Lightsphere11, have you dumped your bracket?

[anesh]

I've used several light modifiers incl. ones from Lumiquest and the Sto-fen

omnibounce. They did not help much. I thought about a bracket, and was put off

at the idea of extra weight and awkwardness. I bought the LS11 (clear)and find

myself addicted to it for almost all flash photos. Do you feel the same? I

don't agree with the Tut cd that came with the LS11. The tut. suggests

pointing it forward when using outdoors and removing the dome indoors when

there are high ceilings. I find it best to leave the dome on and have it

pointed upwards all the time. I have yet to test it with large groups. Has

anyone used the LS in a multiple flash setup with large groups?

[w.smith]

"Light modifiers" or diffusers are great. IF you have a WHOPPER of a flashgun and don't

mind the razor thin Depth of Field and the flash' range being cut by 3/4....

 

With a multiple flash setup with large groups (say 10 people or more) a Lightsphere cuts

(wastes!) so much light that it has a negligible effect on the image. Either use 3 or more

big umbrellas on really powerful flashheads, or use direct flash as main light and carefully

positioned fill-flash to control the shadows.

 

In all cases you need plenty 'OOMPH' from your flasgun(s)! The BIG models.

[rob_s___san_francisco_bay_]

I use a lightsphere. Also have used the omnibounce. For me, I found the omnibounce to be

generally very similar in final results. Also, just bare flash bounced properly with a fill card

also can produce similarly good results. <p>

It also depends a lot on the characteristics of the room and how/where you bounce/point the

flash head. I use the lightsphere because it seems to disperse the light the best and most

efficiently in most situations. I've stopped using the dome diffusor almost entirely. It's more

efficient especially for high ceilings.<p>

Outdoors I point directly at the subject. No diffusor.

[rob_s___san_francisco_bay_]

... oh, and I still use a bracket.

[conraderb]

anesh - I use the lightsphere for one thing: direct diffused flash when I can't bounce at all. for that, the lightsphere works well. otherwise, I bounce.

 

a lumiquest bouncer will not waste as much light as teh gary fong - the lightsphere is a grenade of light, throwing it everywhere, when you really just want it forward.

[w.smith]

If you want a more efficient/less wasteful way to diffuse/bounce your flashlight, try a D-I-

Y bounce card. Watch the how-to video: http://www.abetterbouncecard.com/.

 

And it's about 300 times cheaper that the tupperware 'diffusors'....

[anesh]

"the lightsphere is a grenade of light, throwing it everywhere, when you really just want it forward"...I agree. It even illuminates the area behind the camera. I would like to modify it somehow so that it doesn't waste light. Any ideas?

[fotografz]

Haven't used a bracket since getting my first Lightsphere.

 

Want less spill? Get Fongs' Lightsphere insert modifier.

[picturesque]

I still use a bracket with the LS. I don't use it exclusively, either. Keeping the dome on forces more light forward (and around), and the final results are more like an OmniBounce. I do agree with the tutorial. Take the dome off for higher ceilings, although the definition of higher ceilings is the problem. I find that unless the ceiling is 20 feet and higher, you need the dome in many cases, to mitigate the directionality of the bounced light. You might want to experiment with manually widening the beam via the zoom control, which also mitigates the directionality of the bounced beam. Another thing it does is to push more light forward (and all around), so if you like that look, it will help (even try the wide angle diffuser down). I personally use plain bounce with the built in bounce card for ceilings up to about 20 feet.

 

If you start putting bounce surfaces behind the LS, you will begin to get harder shadows, although I've found that putting the built in card up inside the LS doesn't harden shadows that much, whereas, putting a bigger bounce card behind the LS will harden shadows. By the way, Marc, the Chrome Dome insert is not recommended for the LS clear, but works well with the milky ones.

 

No reason why the LS won't work in multiple flash set ups, given you have enough flash power to use the medium apertures, longer subject distances and lower ISOs one normally would use for group shots. I personally use an umbrella or unmodified off camera flash heads for group shots, with the on-camera flash acting as fill. Sometimes I use a modifier on the on-camera flash, sometimes not.

[rob_s___san_francisco_bay_]

Marc - <p>

So with the Lightsphere, you don't have any problems with side-shadows or redeye?<p>

I just pretty much always used a bracket, so even though the gary fong dvd says you don't

need one, I just kept on using mine because it's what I was always doing. But if I could

lose the bracket, that would be awesome. <p>

<p>

<br><i>>>"the lightsphere is a grenade of light, throwing it everywhere, when you really

just want it

forward"<p></i>

Sometimes throwing light to the rear and/or sides can be nice for added fill/softening

when there's stuff around for the light to bounce off of. Also, "forward" is relative...right?

Sometimes you may want more (or less) light directed to your bounce surface (wall,

ceiling, etc) versus directly "forward" at the subject. There's not any one-and-only

solution/

modifier setup that will work best in all situations, but I find the lightsphere to be nice in

most indoor settings and a nice overall compromise versus switching things around too

much during the day. I'll sacrifice a little inefficiency in spill for the better effect at other

times along with the added convenience.

[picturesque]

I agree--you don't want the light just forward. The reason the LS works so well is because it bounces light all around, even behind.

 

I'm sure Marc will answer elegantly, as always, and I look forward to his reply, but I would like to add that side shadows are still there with the LS/no bracket verticals, just placed a little lower. Because Marc is a master with lighting, he, I'm sure, avoids situations where these shadows appear--such as placing subjects against/close to walls. Using flash as subtly as he does, these side shadows are not a factor. Same with red eye. Even a LS can't subvert physics.

[timberwulf]

You can still get some side shadows, you just have to account for that and shoot accordingly.

 

I rather like my Clear LS, but I also use the omni bounce, and a bare flash head with and w/o bounce card, it all just depends on the situation and my needs at the time.

[j_c38]

The FONG works great in tighter area's. Throws light everywhere to bounce off walls and ceiling. In a larger room, it simply eats your light source.

 

I prefer to simply bounce when possible. Which is far more times then not. No awkward bracket or modifier to worry about.

 

Of course, no one tool is the best tool in all situations. Keep an open mind and a couple tools with you for what ever situation rises.

 

I'll second the "better bounce card". Great tool. Cheap. Literally takes no space to store.

[grant g]

What's a bracket? j/k...sorta. I only use mine now for telephoto and rarely at that for weddings.

 

Still comes in handy for shooting birds with a better beamer and 500/4.

[fotografz]

I have on occasion gotten red eye, but it's pretty rare. After busting so many of Canon's

cheap plastic shoes on their horrifyingly expensive flashes, I'll put up with red eye here

and there.

 

The fulcrum torque on the flash when mounted to a flip bracket can be pretty traumatic.

We did a thread once on the subject, and it was amazing how many folks had broken their

flash this way. When the LightSphere is mounted the fulcrum leverage is even greater.

 

As to cast shadows, I get that rarely also ... but there are a few mitigating factors at work

with the way I use flash. Mostly due to using really fast apertures ... so even in low light

the flash is acting as fill.

 

The other factor is which side I place the flash on when shooting in portrait orientation...

which is where cast shadows happen. If the main ambient light is from the left, I flip the

camera so the flash and LightSphere are to the opposite side. I learned to do this when

using my Leica M and SF20 flash which doesn't have a bounce provision.

 

Here's an example of the technique ... flash oriented to the right side using a Lightsphere

on a Metz shoe flash. If you look closely there is a slight shadow cast form the Grooms

forward leg. Prior to this shot, I had the flash on the left side and it cast a shadow on the

background behind the groom. The other cool thing about doing this is that the Groom is

usually camera right so more light on him is a good thing to achieve shadow detail in the

black tux.

 

Hope this helps.<div></div>

[larry schaefer - chicago,]

I have been working with one of these as seen on takegreatphotos.com

 

Works pretty good but costs 30 bucks for a little sheet of foam

 

Many times I dont even hook the fasteners. It will push light back into the shot even if flash is aimed straight up.<div></div>