DIY Flash “Snoot”

This one has been done a million times before, but I figured I’d write it up anyway. I also seem to have ended up being written up in Make Magazine’s Blog, so I figured I might as well document it in my blog as well.

Business End

For details on construction, read on.

Basically, a snoot is a tube or channel you fit onto the end of your speedlight (flash) to create a very directed beam. They’re handy for creating a tight, focused beam of light for flash photography, getting you effects similar to this one (borrowed from PositivePaul’s CC-licensed photostream):

Snooted Ya!

Mine is really the simplest of snoots – a cardboard sleeve that friction-fits onto the end of my flash. The only improvement I made to mine is the inclusion of a “grid” of corrugated cardboard you can slip in or out to change the charecteristics of the snoot:

Grid Removed

The results are that you get a tight, extremely focused beam with the grid in place:

Grid in place

And a larger beam with it removed:

Grid removed

Simple and really easy to build out of some cardboard and gaffer’s tape.