Playing with some new photo gear - NEW 'tutorials'

[Catlady711]

I have bounce reflector called a Sto-Fen Omni-Bounce which is a simple piece or white plastic that snaps onto a flash gun. .

I've eyed them in the camera store before.

I haven't gone with them yet because the flashes I use aren't compatible with using ON my camera. I do sometimes use the flash hand held off camera (wireless triggers) but it's usually outside in bright daylight as a fill and I'm afraid the omni-bounce would diffuse and cut the light too much for those conditions, plus I don't have any ceilings or walls to bounce off of.

[jennielynn1970]

How do you decide to use these things? Like, what would it look like w/out the reflector thingy??

I'm so well worded on this, lol. Why exactly are they used, and how?

[Moesha]

LOL I'm with you Jenn...How do you know you want or need one? LOL I know! Learn more about photography. That sure is a very nice picture of your kitty!

[Catlady711]

For those wondering how you would know when you need a reflector (or fill flash), I'll do a set of pix tomorrow showing you the difference in what my new 'toys' do and how they look. Would that be ok??

Hopefully I can get one of the cats to stay in one place long enough to do the shots for that. ROFL

For today however, I have 3 more pix I took playing with the reflectors again. I got some shots of Josh too, but ran out of time to process them.

So here's today's shots.


Pooky again. Only because he was the only one that would stay on the couch in that lighting. ROFL




Bear






I'll be back again tomorrow with more pix.

[Moesha]

And I shall be waiting!

[tomkatzid]

Beautiful cat photos. I really like the first one because the eyes match the blanket !!!
I have that for my flash also and use it sometimes, but mostly just bounce off white ceiling. I may drag out the camera and flash tomorrow and try it again.
Katz

[Randy_K]

How do you know when you will need a bounce reflector? You'd be surprised that you end up using it frequently.

In close situations, the lighting from a direct flash tends to be a bit harsh. Bouncing the light (or defusing it with a device like the Sto-Fen) softens that light and distributes it evenly on the subject. The pictures above look quite professional with the soft, even lighting. The snap-on diffuser like the Sto-Fen allows you to aim the flash gun directly at the subject without overwhelming the subject with light.

The use of the fill flash outside is to compensate for the uneven lighting by natural sunlight so a subject is more evenly lighted - no shadows. Many professional photographers frequently use the fill flash when shooting close subjects outside.