This months tip is for those that use electronic flash. As discussed in Tips# 16, there are many advantages to be had by utilizing flash. Most of the time we attach the flash directly to the camera. There are however, a few problems with using a flash in this way. The first problem occurs when using a tripod mounted telephoto and you want to flip the camera to a vertical composition. The weight of the flash hanging from the side of the camera upsets the balance of the gear and makes following subjects somewhat more difficult as everything wants to "flop" to the side. The second problem is that you have now changed your lighting direction from above the subject to the side. This influences where the subjects shadow will fall. Instead of being cast behind and down (where it is not necessarily seen on film), it will be cast to the right or left and is more obvious in the photograph. A third problem occurs when photographing birds such as owls or other species in low ambient light. The light from the flash reflects off of the back of the birds eye and gives "red-eye"(common when photographing people with on camera flash) or "steel eye"(gray shine instead of red). This "eye shine" is aggravated by two conditions. Low ambient light, since the pupil will be dilated, and by having the flash too close to the lens axis. "Eye shine" can be reduced by moving the flash away from the lens axis.

The simplest way to accomplish this is to use a "flash bracket" and an off-camera flash cord. A flash bracket is essentially a metal arm, which attaches to the lens mounting plate and holds the flash above and away from the lens. An off-camera cord is necessary to maintain electrical communication with the camera. By attaching the flash to the lens mounting plate, it allows us to rotate the camera/lens to vertical format without the flash moving. This means our lighting is always from above, and we don't alter the weight balance of camera and lens.

There are companies that manufacture such devices, but the cost is substantial. They often cost hundreds of dollars in U.S. funds. We will suggest a couple of alternatives here that work just as well and cost just a few dollars! The materials and methods we will suggest assume access to a limited number of tools and are therefore somewhat crude. While a quick trip to a machine shop can do some of these steps much easier and accurately, it will increase the cost of the project.

To build your own bracket, a few decisions must be made. The first decision is how high above the camera you want the flash to sit. For example, if you put it a foot or two above the camera, the amount of "eye shine" will be minimized, but then correct aiming of the flash will be critical (due to parallax error). If it is put just an inch or two above the camera, then you will have gained little in terms of getting the flash off the lens axis. A reasonable compromise is to put the flash 4-6 inches above where the flash would be if left mounted on the camera. This will reduce "eye shine" and reduce the need for critical flash aiming. Realistically, it is very difficult to completely eliminate "eye shine" from birds such as owls without putting the flash in another province!

Here is a method of determining the height at which to place the flash. First, set up your primary lens and camera and sit it on a table (It should be resting on the tripod foot). Next measure the height from the table to the hot shoe (slot that the flash slides into) on the camera. Take this number and add 4-6 inches to it. For example, the photographs show a camera/lens where the height from the tripod foot to the hot shoe is ~ 6 inches. Therefore our bracket must be 6" plus the 4-6" for a total of 10-12" high.

The first design we will discuss is the simplest. It requires two metal "L" brackets (available at most hardware stores), a few bolts and nuts, an electric drill, hacksaw and some black paint! The following photographs show the brackets alone, as well as in their finished form.

As can be seen from the photographs, the design involves selecting two "L" brackets of appropriate length and bolting them together. From our example above, we know that our bracket must be at least 10" high. Therefore we must select two "L" brackets that when overlapped by ~2", are 10" long. Next, make a trip to the hardware store and try out different sizes until you get the height you need with enough overlap to bolt together (6" "L" brackets are the minimum in this example). While you only need a couple of inches of overlap, if you have more you can lengthen the bracket by drilling new holes and decreasing the overlap (this is easier to visualize with the brackets in your hands).

Now bolt the two pieces together and drill holes in the brackets and lens mounting plate to accommodate the bracket and flash cord shoe. The final step is to paint the bracket black or another dull color so sunlight doesn't reflect off of it and startle your subjects. To prevent rotations of the bracket on the lens plate, you can use two bolts. To stop rotations of the flash itself, you can either bolt a piece of wood or metal to the top arm flush against the hot shoe (electrical tape will also work).

The second bracket discussed here is used for lenses that have a high tripod foot to lens distance (see photographs). The "L" brackets are not practical here due to the height required. As the "L" brackets get longer, they also get wider and thicker and as a result the weight becomes prohibitive. For this reason, we suggest using aluminum rod (which can also be used for smaller lenses as well). The one in the photograph here was made from a piece of 5/8" aluminum rod.

The manufacturing technique is simple and requires little more than a vise, hammer, and hacksaw. Once again you must make a measurement to determine how high you want the flash to sit. The bracket here is bent into an arc, but you could get the same result by bending the rod into two right angles. Using the method above, determine how high you want the flash to be above the camera. Next, using a piece of coat-hanger wire bent to simulate our final product, we can find out how long our rod must be.

In this case, the rod is 18" long. Place one end in a vise and gradually alternate hammering and shifting the rod along the vise until you have created a half circle (there are better ways to do this, but they require other tools you may not have). The next step is to cut a notch in each end. This can be done using a hacksaw and then filing to get a flat surface (a quick trip to a machine shop will get it done easier). One notch will rest on the lens plate, and the other will serve to hold the flash shoe. The notches serve to prevent rotations once it is attached. Look closely at the attached images to get a better idea of how this is done. The two notches must be parallel or else the whole thing will not sit properly and the flash may be directed high or low. You can fine tune small errors afterwards by bending the entire unit.

Once you have the finished product, there is an important final step. If the top and bottom of your bracket are not parallel, the flash may be aimed lower or higher than where your lens is aimed. To check for proper alignment, do the following test. Set your camera, lens, tripod, and flash/flash bracket up in a darkened room (normal room lighting will be fine) at a typical shooting distance from the wall. Put a piece of tape on the wall and center it in your viewfinder. Now fire the flash and watch the flash outline on the wall. If everything is aimed correctly, the tape should be dead center in the area lit by the flash. If not, you can correct for most errors by simply bending the bracket until it is right. Minor misalignments will have negligible effects.

To summarize, a homemade flash bracket is relatively simple to make and effectively solves the problems created by mounting the flash on the camera. The best part is that you can save some money to buy other camera gear!