Friday, May 15, 2009

Almost Free bounce card

When I want a bounce card for my external flash, the first thing I do is surf the net searching for the perfect one. My camera bag is stuffed full and real estate is at a premium, it has to be compact, good looking, and cheap. I found three sites (I'm sure there's plenty more), one sells them and sort of shows you how to make them but the cost is unbelievable ($50+), the other one makes them but it's a bit bulky and not very good looking, and the other is strictly buy it, again, at a rather expensive price. Along with those sites you can buy a few at eBay but I couldn't find anything for Canada and I don't like customs/duty/exchange rate so I'll stick with this side of the border.

The two "make it" sites had great ideas and I basically combined the two sites and made myself the perfect bounce card. I bought two pieces of craft foam, one black and one white, and a package of velcro strips. White glue and a pair of sharp scissors is pretty well all you need after that.


With a simple twist vertical shooting is a breeze.


Attached with velcro, easy on easy off. Lays flat and takes up very little room in your bag.


I created a template and out of the two pieces of foam I made 6 bounce cards. I only have one external flash so I'm giving the extras away not including shipping. I figure $10 will cover the cost of shipping and the envelope. If you have a Paypal account send ten bucks to kansasA@gmail.com or simply email me if you don't and we'll make other arrangements. Don't forget to include your shipping address! I'll ship to Canada and the States but if you're willing to pay for extra postage I'll ship anywhere :)

If you'd like to see larger pics visit my Flickr site here.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

clever and I still have no idea what a bounce card is ab

KansasA said...

Hi ab
A bounce card is used when you don't want the flash to point directly at a person causing red eye or washout. If you point the flash up to the ceiling or bounce it off a wall and shoot the picture you'll get a much softer light with no harsh shadows :)

Anonymous said...

What a great idea! You are brilliant! That is a great deal as a person couldn't even make one themselves for that price. Thank you.

Garry Garrison said...

hmm very good idea , i know what a bounce card is but what exactly do you use it for and why ?

KansasA said...

Hi LoneCowboy,
You can use a bounce card to fill in a bit of light or put a catch light into a person's eyes. You don't want to wash out the whole picture with a flash direct on so using a flash pointed up to the ceiling or facing the wall with a bounce card attached you can get just the right amount of light.