In this video we take a look at using modifiers such as the Gary Fong LightSphere and Pearstone Bounce Dome that can make the difference in your next shoot.
Softening Your On-Camera Flash
25 Comments
Thank you
B&H has made some excellent videos but this is definitely not one of them.
Hi. Is the Gary Fong's Lightsphere compatible with the Nissin i60a? -Thanks!
Maybe I am dim, but where is the bulb (globe) like diffuser ???
your subject would be over exposed if you shoot at 90%, Advertisement I recon
maby just decrease flash power… ?
If you had bounced the flash off the ceiling to begin with it wouldn't have been so harsh.
You used the Gary Fong the wrong way .watch his tutoial or better still read the card that comes with every lightsphere sold .
$50 for a piece of plastic? uumm…
Indoor fine, outdoors nonsense. These diffusers are too small to make a difference even when going for the hot fill-in light shown in the examples (that btw look horribly over-lit). They are both designed to bounce light off convenient white walls and ceilings (indoors, where ceiling and walls are more prevalent). If you are underexposing the daylight outside, the most you can hope for is some reduction in specularity in comparison to direct flash. I've found that a simple bounce card produces an equally good effect and is certainly cheaper than the Gary Fong (I use the Demb Flip It). Dome-type diffusers are good for lighting spaces broadly with off camera flash. Both the Fong and the Pearstone (Stofen copy) rob you of 2 stops of light outdoors, so, for fill, just use direct flash.
Just beware of Gary's How To Shoot A Wedding video. He said he is shooting a wedding. Actually, he quit a few years ago and either he got permission to shoot at this one or he staged it because no photographer who calls themselves a professional in their right mind, would not shoot the bride and her dad coming down the aisle and he doesn't use his own lightsphere on the outdoor photos. All his ads are so very misleading and images are doctored up in a way to make them look more attractive. He calls it business, I call it misleading the public for a piece of plastic.
The lightsphere showed very little difference than straight on flash. With the white walls and ceiling no lightsphere is needed, just bounce the flash off the wall or ceiling behind you, makes a more flattering flash. The lightsphere is good in a small number of scenarios. Bounce flashing is more flattering than a lightsphere which sucks up battery power because you are spreading light all over the room.
The indoors shoot made no sense, shooting with flash straight forwards then using a defuser upwards? you could easily just point the flashgun upwards if the ceiling is bright, using bounce flash of the ceiling will give the softer shadows while still keeping a shadow under the chin making the image more slimming and attractive.
Using a diffuser outside? Whyyy!!!
the examples you chose to show could've been better… composition wise and lighting wise.
I have a bridge camera and It has a hot shoe. what type of flash can I attach to it? Does it has to be a specific type of flash? the camera is a Fuji HS35EXR
using the bounce dome outdoors in bright sunlight! hope you brought spare batteries:P
or you can use a scott towel wrapped on the flash with a rubberband lol… the 1$ softening technique
That's not very professional though. You shouldn't be making videos solely to advertise a product even if that means introducing bias into it just to sell it. At least show us a fair comparison of the final image.
This is a very misleading video aimed purely at selling pieces of overpriced plastic to people who do not know how to correctly expose photos with flash. Showing an overexposed straight on flash shot compared to a properly exposed shot with bounced flash is not a proper comparison at all.
That didn't really answer me at all tbh. You said the goal is to display the products with and without the modifier. I said yeah you could have done that better by taking the same speedlight angled shot with and without the modifier, Not two different angled speedlight shots.
The goal of the video is to display the products with and without the modifiers.
This lends as a great visual aid for those who do not have the experience in foreseeing
the light quality. The cloud diffuser is shown in use and with the final results.
Bounce the sphere from the ceiling when INdoors. Point the dome at the subject when OUTdoors.
We have a music company at Puerto Rico and sometimes clients ask me for a good photographer.. We want to find one like this.. puertorico-dj
why did you compare the flash with no diffuser at 90 to the flash with a diffuser pointed in the air… obviously its going to look different, why not show them both at 90 and what the cloud diffuser really does