Fong in a dark room

<p>I'm sure I can't be the first person with this problem... using a Fong lightsphere in a dark room, let's say a lounge, and you take a picture. Since the lounge area is so dark, the 360-degree nature of the Fong will blind anyone close by, and that's just nothing I'm willing to work with. For this situation would people recommend a light bender, or I was considering taping some black felt or aluminum foil to the back side of the Fong? Any advice?</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

<p>--Russell</p>

<p>If it's a dark environment there is not much light that will be reflected from nearby surfaces. So a lightsphere is the wrong tool for the job. A small softbox would be the right tool for the job.</p>

<p>Anything that throws as much light forward as possible would work and larger is better. I use the softbox III from lumiquest as it is about as big you can go and still keep it on the on-camera flash. It folds flat so it's easy to bring along.</p>

<p>A light bender would also kind of work but it's not optimal because it's more suitable when you want to reflect some light forward and the rest up.</p>

<p>The most optimal in your case would probably be to have a softbox with a recessed front as that would not throw light onto those standing beside it. I don't know if there are any small softboxes that fit's on a hotshoe flash that have this feature. Otherwise it's a common feature on larger softboxes.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Ugh why didn't I think of using this... I actually have this softbox (lumipro softbox III - it's about 8" x 9" I think) and even had it in my bag that night. Oh well, next week! Thanks!</p>

<p>Give it a shot and see if you like it for this kind of shooting. Just remember to set the flash zoom manually to 24mm or you will just get a hot spot in the middle of the softbox.</p>

<p>You probably know this already but to pick up more ambient light put the the shutter speed at 1/60 or 1/30s with high enough ISO. That avoids the background going to dark. This technique is often called dragging the shutter amongst wedding and event shooters.</p>

<p>Also to avoid getting mixed color temperatures you can put a CTO gel on the flash under the softbox. That will turn the flash into tungsten (about 3000 K) so it will mix better with the environment. Even modern fluorescent lighting is usually warm like tungsten. WB setting on the camera should be set to tungsten.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Will do - I appreciate it. And yes, I commonly will shoot with about 1/30-1/40 shutter speed, but I didn't know that about the gel... I just ordered one (actually a set of 4 power levels... it was pretty cheap) and I'm looking forward to testing it out! (That's been one of my annoyances recently.)</p>

<p>The rule of thumb with any softbox, is that if the distance from softbox to subject is more than twice the diagonal of the softbox, then you ain't got soft light anymore. The diagonal of that little lumiquest box is only 12", so anything more than about 2 foot away is hardly going to show any softening effect. Even Lumiquest's comparison photos, taken at very close quarters by the look of it, hardly show any useful softening. Apart from the fact that the exposure is less blown out in the right-hand picture. You'll also notice that the flash is offset from the camera, and obviously not hotshoe mounted.</p>

<p>http://store.lumiquest.com/lumiquest-softbox-iii/</p>

<p>Larger versions:<br>

http://lumiquest.com/images/comparisons/sb3direct.jpg<br>

http://lumiquest.com/images/comparisons/sb3.jpg</p>

<p>Frankly, for subjects more than 4 foot or so away, it's pretty much a waste of time and flash power using a tiny softbox like that over direct flash. Especially in a large room with dark surfaces.</p>

<p>Joe, so what would you recommend? Just a basic diffuser pointed straight on? (Off-camera is not an option.)</p>

<p>Russell, try a basic experiment to decide what to use and when.</p>

<p>The Fong LightSphere can be used in three different basic ways: <strong>1)</strong> pointed or angled up for bounce without the dome cap, when the ceiling (or wall) is high.<strong> 2)</strong> pointed up for bounce with the dome cap on when the ceiling is low or a wall is close.<strong> 3)</strong> Pointed directly at the subject with the dome cap on where the dome produces a diffused light with a gradual vignetted fall of.</p>

<p>Each way produces a different effect. You can modify the LightSphere by cutting a piece of opaque white card to fit inside that'll keep spill to a minimum, so those around are less effected by the flash.</p>

<p>In truth, no on-camera speed-light modifier is going to produce a "soft wrap-around light". That is a function of size and proximity to subject. But you didn't ask about that.</p>

<p>So, try your little soft-box and I think you will see that it softens the edge of the high-light and shadow areas that are usually specular and hard-edged especially in a dark venue. <br>

- Marc</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Russell, if you want a soft light you need a <strong>large</strong> light source. The most convenient way to get this, usually, is to look for a suitable bounce surface (natural reflector); such as a white ceiling or nearby wall. With digital the surface doesn't even need to be pure white, since you can tailor the camera's white balance to compensate for a cream, blue or whatever-coloured surface.</p>

<p>Those little clip on diffusers simply don't make the area of the flash significantly bigger. They only work because light from the flash is spread around to bounce back off any nearby surface. This will lighten shadows, but really does nothing to genuinely soften the shadows. Blanking off part of the diffuser will obviously reduce this effect considerably.</p>

<p>See my slightly tongue-in-cheek thread in the Nikon forum to get some idea of how overrated some of these expensive add-on attachments are.</p>

<p>http://www.photo.net/nikon-camera-forum/00cCWO</p>

<p>If you must buy an off-the-shelf modifier, IMHO the flashbender range probably offer the most cost-effective options.</p>