Toronto Photography Meetup Group

I apologize ahead of time for my crappy description on how to build this*

Ok so I just built my very own ringlight. After seeing a bunch of photos on Flickr and other forums I decided I wanted to give it a try .. Its a very cheep alternative to buying one and the results are very cool definatly worth the hour and a half and the 50-70 bucks.

Materials you'll need:

8-12 keyless light bulb holders - 1.59 at home depot
8-12 100 watt(whatever bulbs you want anything will work) light bulbs
I used a dimmer
I used 14 gauge wire
extension cord
dimmer junction box holder


Take a piece of wood any size ( I used 2 feet by 2 feet) *If I could make it better I would use a bigger wood with more light bulbs*


Cut your piece of wood to size.

Mark up your wood in 8ths (depending on how many bulbs you use)
lay out your keyless bulb holders depending on the size of your light .. I cut a 10 inch hole in the wood and then 8 3 n a half inch holes under each light holder



Attach the keyless lamp holders to the wood and wire them up.

its fairly simple anyone with electrical knowledge can do it .

Heres some shots of it





and heres some finished results .. keep in mind Im not a very good photographer... But I like how they turn out






If I were to do it again I would make it bigger and use more light bulbs for a better fill. and use frosted bulbs not clear ones like the ones I have they work better!!

Thanks!! I hope it sparks some interests!1

interesting, but the photos look pretty bad, perhaps a different kind of bulbs or diffusion could improve it

frosted bulbs,, i used clear ones I think frosted will diffuse better

You don't have to use Frosted bulbs .... you can put frost gel in front of the bulbs, although switching to frosted bulbs would probably cost less.

Interesting idea, would be interesting to use in the field -- 1000 watt generator roaring away in the middle of a park, with 2 assistants holding up the ring light, and shooting away from the middle. Now that's a photo!