Demb Flash Diffuser Pro - outdoor images?

[chris_m14]

I have a Rebel XT, 430ex, and a few lenses - 50mm f1.8, the kit lens (18-55mm

f3.5-5.6), 17-40 f4, and 70-200 f4.

 

I'm going to an outdoor corporate party - nothing fancy...more of a get

together so I'd like to bring my camera and play around with it. I ordered the

Demb Flash Diffuser Pro, and if it arrives before the party, I'll bring that

too. I know Joe's website already has some examples, but was wondering if any

of you have images where you used your Demb Flash Diffuser outdoors.

 

Thanks.

[russ_butner___portland__or]

Chris

 

I rarely, if ever, use a diffuser or softening device, when I'm outdoors and my flash is the "fill-light." If it's the "main" light, I'll sometimes bounce it. As for the Demb Diffuser, I'm quite happy with mine and the results it produces.

 

Russ

[joe_demb1]

Chris, your question as to whether a certain kind of flash modifier is good for outdoor photography seems sraightforward enough. Actually it is quite complex, roughly analogous to asking whether a certain kind of word processing program is 'good for poetry'. The answer is, maybe. Outdoor situations are actually very tricky. At this party you could be shooting into the sun. You could be shooting with the sun at your back. The sun could be hitting the subjects from the side. You could be in open shade with good skylight behind you, or in open shade with the sky light blocked by trees or buildings. Unless examples explained what the lighting situation was at the time, they could actually be more misleading than helpful. When doing outdoor portraiture, you get to choose the lighting. Doing candids, you do not have that luxury. It will be interesting to see how this thread develops. Outdoor photographic lighting easily merits a semester's worth of study.

[kaiyen]

(hm...I wonder if it's been long enough for me to post on this forum again...)

 

I will present something that I experimented with very recently, in a very specific lighting example, just one of the ones that Joe mentions. Basically just past overhead, no shade (the actual location will have some shade, but I know how to handle that). That's some pretty harsh light in the summer.

 

I found that there was little difference between flash head-on unmodified, with a stofen head-on, with just the flip-it from Joe,a nd the full on Demb Diffuser. The light did get softer, of course - the unmodified was noticeably but not ugily (? :-) flat and kind of pasty-looking in terms of caucasian skin tones. The softest light was with the diffuser, with the card all the way forward.

 

However, I lost power really fast inversely to softness of light. So the Demb Diffuser cost me a lot of light past, say...just a few feet. Not so much that I couldn't use it, but the difference was noticeable. The flash unmodified was good and the same overall look for a lot farther away (sorry, i don't have exact distances). The stofen diffuser head on was a decent compromise.

 

I'm going to stick with the Demb, since it gives me the most flexibility, and just try to stay close®.

 

allan