How To: Flash Deflector 

I keep getting questions about my flash deflector I mentioned in my “how to photograph rats” posts, & I’ve been meaning to actually make a post about it for a while now, but I kept forgetting.

There are several ways to make diffusers or deflectors (including with milk jugs or film canisters), but mine’s pretty simple—it’s a piece of square, firm cardboard with aluminum foil wrapped around it. I put one piece of electrical tape across the back & stuck it on the edges to make sure it stayed down, & then I put a rubber band around it & stuck a clothespin underneath the rubber band. I attach the grippy part of the clothespin to the bottom of my pop-up flash (I have a Rebel, but this should work on any type of SLR/DSLR & probably most cameras with a pop-up flash).

[Sorry that the photos are so blurry, I used my point & shoot & the batteries were almost dead, so I didn’t want to use the flash on it. Also, my deflector’s a bit beat up & needs re-wrapping because the rats keep capturing it.]

This is not fool-proof & it does take some adjusting depending on what angle you’re shooting from. You may have to play around with it a bit to figure out what works best.  The rubber bands get a bit loose after a bit & require replacing.  If the flash is blinding you, you have the deflector set too high up & you need to lower the angle. If the shots are coming out half dark, you need to straighten the deflector, it’s crooked at some point. If the photo’s still too bright, raise the deflector up some.

The end result should be a photo with softer light that is not blown-out looking:

A deflector is particularly useful if you’re photographing any type of animal, because I’ve noticed sometimes that they tend to shy away from flashes—I think the brightness hurts their eyes. With a deflector, the light is being spread out a bit & is not hitting them directly—this also prevents red-eye or green-eye in your photos.

If you have any questions at all, feel free to message me, & I hope this was helpful!

How to Photograph Rats 

I get asked this a lot, & I never really wanted to post anything about it because it seemed a little conceited, seeing as I am by no means a professional photographer (nor have I had any photography classes or even read a book on photography), but it’s kind of silly for me to type out the same tips to everyone who asks when I could just make a post, so I shall do so! 

• Food, food, food.  If your rats are unaccustomed to the camera (especially if they’re rats you recently got who are not particularly fond of you yet), giving them a treat every time you go to photograph them is probably the best thing you can do to make them interested.  I haven’t given mine a treat for posing in well over a year, but they actually enjoy being photographed now & run up to me as soon as they see the camera.
• Shoot from their viewpoint!  This is true for any animal (& really a lot of stationary subjects as well).  If you have the camera positioned too far up, their proportions are going to be distorted & their head is going to look very large. If mine are out running around & I’m photographing them, I lie down on the ground to do so.
• Let them see your camera & play with it.  Rats are naturally curious animals & they’re going to be more interested in a photoshoot if they like the camera.  I wouldn’t leave mine unattended with my camera, but I do let them nibble on the strap & sniff the lens.
• You’re more than likely going to be using flash—if you have any way to make a flash deflector, it will make the light a lot less harsh, softening the photo & it also seems to make the rats less irritated by the flash going off right in their face.  If you have a pop-up flash, you can make a deflector by using a piece of cardboard covered in aluminum foil then rubber banded to a clothespin.  Just clip the clothespin to the bottom part of the camera that juts out underneath the flash & adjust as needed (you will need to move it around depending on what angle you’re shooting from).  If you have a flash that doesn’t pop up, try experimenting with a folded index card taped near the flash.
• If your camera has manual focus, try using it.  You’ll get a lot of bad shots until you’re better able to predict your rats’ movements, but once you’re good at it, you’ll be much better able to get them at just the right moment.  Even my fastest lens is still too slow to be able to autofocus quickly enough to get a rat.
• This is more personal preference than an all-encompassing tip, but rat bodies often look strange, lumpy, or obese in photographs (or perhaps my rats are just strange, lumpy, & obese), so you may find your pets look less deformed if you just photograph their heads.
• Share your photos. Post them on Tumblr, Facebook, Flickr, show them to your friends, whatever.  I used to just keep mine on my hard drive & never show them to anyone—even though I love photography & I love my rats, I hardly ever took pictures of them just because it wasn’t very much fun when I was the only one seeing them.  I enjoy photographing them now that I’m posting them on Tumblr & I actually take too many shots! 

If anyone else has any additional tips, feel free to reply/reblog & add/send an ask so I can publish it!  Like I said, I’m not at all an expert on photography, these are just some things I learned from the seven months I have been extensively photographing my rats.  If you have any additional questions, just message me. :)