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Tangents

my choice of flash modifiers

December 13, 2007

There is a fundamental principle in lighting :
the larger your light source, the softer your light.

Using any of the myriad of flash modifiers that are on offer, helps in achieving that – spreading the light from the on-camera Speedlight much wider, thereby creating softer light that direct flash would’ve given.  However, (and this is a big however), these flash modifiers also throw light forward.  Ultimately all flash modifiers do the same thing – they disperse a lot of light around the room, while throwing some measure of light directly forward to lift shadows under the eyes and bring a sparkle to the eyes.

That is a huge step up from using direct flash – (or poorly bounced flash.. ie, flash at 45′ or 60′ forward) – but won’t be as good as directional light.  Directional light falls onto your subject from a specific angle.  This direction can very often be carefully chosen even when you use an on-camera flash indoors.

The image at the top is from a wedding I photographed a few weeks ago.
I touched up the WB in RAW, and that’s that. Simple, and it looks just great.
The light is soft, and the baby wasn’t bothered by any direct flash … since there was NO direct flash at all.

The way I achieve directional light from my flash is by adding what is in effect, a half-snoot on my on-camera flash.  The half-snoot (or flag) will partially block the light, and also direct it.  I also very often when shooting in tungsten light, use a filter on my flash to bring the cold light of the flash closer to the warmer tones of tungsten light.

I simply stick a piece of gel over the head of my Speedlight with some gaffer’s tape.
It is low-tech, but it works.

By gelling my flash for tungsten I change the grungy orange backgrounds to a more pleasing warm tone.

The gel used in the image of the baby above, was full CTS.  I keep my camera’s WB to Tungsten.  And in post-production I fine-tune the WB, since by bouncing my flash, it picks up an additional colour from the walls and ceiling.  The gel shown in the illustration here is 1/2 CTS.  I then keep my WB of my camera to 3800 K, which is still much closer to Tungsten, than the 5400K of flash.

The black half-snoot / flag that I add to my Speedlight is just as simple.  It’s a piece of thin black foam bought from an arts store, and then cut smaller.

I keep the piece of black foam tied to my Speedlight with a hair band that I stole from my daughter.  Yup, low-tech and simple … and it works!

It can also be manipulated and shaped, as shown in this updated post on how I use this flash modifier.  Be sure to read this updated page as well!

Also check out this follow-up article on why I chose a piece of black foam to flag my flash, rather than using something white.

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This piece of black foam around my Speedlight has two advantages:

1. Directional light.  I can now much more precisely direct where I want my light to come from.
2. Less annoying to others. In turning my flash to the side or to point behind me, I would risk blasting other people directly in the face with flash. This piece of black foam keeps that from happening.  I now direct my flash over people’s heads, and no flash hits people directly in the eyes.

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And that is the flash modifier I most often use. Total cost is less than $2.oo

However, if you feel the need to splash some money on hardware that is custom-made for you, send $40 to my Paypal account.  I will cut a piece of foam for you, add the hair band, and even sign it with silver pen. Oh, go on, you know you want one. It will surely become a collectible. ;)

The additional advantage with this light modifier is that you retain the cool all-black stealthy ninja-photographer look.This is Elisabeth, who often works with me as a 2nd photographer.
She’s cool.

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The only other light modifier that I use at times, is a Stofen cup.  This I use when I am in a situation where I do need light thrown directly forward. I also use it in rooms where the ceiling is too high to successfully shoot with the black half-snoot.

However, I still want a measure of control over where I direct my light.  Therefore I cut a hole in the top of the Stofen so that the majority of light can still be thrown in a direction of my choice, instead of being scattered all around. (I do keep a spare Stofen on hand that is unblemished, as well as an Amber coloured Stofen.)

To be able to flip the Stofen in and out of position, I keep it down with a piece of gaffer’s tape.  So if I want to take a shot without it, I simply flip it over.

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And there they are – the only light modifiers that I use when I use on-camera Speedlights.
In my weddings and portrait work,  I often do use off-camera lighting, whether Speedlights or Q-flashes.  But with on-camera strobes, these are the only light modifiers I use.  And they are all I really need when working indoors.

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