Friday, January 22, 2016

What Is The Best Portable Light Modifier For My Flash?

Some of you may not have heard of this. I discovered this many years ago from a fella by the name of Neil van Niekerk. The thing we always hear is "get the flash off camera"! Well, this is a way to get if off camera under most situations, while leaving the flash attached to the hotshoe. Wait, wut?

So, what kind of fantastic tool would do such a miracle? How in the world is that accomplished? Well, most of you know what bounce flash is. That's where you point the flash at the ceiling or a wall and it bounces back to the subject. That's not anything special. And what's this about a modifier? But, wait. There's more!

So the intrinsic flaw with this is you usually get light leak from the flash directly on the subject. Sometimes that's good. Lots of flashes even have the cute little card that breaks off all the time to put a catch light in the eyes. What if you just want soft light with no direct flash? Give up yet?

Okay, I'll let you in on it. A not so secret, secret. The black foamy thing. I have used this technique for many years since I first heard about it. It works under most situations. The foam folds back when not in use and doesn't bother anything. I keep my velcro strap on for other accessories and everyone gets along great!

You need more info, don't you. You don't believe me, right? How can this be so great? I'll tell ya. Under a lot of circumstances, it can get you a huge softbox for the price of the foamy thing and some hair bands. Technically, this is a flag, but huge softbox sounds better!

Yes, I use other things on my flash, but this is a staple that I always find myself going back to.

Check it out and try it. You may be surprised. Here is Neil's site and some videos. When browsing around his site, at the bottom of his articles, he has links for more info. There is a LOT of info on this and the results can be impressive. It doesn't take a long time to start understanding how it all comes together.

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