Choice of flash diffusion

[melisa]

Wedding/Event photographers:

 

What are your preferred diffusion choices, if any, in regards to the

Omni-bounce, Lumiquest Pro-max, use of notecard, etc. in situations

indoor, outdoor, low and high ceilings?

 

Something that has been a source of confusion to me in the archived

treads is the use of the Omni straight on, with higher ceilings, and

outside. Many say it's useless in these mentioned situations, while

I see many using it successfully. Can you fill me in? Is this only

useful with ttl flashes and must I stay within a certain distance? I

do own the 550ex and 2 Sunpak 383's.

 

My personal favorite has been the Promax overall, but it is bulky.

[rich_dutchman1]

I typically tilt the flash 60 to 80 degrees with a notecard (the Nikon flashes have bounce cards built in). Then I add flash compensation depending on the height of the ceiling. I also in increase my ISO to make the camera more sesitive to ambient light. Sometimes with high ceilings all the light I get from the flash is fill from the card. It works out great. I also reduce shadows this way, negating the need for a stroboframe at corporate events. I still use the stroboframe for weddings, though.

[stephen_lutz]

I have used the omnibounce with mixed results, but have gotten more adept with it. You have to use flash compensation with the omnbounce most of the time. Generally, I'll take a shot, check the histogram and add from +2/3 to +1 1/3 of a stop more flash. One thing I have also done is modify my omnibounce to add a catch light in the eyes of the subject. What I did was use some double sided stick stuff and put aluminum foil inside the rear part of the omnibounce. Thus when I tilt it up (usually 45-90 degrees) the aluminum foil will bounce enough light into the eyes of the subject for a catch light. Here's an example, from a party yesterday.<div></div>

[rodolfo_negrete]

I would definitly suggest you to check this trhead where Marc Williams provided some awseome suggestions

 

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=008RfJ

[melisa]

How in the world did I miss that? LOL!! I've been Googling for 2 days and that's pretty much what I was looking for. Always a day late...literally!:-)

[casey mcallister]

Omni-bounce stays on 99% of the time.

[picturesque]

I use a bounce card or Stofen or straight flash. The bounce card if there is a white or light colored ceiling that is not too high for the f-stop I want to use, the Stofen at 45 degrees in smallish white rooms such as the kind of rooms brides get ready in. That is what the Stofen is designed for. It bounces and diffuses the flash all over the ceiling and walls, giving soft light because now the ceiling and walls act as large reflectors. That is the reason some say it is useless outdoors, because it has no ceiling or walls to bounce off outdoors. However, if you are just looking for a touch of diffused fill, it can be valuable outdoors, keeping in mind that you will not get the reflected light (the effect will not be as soft) and that the power of the flash is cut considerably with the Stofen on--this means it will cover less distance than straight flash. I believe Stofen gives you a figure to calculate how much less distance your flash will cover with it on. If you are using auto thyristor flash (like your 383s), you must use the Stofen only in 45 degree position or the flash coming out the sides of the Stofen will influence the auto sensor, causing underexposure. If you are using TTL (550EX with E-TTL), you can use the Stofen straight ahead, which provides a very small diffusion of the flash. Even in the 45 degree position outdoors or in dark/high ceilinged rooms, as well as in the straight ahead position, the Stofen surface area provides the illumination--not as soft as if used in smallish white rooms, but softer than bare-headed flash. Some photographers even use bounce cards that way. If you use fast lenses, wide apertures or high ISOs, the Stofen provides enough power for most close and medium shots. If you are accustomed to using medium to small apertures, slow film or slow lenses, the Stofen will hamper your ability to get good exposures at mid to longer distances. I bring this up because at the wedding I shot this past weekend, a guest had a Nikon digital, SB flash and Stofen on at 45 degrees. He took several shots of a couple of guests from about 15 feet with his zoom on telephoto and with the sunset behind them. I walked over to see his results, and of course, they were severely underexposed (but great sunset). With the Stofen on, there was not enough power to adequately light the subjects, especially since he was on Program, which probably picked a small aperture to handle the sunset.

 

If you go back to the theory that soft light increases or decreases based upon the surface area of the light source, you can understand how the Stofen gives nice soft light in small white rooms, but not so soft light (but somewhat better than straight flash) without any surfaces to reflect off.

 

I have heard of photographers having trouble with flash exposure (beyond the focus point thing) with a Stofen on and E-TTL. They commonly do positive compensation. I don't know for sure. I also don't know how the Stofen works with high speed sync. May be something to test.