Flash diffusers

Clixphoto

I'm leaving for a trip to shoot a week long event. Some of the functions will be indoors and some at night. Long story short, I need a flash diffuser for my Vivitar 285HV as well as a pop-up difuser. I looked at a Lumiquest Mini Softbox from b&h but I'm not sure it will fit my flash. Any suggestions? Money is an object.

Thanks,
Wes
Clix Photography
http://www.clix-photo.com/

Art Scott

Clixphoto wrote:

I'm leaving for a trip to shoot a week long event. Some of the functions will be indoors and some at night. Long story short, I need a flash diffuser for my Vivitar 285HV as well as a pop-up difuser. I looked at a Lumiquest Mini Softbox from b&h but I'm not sure it will fit my flash. Any suggestions? Money is an object.

Thanks,
Wes
Clix Photography
http://www.clix-photo.com/

It should and i would recommend the CINCH STRAP to hold it on......I use the SOFTBOX (original Softbox) and cinch strap.....works great!!!!thumbthumb

If you can afford the large one get it as it throws a somewhat larger soft light............The SOFTBOX will also fit sunpak 622 and other such potatoe masher (handle mount) flashes....and that was my main reason for going with the Softbox.....when i got mine they only had 2 the mini and the SOFTBOX.

divamum

If you're willing to invest an hour or so into it, check out this thread (make sure you read the whole thread, particularly from post #23 onwards, as I added some further photos and modifications). Total cost was maybe $3 (not including the club soda )

Seriously, it works - I use mine all the time and am very happy with it, especially since the price is right! I can't link to any decent samples right now since smugmug is down, but will try to remember to add them in the morning.

HTH.

swintonphoto

I am a big fan of the Sto-Fen Omnibounce diffusers. I have a bunch of them. They sit on top of my flashes frequently. They are indestructable, easy to pack, and spread & soften the light very nicely.

Scott_Quier

Ask this question of 10 photographers and expect to get at least 11 opinions. I'm no different. I've gotten very good results with either the BBC or the light scoop - depending on conditions. See the links in my signature for more information.

Bottom line though is these back flat and are quite effective.

catspaw

as an aside, Lumiquest has 2nd models available on their website for cheaper with FAST shipping too http://lumiquest.com/sale.htm

I wasn't sure what to use so I picked up three for the price of one. sweet!

ps. just call them to see what exactly they have in stock. they sometime have some in que for inspection that might be available in a day as well. GREAT folks.

rutt

Gary Fong makes really nice diffusers. They are somewhat expensive, but an expensive flash diffuser is sort of like an expensive box of pasta, not really that expensive in the grand scheme of things.

The Gary Fong things are almost like a portable studio for portraits. Also great for fill flash.

Tim Kamppinen

I think all the Fong diffuser will do outdoors is rob precious f-stops from your flash which may already be working overtime in its deathmatch against the strong ambient light. It increases the size of the light source, but only by a small amount that's not going to make much of a difference. The reason it works indoors is that it throws light all over the room and that light then bounces back onto your subject. The whole room is the light source, and that's a large light source. Large light source = soft light source. When you do this outdoors it doesn't have anything to bounce off of and all those photons are being wasted as they never end up hitting your subject. Using low power direct flash for balanced fill seems like a much better option to me when shooting outdoors and using on-camera flash.

As far as my favorite diffuser for indoors, there's no question: the ceiling. Also the walls, and anything else in the room that I can bounce light off of. As long as you're not in the interior of a gothic cathedral or the walls and ceiling aren't painted black, you should have plenty of surfaces to bounce off of. It works great, and produces beautiful light. You could add a stofen or similar device if you're really worried about catchlights, but I have found that even that small bit of direct flash will create a well defined shadow under the chin in many cases, and I just don't like to see that. Usually even with ceiling bounce you can get a catchlight anyway if you angle the flash far enough back and not straight up at the ceiling (which produces "raccoon eyes"). You can even shoot it off to the side and get wonderful directional lighting that looks just as good as if you'd used a shoot through umbrella. The best part of all is, of course, that it's free. Just use the flash you have.

Jonnyyaya

These were taken with a Gary Fong Lightsphere-2 CLOUD.. These are just quick examples for Clixphoto .
Thanks

Inside.


Outside Eve .


Outside Sun ..

mmmatt

Tim Kamppinen wrote:

I think all the Fong diffuser will do outdoors is rob precious f-stops from your flash which may already be working overtime in its deathmatch against the strong ambient light. It increases the size of the light source, but only by a small amount that's not going to make much of a difference. The reason it works indoors is that it throws light all over the room and that light then bounces back onto your subject. The whole room is the light source, and that's a large light source. Large light source = soft light source. When you do this outdoors it doesn't have anything to bounce off of and all those photons are being wasted as they never end up hitting your subject. Using low power direct flash for balanced fill seems like a much better option to me when shooting outdoors and using on-camera flash.

As far as my favorite diffuser for indoors, there's no question: the ceiling. Also the walls, and anything else in the room that I can bounce light off of. As long as you're not in the interior of a gothic cathedral or the walls and ceiling aren't painted black, you should have plenty of surfaces to bounce off of. It works great, and produces beautiful light. You could add a stofen or similar device if you're really worried about catchlights, but I have found that even that small bit of direct flash will create a well defined shadow under the chin in many cases, and I just don't like to see that. Usually even with ceiling bounce you can get a catchlight anyway if you angle the flash far enough back and not straight up at the ceiling (which produces "raccoon eyes"). You can even shoot it off to the side and get wonderful directional lighting that looks just as good as if you'd used a shoot through umbrella. The best part of all is, of course, that it's free. Just use the flash you have.

I'm with Tim. These are shot using side wall bouce, no bracket in a High School fieldhouse... not just a gym but a fieldhouse. I'm going to guess about 400'x300' so light was traveling there and back to make the exposure and then bouncing off the oposite wall and back to light the far side of the subject. There are 3 full sized basketball courts in here. It was so dark I couldn't see the red dot on my lenses to change them without going to the door. Note on the first one how this technique also has a slenderizing effect by shadowing the inside of the girls arms.







This last one is my own personal supermodel with her new cat Snickers and was shot in my livingroom using the same technique.




Downside is that you occasionaly blind some innocent person who looks into the side of your camera, but I get a lot less blinking subjects with this technique. Another advantage is that you can light a group far easier and people who are closer to the camera are not more exposed than the people far away. another advantage is that the end light source is so ginormous that it mixes in with ambient lighting in the room so you don't have a golden face and a green arm on people or some other white balance nightmare. Well... the dj can always get you there but you know what I mean. I can't say enough how much I love this technique.



Matt

Tim Kamppinen

About blinding people when using low-angle bounce flash... one thing I've been meaning to try but haven't got around to yet is to use either a short snoot or a gridspot on the flash head. There should still be plenty of spread on the ceiling or wall but in theory it keeps the direct light out of people's faces. Of course it would still hit them if you fire it straight back.

Clixphoto

mmmatt wrote:

Matt, I would be interested in your settings for this shot. This is similar to the environment I expect next week. Great shots by the way.

Wes
Clix Photography
http://www.clix-photo.com/

mmmatt

Tim Kamppinen wrote:

About blinding people when using low-angle bounce flash... one thing I've been meaning to try but haven't got around to yet is to use either a short snoot or a gridspot on the flash head. There should still be plenty of spread on the ceiling or wall but in theory it keeps the direct light out of people's faces. Of course it would still hit them if you fire it straight back.

yep! I've seen guys use a snoot, and a cool flash snoot is nothing more than a long neck bottle coozy with the top cut off. It works, doesn't seem to make a bit of difference in how the speedlight performs although I haven't tried it in a huge room yet. I don't really mind the occasional casualty in that regard though. Helps me maintain a little breathing room . Back off people!

pathfinder wrote:

Once you start bouncing your flash off walls, why not bring a wall with you to bounce your flash off of - that diffuses it at the same time

http://www.sunbounce.com/cms/typo3temp/pics/343b3bd214.jpg

yeah... I know guys who use a reflector panel and an assistant which is a similar idea. I am going to start trying my umbrellas outside now that pocket wizard has finally come out with a working remote for ettl, but I'm not sure that will be all that big a thrill. I have to believe I will end up just agreeing with tim about straight flash for outdoor. I have a difuser I like and use for late day sun but mostly because it has a gold foil insert and I like to match the warm light. Last shoot it was blowing all over the place and I think I am going to just start using a sheet of gel or maybe a gold omni-bounce for outdoor stuff.

Matt

mmmatt

Clixphoto wrote:

Matt, I would be interested in your settings for this shot. This is similar to the environment I expect next week. Great shots by the way.

Wes
Clix Photography
http://www.clix-photo.com/

Thanks Wes. Lets see if I can remember how to link my exif...

javascript:window.open('http://mmmatt.smugmug.com/photos/newexif.mg?ImageID=495792796&ImageKey=ZYwbH','exif495792796','toolbar=no,scrollbars=no,resizable=yes,width=350,height=500'); void('');

Ok... I'm going with no!!

5d set to manual with -0- flash compenstaion using a 135 f2L @ 1/50th, f3.2, iso 1250

Be prepared to have to tweak your white balance and bump your exposure in raw coversion a tad... usually about 1/2 stop FME and if you are not shooting a camera that has really good high iso performance it will probably be pretty grainy. I don't often do this with my 40d for that reason.

Matt

divamum

One other easy DIY solution which diffuses somewhat like a Fong:

http://www.gearlog.com/2009/02/the_photographers_20162_diy_fl.php

I haven't had huge cause to use mine yet, but the limited amount I've tried has been entirely satisfactory. I keep it in my bag, along with a home made BBC.

Tim Kamppinen

divamum wrote:

One other easy DIY solution which diffuses somewhat like a Fong:

http://www.gearlog.com/2009/02/the_photographers_20162_diy_fl.php

I haven't had huge cause to use mine yet, but the limited amount I've tried has been entirely satisfactory. I keep it in my bag, along with a home made BBC.

Hey, thanks for the link. That design is cool not only because of the cheapness, but also because it folds/rolls up easily from the looks of it. I've seen people use actual tupperware containers as well. Really, if you absolutely have to have something like this, try one of the $5 DIY solutions before spending $50 on the Fongtraption.

divamum

Tim Kamppinen wrote:

Hey, thanks for the link. That design is cool not only because of the cheapness, but also because it folds/rolls up easily from the looks of it. I've seen people use actual tupperware containers as well. Really, if you absolutely have to have something like this, try one of the $5 DIY solutions before spending $50 on the Fongtraption.

I stumbled across the link by accident and it was kind of a no-brainer for me to give it a try since I use Ikea's shelf liner to (surprise!) line my kitchen shelves :giggle In other words, I had it in the house already so why not?

It's pretty cool. I actually taped the bottom edge of mine so all I have to do is slip it over the flash head, but it works fine when wrapped and velcroed as in the instructions and that does mean it's supereasy to tuck away in a bag as it takes up zero space. It's pretty neat! And uebercheap

Jonnyyaya

I understand the you can blind people with a GF dome just depends on how its being used. You are correct, I have two of them one is solid black except for the front half to prevent blinding when shooting in a large group. I have a few flash diffusers I use depends on the event or location. Also look around you can find fake GF differ on line cheap $14.99.

I am going to have to pick one of divamum's up http://www.gearlog.com/2009/02/the_p...162_diy_fl.php
Thanks for sharing can put it in the pocket.

These were taken with a bounce off the ceiling....

rwells

Jonnyyaya wrote:

I understand the you can blind people with a GF dome just depends on how its being used. You are correct, I have two of them one is solid black except for the front half to prevent blinding when shooting in a large group.

You can simply place foil inside the LightSphere cut to any shape you like. The added benefit here is it's not permanent, and it helps throw the light out better.

Carry on...

photogreen

Clixphoto wrote:

I'm leaving for a trip to shoot a week long event. Some of the functions will be indoors and some at night. Long story short, I need a flash diffuser for my Vivitar 285HV as well as a pop-up difuser. I looked at a Lumiquest Mini Softbox from b&h but I'm not sure it will fit my flash. Any suggestions? Money is an object.

Thanks,
Wes
Clix Photography
http://www.clix-photo.com/

Hi Wex,
If you want a diffuser that works for, both, pop-up and external flash then take a look at Demb Flash Diffuser.

mpriest13

I agree with whoever said that simply bouncing the flash off wall and ceilings is very effective. I have some great shots with my SB-600 doing just that. The problem is when the ceiling is too high to bounce the flash off of. I HATE direct flash. Even with a bracket or diffuser. What is the best solution for those high ceilings???

Tim Kamppinen

mpriest13 wrote:

I agree with whoever said that simply bouncing the flash off wall and ceilings is very effective. I have some great shots with my SB-600 doing just that. The problem is when the ceiling is too high to bounce the flash off of. I HATE direct flash. Even with a bracket or diffuser. What is the best solution for those high ceilings???

If possible bounce off a wall... even with a high ceiling, you might be surprised at how much light you get when bouncing if you turn up your ISO and use a large aperture. You can turn some pretty cavernous rooms into your own personal studio.

ziggy53

mpriest13 wrote:

I agree with whoever said that simply bouncing the flash off wall and ceilings is very effective. I have some great shots with my SB-600 doing just that. The problem is when the ceiling is too high to bounce the flash off of. I HATE direct flash. Even with a bracket or diffuser. What is the best solution for those high ceilings???

High ceilings and colored/dark ceilings are when I definitely use a "scoop" modifier. The scoop is also valuable when you have to shoot angled up or down as the bounce angle doesn't change with respect to the subject.

http://www.dgrin.com/showpost.php?p=1004089&postcount=8
http://www.dgrin.com/showpost.php?p=1061373&postcount=13

divamum

An addendum to this.

As mentioned above, I made one of these home-made Ikea-shelf-liner Fong-ish modifiers (gee, hyphens anybody?!) and keep it in my camera bag all the time since it packs flat.

http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Gary-Fong-Lightsphere/

Recently, I was travelling light without a flash, and found I needed to use the YUK onboard flash. I remembered I had the modifier, and in desperation decided to see if holding it a few inches in front of my onboard flash would help. It sure does! It doesn't entirely solve the flatness, of course, but using FEC to turn the output down and holding the plastic sheet in front of it definitely improved things and softened the look. Here's an example:


(sorry for snapshot-y-ness - I was documenting a trip, and the girls on one ipod cracked me up!)

This was at F5.0 1/200 - I don't remember the exact FEC I used (and exif doesn't record that, alas), but I'm going to guess probably -1 or 1.5 stops.

Perfect it's not. But WAY better than the unmodified flash would have been, I think!

michswiss

Well it turns out I recently bought one of those Gary Fong devices not even knowing about them. The only difference is about ~$140 dollars. I picked it up for around 30 RMB with four colour "lids". It's helped me out a few times, but I'm still learning how to work with it.

Clixphoto

I ended up going with the Omni-bounce. I loved it. I fit my flash very well and easy on easy off. Below is an example from one event that was in a bar with a high ceiling with tiles painted black.

squiddy

found this the other day...

http://home.comcast.net/~dougsmit/bounceflashtoys.html