I try to avoid using my on-camera flash because it tends to wash things out, especially people. It also creates unsightly shadows and gives the skin illumination (which is NOT good). In this tutorial, I am going to show you a super duper simple flash diffuser that you can create in like 5 minutes, and you can easily take it anywhere in your photo bag because it hardly weighs anything.
DIY Cloth Hat Diffuser for Your DSLR
I accidentally came across this little cloth hat last Christmas when I was trying to take photos of the family, but I hated the flash. (The inside of the house during the dead of winter, not near any nice windows and natural light do not make for an optimal picture without the flash.)
Remember that my husband gave me a bunch of white t-shirts? I’m going to create this little cloth hat from one.
Take a little dish and create a circle. Sorry about my circle, I think my marking pen is running out.
Cut out the circle.
Some elastic thread.
Attach the elastic thread onto the circle. Leave a little tail on it so you can tie it shut later.
Hand-sew around the circle. Remember to pull it taunt (so it creates a “hat”) and close it shut at the end.
A back shot of my dSLR camera.
And a front shot too!
Here we are with the flash. ISO 2500, f/5. See how it lights up Joe Paw’s fur? On a human, that would make the skin looks bad. Maybe not so bad on a doggy, though.
No flash. ISO 4000, f/5. Kind of dull, plus you can’t see some features too well. On a human, the eyes are the windows to the soul.
Little cloth hat diffuser, ISO 2800, f/5. Not quite in-between the two, but you have a better ISO and better white balance. Please note, I did not Lightroom these photos at all.
