1. .
  2. Patrick Nagle



    Making a Flash Grid

    Hello everyone out there! If you are a returning viewer, welcome back. For those of you who are first timers to the DIY blog, thank you for coming! I am back with another great project for you guys. I need to start doing some that are a bit more challenging. If you thought the last project was easy, just wait until you see this. Today we will be making us a handy dandy flash grid. These are absolutely fantastic to have in your bag, whether it be a store bought one or the one you make today. Basically a grid is what goes on your speedlite and consolidates that outage of the flash to a confined area. Think of it like a spotlight. You can really isolate the subject in your scene using this technique and can make for some real dramatic effects. Very little is needed for this, so let’s get right into it!
  3. You will need the following:

    • Box cutter

    • Cardboard

    • Gluestick (or regular elmers glue)

    • Rubberband(s)

      You will need about a foot of cardboard to work with. Lucky for me I am in the middle of a move so I had PLENTY of cardboard boxes lying around to work with. With the piece I cut off I then took my flash and marked how long my pieces needed to be. Then by free hand, I estimated the width which was approximately ¼” wide. It doesn’t matter too much if you are consistent here. Just try not to make the cuts too wide because then your grid will not sit flush against your flash. I continued to cut the entire width of the piece of cardboard I had. This ended up being way too much. With all the cuts I made, there were probably about 10-15 strips that made up enough to cover the flash. From there it’s time for a little arts and crafts. Take your glue (gluestick is less messy) and glue each piece one on top of another until you have enough to place over your flash.

      Finally take a rubber band to hold it in place and you are good to go! There may be some people giving you funny looks while you use this. But realize that we are photographers and if we don’t look goofy, then we must be doing something wrong. Hope you all enjoy. Happy shooting!