the original metal is fairly dull it seems, maybe some white or silver paint on half of it would increase it’s reflectiveness and even out the overall spread of the light?

I have a few questions that others might be interested in hearing as well. I would like to build a ring like yours to play around with. A one flash unit at first, then maybe a two flash version when I get the funds for a second flash.

I’d love to see your dual flash version, if you have the chance to post a couple of pics with it.

For the single flash version, what do you find is the best zoom setting for getting as even as possible a reflection into the ring, wide or zoomed?

And, how many stops of light would you estimate are lost through the ring itself?

I have the same idea as Joseph S. Wisniewski, and I like to ask if you have done it? and whether you have pictures of this ring flash with double light.

I have one more question for all: If you could get this as kit, you only need the flash gun, would you buy it? and how much are you willing to pay and save yourselves all the work?

Thanks

I have two suggestions for improvement.

1) Reorient your light. Your ring light doesn’t light the ring evenly all the way around (neither do most of the commercial ones that are “fed” with a speedlight). In all your pictures, the light is mostly underneath the ring. That puts the bulk of the light slightly under the subject, and this is referred to as “sinister light”, for the unnatural look it gives your subjects. (In “real life” there’s almost always more light into the bottoms of eye sockets than into the tops, because the light comes from above).

2) Add a second light. Your reflector looks like it might do OK with two lights, one on each side. That should really even things out, and leave you with a light distribution that will look good if you go from horizontal to vertical.

A description of my four speedlight ring is at your original thread on photo.net