Lighting: Ring flashes

Lately, they have been quite a bit of discussions in several forums regarding the value and utility of using a ring flash, in particular for portrait photography. Ever seen those portraits without hard shadows, where usually the ring flash look can be seen in the eyes?

Commercial ring flashes tend to be expensive, specially the the ones powerfull enough to provide enough ilumination for portraits. A couple of people came up with DIY projects to the rescue! I haven't been able to try them yet but definately would be interested in hear your experiences with them

a) A somehow simple design using a baking pan and an old strobe.

b) A complex but very professional design can be had at http://ringflash.blogspot.com/

c) And if you don't want a ring design, how about a triangular flash setup? Check this post at Fred Miranda's site (requires registration)

Also a couple of good articles on the benefits of ring flashes for macro photography can be found here:

Macro of stamps and coins
Photomigrations
Deep green photography

Seen any additional designs? Would love to hear about them.

What is this blog all about?

As an avid photographer and web-surfer, I found myself constantly trying new things, as well as finding very valuable information about photo techniques from friends and around the web. While I am mainly into digital photography, most of this techniques can be used for sure with normal photography as well.

Unfortunately, the old fashioned way of keeping bookmarks is not up to the task of managing such density of information. So I decided, if I am to document them in a way, why not sharing them too?
There's a catch on that however... see that "comment" button below? you probably have plenty of information to share too! Would love to hear your experiences with the tips or similar techniques.