the process as well, but small pictures are better than no pictures at all. Here goes...

Let's get started

Want to improve your macro photography just a little? Then you simply need better light. Unfortunately the different ring flashes for macro work is quite expensive. That’s why I came up with this design for a DIY macro ring light. Now, I can’t take credit for this idea at all. There are plenty of great DIY ring flashes and lights out there, some made with LEDs as I have done here. Still I thought it would be fun to share my experience with all of you. I added the capability to variable control the light output from each half of the ring. Before you spend time and money on this, remember that LED’s let out a smaller range of wavelengths than flash or ordinary light. This can affect the quality of your macro pictures. I ended up using around 90 dollars or so. Also make sure you use a correct white balance when using this ring light as the LEDs have a cold light to them (or shot in RAW and fix it later). Before we get to the part about how I built it, take a look at the final product and some sample photos.

The ring light it self (the small black clamp with the orange head in the picture is only there to keep the ring light upright while the pictures were taken)

The ring light turned on

Sample pictures (from the left: ring light at full power, right side turned down, left side turned down, ring light off). The ring light ment the difference in shutter speed between 1/10 and 1/100 (that's about 3 1/3 stop) More...