Some thoughts on flash and diffussion.

[Karl R]

Originally Posted by Tom Yi

Karl,
I'm a bit confused. What are you testing? They are all shot with the card. Do you have same shots with just bouncing off the ceiling for comparison?

Only showing use of an index card, set at various FEC. Like I posted earlier, I was beyond tired last night.

I'll post some shots with the light just bouncing off the ceiling, same settings.

I agree with Gil about the Stofen - it sucks away too much light. However, I've seen some PJ's use them, when pointing the flash directly at the subject, so who knows.

[Alvaro Lopez]

Tom et al,

A couple of points...

The Lumiquest bounce accessory will bounce adequately without a ceiling; an index card will not. This makes it work consistently regardless of environment.

The Stofen does in fact diffuse compared to a direct flash. However the effects are so minor compared to a ceiling or softbox that it seems like it doesn't. Additionally it spreads light out 180 degrees so you get the benefits of bouncing light should you have anything to bounce off of.

The bare flash bounce off the ceilings photos are warmer because your light is hitting the ceiling, absorbing the color to the ceiling paint and then coming back down warmer than white. The Stofen photos are less warm because although some of the light is bouncing off the ceiling some of it is also direct from the flash cooling the color of the light. Additionally the Stofen photos give softer light because the light is being spread uniformly in the room bouncing off the walls on the left, right & ceiling (plus a little direct flash).

Your results are also specific to the fact that you are shooting about 5 feet away from the subject in a 200 sq ft room with off white walls. In a room that size you can get pretty good results bouncing off the wall behind you assuming its a white wall. Double the room size, change the subject distance and/or change the wall color and your results will be vastly different. Different accessories and/or methods work differently in different situations; its hard to say that any one is better than another without knowing the environment you are shooting in. This is why many photographers test & practice with their flashes so much so they can get a feel for the effects their flash has on a subject. Umbrellas, softboxes, gels, walls & Stofens are all just tools like screwdrivers & wrenches. Knowing which to use in which situation makes you a more effective photographer. Best advice is to try them all and learn what works for you in a specific situation.

[Tom Yi]

Good points.

[Tom Yi]

Here is a similar test from POTN. That directly compares cards, bare flash, sto fen, and tupperware, some are bounced and some are direct flash.

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/...d.php?t=377373

I'm starting to see the benefits of bare flash bounced.

[Patrick Chin]

I bounce the bare flash to the ceiling whenever possible. All of us are used to the light source from the ceiling, and our eyes are used to it. And of course, the ceiling acts as a very very big diffuser. The only problem is when the ceiling is non-white which can throw your WB off, but we all have to adjust the WB in PP anyway.

[Tom Yi]

I starting to see how effective just bouncing the bare flash against the ceiling is. I may have to get rid of the sto fen as a default (always on) approach and only use the orange and green stofens if I want to balance the colors against tungsten or flourescent lights.

[Rich Mar]

i think it depends on how close you will be to the subjects... i've noticed that bouncing off the ceiling for subjects that are close leaves dark shadows. and whilie it looks more natural, the shadows suck. and so the stofen does a good job adding a little fill.

i suppose you could toss the light behind.... i'll have to experiment more myslef.

[Tom Yi]

That's exactly what I was gonna say that if you are too close, to bounce the light off the ceiling but towards your back so the back walls act as diffusers and spread the light more evenly.

[Patrick Chin]

The dark shadow especially under the eyes, caused by flash being too close to the subject is called raccoon eye affect. Just simply turn the flash head slightly towards the back instead of straight up. This problem is very common, when shooting in events with tight space, where you don't have room to back up, nor zoom out.

[Alvaro Lopez]

Remember the 3 things that are important in flash photography are:
1 - relative size of the light source to the subject
2 - quality of the light ie. hard, diffused
3 - angle of the light with respect to the subject

If you are shooting close to your subject then your problem revolves around #3. You the photographer or your gear will often get in the way of the light getting to your subject. Best way to handle the situation is to move the light off camera giving it a better axis to hit the subject. Your next best bet is to leave a little more room between you & your subject and just use a longer focal length. Lastly I would recommend changing the quality of the light to a more diffused source so that the light will travel around the obstruction.