Flash Brackets - Advice needed

I have been asked by my friend to do her wedding. I have been reading alot on

wedding photography. While doing my research alot is talked about flash

brackets. Does a flash bracket help when taking wedding portraits? and Is it a

must have in wedding photography? Is there another option than using a flash

bracket to get the flash off the camera body? Thanks

Yes, yes and you can hold it in your hand.

 

THe braket gets the lens off the plane that the eyes are on and stops red eye. ALso, without a rotatable bracket, you are going to have the flash off the side of the camera and crate some reall strange shadows

 

Steve

There are lots of past threads on the forum that deal with the debates about flash brackets, so read back thru those for all the back and forth debates about them.

 

I don't like them, because they're bulky and cumbersome. With a good swivel-head flash and the Gary Fong Lightsphere or Whaletale, you really don't need a flash bracket, and it's a much lighter, cheaper, and faster setup. Some here are just stuck on using brackets, and argue about it, but I've never needed one. Yes, they raise the flash up high to throw shadows downward behind the subject, but if you simply avoid shooting people against walls, then it's rarely a problem.

 

A good diffuser (like the LS) or even a bounce card eliminates redeye and puts a softer light on your subjects. And, with wireless flash units or even a good old sync cord with the flash in your left hand will do just as well as any flash bracket, and it's a lot cheaper.

You will find differing opinions about flash brackets. Some people think they are necessary to avoid the dreaded side shadows, others think they only get in the way and are heavy and bulky. Do some research about them on these forums and think about it before doing anything. It is not a must have. What you do is up to you. Be prepared for a lot of strong opinions.

 

The options for getting the flash off the camera body are holding it in your hand(s), either wired or wirelessly, and/or having an assistant hold it or put it on a stand (the latter is mostly wirelessly).

 

Some things to think about. If you use your flash direct, rather than bounced, a flash bracket will help you manage the resulting shadows from the flash, but skillfull balancing of the flash to the ambient light will minimize shadows in any case. If you bounce your flash most of the time, you can go without a bracket if you know how to avoid the side shadows and hard shadows to begin with. One thing is to stay away from walls. Another, as mentioned above, is to drag the shutter. For bouncing, got to planetneil.com, under Techniques, the article on using on-camera flash.

The first bracket I bought was flimsy. It raised the flash height quite a bit, but it was a big pain to carry around and it seemed my flash was going to fall off. I have promised to give it to a friend. I then spent a few hundred dollars and bought a bracket from Newton brackets at B&H (http://www.newtoncamerabrackets.com/). This bracket is more compact and ultra steady being made of machined aircraft aluminum. I think the guy makes this in his garage, he is an excellent machinist - USA made. The only negative, the adapter plate must be attached to the camera with an allen screw. The one I have also folds flat so it goes in the camera bag with me more often.

 

Besides avoiding the side-shadows that you get in portrait mode with the on camera flash, the ability to rotate the flash around in portrait mode allows you to shoot over your shoulder onto the wall/ceiling behind you for bounce flash. Besides these obvious advantages it also makes the camera/flash easier to deal with since you can leave the flash sitting in portrait position while wearing it around your neck, which results in a more stable position. Its enough dealing with the 70-200 f2.8L lens and the flash. I always try to put this bracket on when shooting with a flash.

 

You will need the off camera cord as well.

I had the same dilemma when I started looking into off-camera flash. However, I am of the opinion that creative use of bounce/diffused flash will get you great results. I can personally attest to the fact that since I bought myself a flash diffuser to put on my flashguns, my flash photography has improved immensely and would daresay I can achieve results at least on par with falsh-bracket. My tool of choice is the Demb Flash Diffuser. A few here will swear by it and some will swear by Gary Fong's products or home-made equivalents. In any case, I would invest in a diffuser then read about dragging the shutter on www.planetneil.com - the results achievable are really quite outstanding.

<p>I would advise that you learn how to use your flash on-camera before you invest in flash brackets which can be unwieldy. A single on-camera flash can work wonders if used correctly...

I just wanted to clarify that the Demb product is not a "diffuser", but rather a light reflector or bounce card. A true "diffuser" is something through which light is passed and diffused, such as the Sto-Fen Dome or Gary Fong Lightsphere.

 

The reflectors bounce all the light from the flash forward, and don't allow any of the light to bounce off other surfaces in the room, resulting in harsher shadows behind the subject.

 

Diffusers tend to send light all around the room, and do a better job (in my experience) of giving a softer and more natural illumination. This is enhanced by dragging the shutter and using higher ISO, balancing the flash lighting with the ambient light.

Hey Steve. The Demb is a bounce card, you are right about that, but what makes the Demb different is that it also includes a diffuser in front of the flash that the bounced light travels through. Also, it is adjustable so you can change the angle and bounce more light off other surfaces. When used to its full potential, the Demb is great.

Try a Better Bounce Card. Total investment less than $5 from a craft store and it produces better results (IMHO) than any flash bracket.

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<a href=http://www.abetterbouncecard.com/><b>A Better Bounce Card</b></a>

<p>

One issue to consider with the Gary fong device and others like it is the fact that they spread your flash light out in all directions around you. In a small room this can be helpful, but in a larger venue all you are doing is burning up your flash batteries.

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Since the flash is being dispersed in all directions - it needs to put out more light to adequately illuminate the subject in front of your lens. Just something to consider.

Howdy!

 

Another thing to consider with the Gary Fong device is that you can point it directly at your subject, and then you get diffused direct flash, much like a miniature umbrella.

 

You can also remove the cap, point it at the subject, and you have hard light with a direct flash, without taking off the diffuser body completely.

 

You can also tilt it 45 degrees towards the subject with the cap on, and you get TON of light directed forward, as well as some bounce light around the room, because if both front and rear surfaces of the LightSphere are tilted forward at 45 degrees, most of the light goes forward.

 

You will also never be pinched by a LightSphere, you will never have the cord fail or get tangled on a LightSphere, your arm will never get tired holding a LightSphere, and you will never have to fish for the shutter release on a LightSphere.

 

You can also take off the cap and fill it full of peanuts for those really long weddings. (Just kidding, I just want to see how many people made it this far).

 

All that said, if you can get one of the old fashioned ones with the convex cap and the translucent (not transparent) body, do it. They're much better.

 

In Fong We Trust,

 

Paulsky

Steve--not only is Jennie right about the Demb Diffuser, even a Flip It, which does not have the diffuser piece, sends light to the ceiling and around the room, in the straight up and bent back positions. I dare say that even with the card part bent forward, you still get residual light going to the ceiling, and bouncing around the room. Also, there are diffusers that don't send the light around the room--such as a Lumiquest on-camera softbox. The light passes through a transluscent piece (diffuser), and goes forward but none gets bounced around the room, other than what would normally get reflected back from any flash in any position.

 

Paul--I always tell guests the LS is a tip jar. So far, no change... :^(

 

I also want to add, for Alana's info, since this thread seems to be turning into a "which diffuser is better" argument, that one can use a bracket and/or diffuser one time and not another time, depending on what makes sense for what you are doing. Seems like everyone is basically one way or the other, one diffuser or not. I use a bracket sometimes, not at other times. I use many different diffusers for different effects. Sometimes, I don't use any diffuser, but bounce the flash off walls. Think creatively and use your head. Do some testing and make your own decisions.

Never thought about using the LS for tips or peanuts, but interesting ideas nonetheless!

 

I don't think I'm in disagreement with anything anyone here has said, and there's good advice all around. Best tip is to use the tools that work for you and do the job, and maybe try some of the things mentioned here to see what you like best.

 

I think Paul and I would get along just fine! Cheers!

I agree with Jennie. The Flip-It, works very well.

 

Russ

Steve, the Demb is a bounce card AND a diffuser no?

I don't use the Demb products, but apparently, from a previous post here, they have one with a diffuser in front of the bounce portion, and all I had ever seen was the bounce part. They apparently recognized the need for diffusion to reduce the harsh shadows from a simple bounce card, so that's a good thing. I still prefer the Lightsphere, primarily for the amber dome and tungsten white balance abilities. I do a lot of shutter drag in dim reception halls (so I don't have to carry additional strobes on stands to light the places up), and "dim" always means tungsten lighting. That amber dome on the LS really does balance the WB of your strobe with tungsten lighting, and your shots do look more naturally colored and less amber.

 

With a bounce card, your flash color temp is nowhere near a tungsten color temp, and the result is that your subject WB may look normal, but the ambient will look very amber in comparison.

<b>"...With a bounce card, your flash color temp is nowhere near a tungsten color temp, and the result is that your subject WB may look normal, but the ambient will look very amber in comparison."</b>

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Which can still produce a very nice effect! The couple loved the following image!

<p>

<img src="http://www.almariphoto.net/sitebuilder/images/JR-3782-1005x680.jpg">

In this case, it did produce a nice effect. Could have been a better image if aimed lower so you don't see so much ceiling and more of the couple. It works if you're shooting a couple, but if you're shooting a bunch of people dancing or catching the bouquet, the light falloff will be more evident, and those farthest away will be more amber-colored. I like my indoor flash shots not to LOOK like flash shots, so the balanced color temps help there.

 

I'm wondering how this image shows up on the forum when it's clearly not the specified 511 pixels wide. Usually, it would show up as a link.

To me, putting an Amber Dome on is the same as putting a gel on the flash... same effort and time, plus the Amber Dome is one color or K temp correspondence--with gels, I can control exactly how much correction I use. When I use the LS, I use gels. Also, with the Demb/Flip It, an advantage to using it with the card straight up is that you can bounce in strongly colored rooms, such as blue walls, or something, and still get mostly flash balanced light on your subjects--no strange color cast. As I said above, use the different diffusers for their strengths and to your advantage. Back on track, people--the question is about flash brackets.

Steve, sorry I posted late! I wanted to respond as soon as I saw your first post, but many people beat me to it (darned internet connection!) ;) I own two sets of Demb Diffusers. I find them extremely versatile, and it will take a whole lot of convincing and cajoling to get me to buy a flash bracket...

Back to the subject of brackets or not brackets. I'm forced to use a bracket because the flash doesn't mount to the hotshoe.

 

You can get around red eye and harsh shadows simply by using the LS. I'm not a huge fan of the LS, but a lot of people won't leave home without it.

 

I'm using the Quantum flash system and the main only reason why is the clean whites. Often with the LS and other attachments the flash color changes. I find this most frustrating when going back to the studio and having to WB a 700 or so images. My goal is to batch process everything, in RAW and be done with a wedding in 1 hour. This includes cropping, converting some shots into B&W, a few retouch jobs, and then burn the final product to a DVD, saved to 2 hard drives and ready for the client. I have to be honest here, this is my goal! Normally it takes about 2 hours of work, but still it is the WB and cropping that takes so long. Quantum flashes really save a ton of WB time here.

 

There are a lot of other flashes that achieve this true white quality such as the Sunpak 120j (I think) Norman, and a few other companies. Quantum works well for me, because it is accurate, powerful, and the recycle time is almost instant, unless you are at full power. You can pick up the X series with a 400w norman power back on ebay for not much money. It sure is nice having 400 watts of bold white power, but it is a lot of weight. Therefore I use the T series for most weddings. The only difference between the 2 is 200 watts, so with fast lenses, higher quality ISO's this makes up for the power difference.

 

So if you wish to consider all of the above and decide to go with a bracket, do a search. I personally use Custom Brackets, this model. http://www.custombrackets.com/scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=154

Hey, Bob--Metz will give you clean whites too. Probably a big factor in getting clean whites is not underexposing, which the Canon flashes tend to do.

Nadine, I loved using Metz flashes! I had the 60 series, had 3 flash units, the CT-1 and the CT-4, when shooting with film, back in the Hasselblad days. Wow, they were so reliable and powerful! The Canon flashes are also nice! I have the 580. I just don't like how the Canon flash tends to favor magenta skin tones. I think we are on the same page here regarding clean whites.

I use several different diffusers. Sometimes, not often, I don't use any diffuser, and bounce the flash off walls. Think creatively and do something different now and then. Referring to brackets I use something that I have never seen another photographer use before: I designed a camera bracket out of titanium to balance & steady the camera and to make holding it more convenient. I have worked 100's of 5-10 hour events with this bracket and never will be without it. I also left an adapter for joining a flash unit. I'll post something about this when I get the time.