How to Make a Dirt-Cheap DIY Ring Light from a Frisbee and Some LED Strips

Got $30, a frisbee and some free time this week? Need a ring light? If you answered yes to both of those questions, we’ve got a neat, quick and super simple DIY tutorial that’s perfect for you.

Put together by the folks at Film Riot — the same guys who recently showed you how a frosted white shower curtain can make for a great diffuser — this little DIY experiment was born out of a desire to mess around with cheap LED strip lights.

So, FR host Ryan Conolly went out and picked up some Mosaic LED Strips from the local hardware store and got to experimenting.

The strips have double stick tape on the back, and so he was able to stick it to the inside of a frisbee to create that ring light we mentioned — great for close-up portraits with that stylistic catchlight — but he didn’t actually stop there.

He also created a strip-light by sticking the LED strip to the arm of a C-Stand that could then be positioned to create bottom, top or side lighting as needed. He also mentions working the LED strip into costumes or sticking it to places where mounting a light would otherwise be difficult or impossible. All of these are viable, extremely useful options.

Check out the video at the top to see all the ways Conolly uses the LED strip and feel free to stop the video after about 4 minutes if you’re not interested in filmmaking since the second half is about getting music to use in videos.

(via SLR Lounge)