Gogebic Photography Guild

Anyone use a defuser on their Speedlight ?

I bought one ages ago and am never happy with the results.

Lets start at beginning. For indoor use. Share your settings. ie. Using defuser I angle the flash , tone down flash by - .3 etc

and what do you use for outdoor use to fill in shadows etc ?

I recently saw a video clip of the lady reporter reporting on something in bright sun. I commented to the wife how well the photographer was able to balance the light from the camera with the natural light. The lady almost looked 3-D. Best I have seen in a long time. I seem to remember when I was in the Army photo school, there was a formula to figure that out but think the brain cell where the formula was stored is gone.

I use my SB800, and let it do the work!

Just got back from the State Fair and boy am I worn out. Was thinking, ole Rick should be able to answer Peter's question.

You are right about that!

and....

Sparkey wrote:and....

Just wait for Rick!

bump

Sorry about the delay, I should check these pages more often.

Right going to try and reply to the question

Place diffuser on flashead as described and angle flash to about 45 degrees to give a omnidirectional type light.

Set the flash to Auto, not ttl and take a reading in manual of your subject; so for example, if it says 1/125 at f8 set this on the camera. Now here's the trick, set the flash to f4 so that you're giving a ratio of fill in flash at 4:2. Your flash will automatically give 2 stops less light than the prevailing light and this will work in most circumstances. I personally prefer to do this than to rely on i-ttl especially with something critical like a wedding. You should find that this will give the sort of "3D" effect that you're looking for Sparkey and provides great catchlights in the bargain.

The rule of thumb is always to set the flash at 2 stops wider than the camera setting so that it is forced to give 2 stops less light.

Hope this helps!

Better get a manual reader then.