Using diffusers outdoors

<p>I'm a first time wedding forum poster and I'd like your comments about the use of flash diffusers at outdoor weddings. All of my (www.flickr.com/photos/afewtoomany/sets/72157622918328887) wedding pics have been taken outdoors with various random diffusers including a GF lightsphere (dance photo), oversize bounce card (top row of pics) or shoot-thru (b&w pic at bottom). <br>

I'd like to know what would be an effective general purpose outdoor diffuser for daylight and evening outdoor weddings. I have not tried a dome diffuser as I can't find one to fit my Nissin flash.<br>

....or should I not be using diffusers outdoor at all?</p>

<p>Oh, and before you shoot me down, please note I have only photographed weddings as an unpaid second shooter :)</p>

<p>Welcome to P-net.</p>

<p>Often it's difficult to get enough power to be able to use a diffused flash outdoors and you're better off using direct flash and powering it down a touch to reduce the specularity. You'll also need to balance the ambient light with the flash. In your sample below, your flash needs to be strong enough to over-power the splotchy light that is coming through. Even shade without the blotches of light is generally a better condition to contend with but in some circumstances the blotches can be used to good advantage. If you really want to get your outdoor lighting up to speed, suggest that you obtain: <a href="http://www.photovisionvideo.com/store/shop.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=P&Product_Code=LLT028&Category_Code=DVD">http://www.photovisionvideo.com/store/shop.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=P&Product_Code=LLT028&Category_Code=DVD</a></p><div></div>

Hi Matthew and welcome

<p>My weapons of choice are always one or a combination of the following:

<br>1. Demb Flash Diffuser Pro on my 580 EXII

<br>2. 42-inch 5-in-1 reflector

<p>These work for me in just about every situation I come across (and there's a *lot* of sun where I come from ;-)). Once in a while, in very bright sunlight, I will use my hotshoe flash head-on in manual mode, adjusted accordingly. Usually it will be in Manual mode. I actually use the Demb on my flash at night as well. I simply tilt the reflector bit more forward than usual...

<p>You should read this article: http://photo-tips-online.com/review/best-flash-diffuser/ and, most importantly, ensure you use what works for you. Your outdoors photos are pretty good BTW :)

<p>Softening the light is different from diffusing it. If you want to soften it, you need to enlarge the light source in relation to the subject--something which is not easy to do outside unless you use powerful flashes and large modifiers (with people as subjects). You need the power to balance the light against brighter light outdoors and because you lose some light in large modifiers. To do this, you need large softboxes, umbrellas or flats and at power beyond what almost any shoemount or even portable strobes such as Lumedynes can offer if trying to balance against bright sun, for instance. Shade and overcast is a different story. With the latter, you can even use shoemount flashes but you still need the large modifiers unless you find a convenient building side to bounce your flash off (it does happen).</p>

<p>You can diffuse your shoemount flash to help reduce hot spots or specular reflections on skin, but diffusing will not soften unless what you use to diffuse is large in relation to the subject. So diffusing with small modifiers, such as the ones you mention are almost not worth it (IMHO) considering you again, lose flash power by using the diffuser.</p>

<p>In any case, it also depends whether you are using your flash as key or fill. As fill, I personally use my on camera flash bare headed, since the (hopefully) soft ambient light creates the light quality, and the fill contributed by the on camera flash doesn't even show up beyond a slight up tick in light level. Also be aware of the kind of light that is forming the primary light quality. If your subject is in bright sun, which forms the key light in the scene, it doesn't matter if the fill is soft or diffused because the main light is already hard.</p>

<p>I'd say that the fill isn't the issue in the photo David posted, but the light itself. Judging by the shadows, it looks like you've got golden hour light. It's hard to say what I would do because I imagine all that light kicking up from the snow could be a problem, but I'd definitely get them out from under the tree and try to make that late-day light do all the work. I'd even be hesitant to use flash- maybe just fill a bit with a white/silver reflector and feather it so it's not too strong. Like others posted above, I'd say that if you need the flash, use it on camera with no diffusion and start at -2 1/2 under daylight and work up until you get the effect you want.</p>

<p>Flash and light can be practiced or tested out any day. This type of formal is one of the few times of the day that you have anything resembling complete control. I think that it's important to have a good idea of the type of lighting you want and how to achieve it before you start snapping away. It only takes a few afternoons in the park to mock up situations you might encounter on the job.</p>

<p>No one here really talks about it, but an Uncle Sam's umbrella is a pretty good way to shoot daylight. You definitely need a strong assistant and some practice, but I've found it to be pretty useful.</p>

<p>Senor, what is an Uncle Sam's umbrella?</p>

<p>It's basically a 7.5' or 8.5' patio umbrella with a full silk on it. It has a hinge up around the ribs so that it can bend. You could use it in full sun, say noon-ish, to soften the light. It's much more portable (a strong assistant can easily walk with it) and quicker to set up than rigging a silk with stands. The hinge is helpful to keep the center bar and the assistant holding it out of the shot. It could give you an effect similar to this- <a href="http://accessories.mbusa.com/Lifestyle+Accessories/women+s+fashion/">http://accessories.mbusa.com/Lifestyle+Accessories/women+s+fashion/</a><br>

Notice how the model is in the shade, yet the background isn't. She was probably shot underneath the U.S.U. or a rigged silk. Personally, I would have used the umbrella because she could walk towards camera and the assistant could walk alongside her, keeping her in the shade. Of course, it's a look and purely a matter of style. I only brought it up because of the original poster is looking for solutions to soften daylight.</p>

<p>OK, got it. You mean as in Sam's Club or something...</p>

<p>In all honesty, I have no idea why they call it that. It's been around forever- much longer than Sam's Club. It's kind of like people calling Super-clamps, Mayfair clamps. Who knows how they came up with these names? For some reason, people stopped using it- maybe it was a supply thing? It was made in the States and now no one makes anything in the States. Last time I checked, they were really hard to find, even in rental houses in NYC. I think Trek Rentals still has them if anyone wants to try one out.</p>

<p>Thanks everyone from your responses.<br>

<br />David - had a look at the preview of the DVD set. Looks fantastic. In the photo you brought up I was just using a gold reflector (sun was behind) and I see. Thought the shadows would have added character but in retrospect I should have boosted the lighting power to fill them in.<br>

<br />Mark - Someone has brought up this website on this forum in the past. The Demb looks interesting (kinda funky), will look into this. The 5-1 reflector would be great - I currently have one that is silver one side and gold on the other, but white would be really handy.</p>

<p>Nadine - Thank you for your comments, you always give really helpful info to so many who post here. Yes, I agree during the day it would be best to use a bare head for fill light and leave the diffusers for when the flash is the key light.</p>

<p>Senor - Yes it is certainly the golden hour (which I love), but I took this pic at the end of last year and I can tell you there wasn't any snow down here in Aus at that time! The umbrella you mention does have a nice effect and I think I have seen it in action before. What a great way to soften hard sunlight, assuming you have a willing assistant :)</p>

<p>Nadine's point is correct. When we say "diffuser" now, we are talking about something that "spreads" the light. It does not make a particularly "diffuse" light source out of your on camera flash. Indoors, these diffusers acutally bounce light from the walls and ceiling to produce a larger light source for your photograph. What are they doing when you are outdoors? You can't bouce light from the clouds. Sometimes, you can get some bounce from a VERY near building. In an outdoor setting, the only light hitting your subject when using any of the diffusers mentioned here is the light that get thrown directly forward toward the subject. All of the other light, thrown backward, up, left, right and down, is wasted. All it does is drain your batteries. Outdoors, in almost all cases, take the diffuser off and point the flash at your subject.<br>

The diffusers, for sunlight, that Senor Crocodrillo mentions have been around for many years in the fashion arena and even longer in the movie business. The smaller, translucent, reflectors from Photoflex and Westcott and others, work great for this when there are only a few people in image.<br>

Ed</p>

<p>Hah! It isn't snow! I need to calibrate this laptop!<br>

They still make it. Here's a link with a shot of it in action. Most expensive part (like you said) would be the assistant...<br>

<a href="http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/385498-REG/Photek_SB_84_Sunbuster_Convertible_Umbrella_System.html">http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/385498-REG/Photek_SB_84_Sunbuster_Convertible_Umbrella_System.html</a></p>

<p>Cool. Thanks for the link.</p>

<p>I have two of those for commercial location shoots ... needing a strong assistant is an understatement. Holding a 7' umbrella at the end is pretty unwieldily.</p>

<p>They require a very beefy stand and a HD Matthew's type boom clamp.</p>

<p>YMMV. </p>

<p>Marc- I held that umbrella many times as an assistant. I'm not a complete weakling- but my weight has never been above 155. I was able to hold and control it for hours. The trick was to hold it like a flag- balence it on your belt or chest. If it's too windy, you don't use it, of course. For weddings, I can't see using it for more than a portrait session outside. I guess that depends on how you shoot those.</p>

<p>An Uncle Sam's Umbrella is, most likely, the sort of umbrella originally sold at Uncle Sam's Umbrella Shop. The shop was located near Carnegie Hall, where many prominent photographers used to have their studios. (Carnegie Hall is more than just a famous concert venue; the complex includes many studio spaces as well, which have been used over the years by photographers, painters, dancers and other artists.) <br>

I remember reading somewhere -- don't ask me where -- that umbrellas were first used as diffusers when a fashion photographer noticed the effect that a regular white umbrella had on sunlight. Before such umbrellas became a photographic specialty item sold at places like B&H, it's likely they would have been purchased at Uncle Sam's.<br>

Here's a link to a story about the closing of the shop:<br>

http://www.nytimes.com/2000/04/04/nyregion/last-of-a-drying-breed-is-folding-up-shop.html?pagewanted=1</p>

<p>Very interesting, Jonathan.</p>