Are brackets necessary?

[stephen dohring]

I agree with Ann - No batt packs, no tripod, no bracket and I never use direct flash. I bounce off the simple card that comes with the flash, walls and ceilings. Using your manual settings properly which includes low shutter speeds my flash recycles fast because I am not using full power in a program mode. No right or wrong using or not using a bracket but it is the end result that counts and I have not needed a bracket. Not all but most of the very best pros are not using brackets.

[david_schilling___chicago_]

Do you absolutely need a bracket....no. Do you absolutely need a battery pack....no. Do you absolutely need a tripod....sometimes.

[surfidaho]

I agree. NiMH batteries reduce the need for a battery pack considerably, but I still carry a Canon battery pack in my pocket.

 

And even with image stabilization, I never leave home without my instantly collapsible monopod and my tripod.

[steve_c.5]

Peter, brackets are old news. They're heavy, cumbersome, bulky, and unweildy. Shooting human beings direct-on with a flash indoors, or even bouncing the flash off a 45 degree card like the Demb Flip-it gives an unnatural "blasted" look, creating harsh reflections off shiny skin, producing harsh shadows behind, and does nothing to use the reflective surfaces of a room to soften the light. Bouncing off a ceiling is better, but produces shadows in eye sockets. The Lightsphere or Whaletale is the best solution I've ever used. It weighs almost nothing, it's versatile, goes horizontal or vertical with a swivel head flash in an instant, requires no sync cords, and produces flattering soft light in every situation. I even use it pointed directly at the subject in daylight shots (with the white dome on) as shadow fill, because it looks better than direct flash. And, if you have a situation like Nadine mentions above where you feel you need a bracket, you can always hook up a sync cord and hand-hold the flash just where you want it, as I did so many times before I knew about the Lightsphere. It was no problem at all. And, the presence of the battery pack presents no more of a problem hand-holding the flash than if a flash bracket is used.

[savagesax]

Since I detest smaller flash units and prefer more powerful flash setups a bracket is not an option, it is required. Maybe detest was too strong of a word. Dislike may be a better word.

 

When using the Fong LS with your on camera flash there is hardly ever red eye or harsh shadows, so a bracket isn't needed. I don't like the warm tones generated from the LS, therefore I'm stopped using it.

 

The main issue with on camera flash setups is red eye and harsh shadows, therefore if this bothers you pick up a bracket like the one posted above. They are well built.

[picturesque]

Steve D.--whether or not the "very best pros" use a flash bracket is kind of irrelevant. The implication that one is a substandard or amateur wedding photographer if one uses a flash bracket with the flash (improperly and in program mode) is not very nice. The fact that you are happy with your end results and your techniques without using a flash bracket is great. Maybe someone else, also a pro, may not be happy with same (see Bob's post). Lots of room in the wedding photography world for different methods and end results. Is one more valid than the other? No.

 

Steve C.--yes, I can handhold the flash, but I couldn't zoom the lens and hold the flash at the same time while keeping my right hand on the camera and shutter button, and holstering and repositioning a flash in a fast moving situation where you also need to walk at the same time or zoom or change lenses, would be very difficult to do. Instead of taking such a rigid stance (saying brackets are old news), maybe consider using a bracket when it makes sense to use a bracket and not when it doesn't. I know some photographers who use a bracket when outside but take it off when they come in to shoot the reception in a room where they can bounce. Just a thought.

[ned1]

I stopped using them when I realized that I was doing nothing but bounce flash. If I was younger and stronger I'd still use it since it makes the flash easier to position for bouncing.

 

The only time I don't bounce is the processional. For that I put a softbox on the flash and crouch down as I shoot to avoid red-eye. If I don't have time to crouch low enough then red-eye can still happen, so I might go back to using a bracket next year just for that.

[cjogo]

To eliminate most of the shadow -- bounce and always keep your subjects away from the wall .....

[david_schilling___chicago_]

The bracket does not interefere with bouncing the light -- you do not always get conditions which allows you to bounce. The bracket will always eliminate red-eye. Compared to the old MF outfits on a bracket, todays bracketed outfits are lightweight and a breeze to use.

[daniellane]

Steve Corbett wrote:

 

"or even bouncing the flash off a 45 degree card like the Demb Flip-it gives an unnatural "blasted" look, creating harsh reflections off shiny skin, producing harsh shadows behind, and does nothing to use the reflective surfaces of a room to soften the light. Bouncing off a ceiling is better, but produces shadows in eye sockets."

 

This is ENTIRELY contrary to my experience with the Demb Flip-it. If you are using the Flip-it and getting black eye sockets, then I think that it is a proper usage issue.

 

That said. My bracket stays at home, on its dusty shelf.

[pkallos]

Well I don't really want a light bracket, I just want to take good photos! The lightsphere looks interesting, I might buy one and compare it to bounce flash. And I'm assuming if there's no cieling above to bounce with, or it's a dark color then it will still be less harsh than a straight on flash.

[rich_taylor____mequon__wi]

I don't think I have ever seen a red-eye situation at a wedding except during the reception if the room is dim. Never during a processional. Maybe I've just been lucky, but few venues where the ceremony takes place are dim enough to produce dilated pupils. If the bride's pupils are dilated in a bright church, she's got bigger problems than red-eye.

 

Oh yeah, the bracket topic: have a few, used them a few times, too much to deal with. I'm big, fit, and have large hands, and I still find that they are cumbersome and, in a very few instances, do not allow me to get anything that I can't get without one.

 

For the record, I use the LS and have been very pleased with the results. Results is what it's all about, no matter how you get there.

If the couple loves the images, you were using the right equipment.

[picturesque]

The point is--use a bracket or don't use a bracket, but base it on your own desired end result and on your own shooting methods and situations, not on the fact that it is trendy to go bracketless and everyone else is doing it or not doing it. On the fredmiranda forum it is trendy to dis the Lightsphere and applaud the Demb Diffuser/Flip It. Do you throw your LS away just because?

 

Re the Lightsphere in no ceiling or dark ceiling situations--it still diffuses but the result begins to look more like direct flash--about the same as an OmniBounce shot with the flash straight ahead, or a Demb Diffuser/Flip It in the card forward position...basically just one small step better than direct flash. In those situations, it would be better to set up off camera flashes--the light is still harder but more interesting because it is directional.