Flash Modifiers
Peter Madeley

I nearly always use other accessories with my flash heads to either soften or concentrate the light.

Diffusers/Softeners

Many flashguns come supplied with so called diffusers which do little more than block out some of the light coming from the flashgun thus reducing its power, increasing flash recycling battery depletion times. The only true way to soften a flash is to increase the size light source.

The best known commercially available bounce device is the Stofen OmniFlash (£10). This is the small white box so often see on the press photographers flashguns. They work by scattering the light in all directions both upwards as well as forwards. I modified mine so its back surfaces have silver paper glued to them to bounce the light forwards rather than back though I believe I have now found better solutions to the light softening problem. With non-TTL flash units it is necessary to set the flash head to 45 degrees to avoid underexposure caused by light from the Omni hitting the external auto sensor of the flash. In TTL models it gives a better feathering wrap around of the light in the range from close to about 15 feet from the subject. The Omnis are now available in warming and green (strip light balanced) versions.

The Lastolite Micro Apollo (£30) is a lightweight softbox with a 15x20cm front panel which increases the size of the light source.

The box attaches by Velcro strips to the flashgun. There is about a 2stop light loss so this device is best used for photography close to the subject. It is a great way to get really soft lighting for close-ups on macro subjects because the light source is larger than the subject, so highlights are more controlled and the shadows open up. It's a one size fits all type gadget with two pull out arms which fit the head at the side, the same place you put better beamer velcro strips, a bit unwieldy but it does work.

Bounce flash

For greater range photography to about 7m a bounce card is a useful device. These can be bought, though it’s easy to make an A4 sized one from white card and use a heavy duty elastic band (actually I use the band from my flash extender) to hold it to the flash head. I angle the flash at 45 degrees so that some light bounces from the card directly to the subject and the rest goes up to the ceiling increasing the size of the light source still further. The bounce card clearly works better indoors in rooms with low, pale coloured ceilings. A coloured ceiling can produce a colour cast to the photograph. This organist shot was taken with a 550ex from the right hand side and a 420ex slaved on the left. Both had light enhancing attachments. The main flash used the A4 white bounce card and the slave flash had a piece of A4 paper draped over the head to reduce the flash output.

Beyond a distance of about 7m flash diffusers of all sorts tend to become ineffective and straight on flash works best.

Focusers/Extenders

These devices use fresnel lens to concentrate the beam of light from the flash to increase the flash range. I have come across two options of extenders

Kirk/Lepp – Project-a-flash

Walt Anderson Flash Extender – nicknamed Better Beamer

I use the Better Beamer (£40) which secures to the head of a flashgun with a wide elastic band. Comprised of two arms and a fresnel lens, the Better Beamer adds about 2 stops of light output to your flash by concentrating the flash pattern for more depth of field, greater flash reach or quicker recycle times. Because such a focus area of light is produced extenders should be used with telephoto lenses of 300mm and longer. The beamer is simple and quick to set up and folds flat for easy storage. It is a good idea to use the Better beamer of a flash bracket but alignment becomes very important if you want uniform illumination when using a long telephoto lens.

Warning for Those Using Fresnel Lens Flash Multipliers

Be warned if the sun's rays are focused through the lens onto your flashgun then a burning smell may result with the outcome that a little brown hole appears in your flashgun. This is not good news!!

'It can happen, it has happened, it will happen again'

Arthur Morris’ recent Birds As Art On Line Bulletin contains tales of flash damage and burns to people’s skin. It might even be possible to start a fire if the conditions were right. It would be a good idea to remove the fresnel lens when carrying a camera in the open or leaving the camera unattended.

I love my beamer but have had some difficult ensuring the aim is accurate enough to hit the subject. Pressing the Test button on the flashgun will show if the flash is hitting the subject but be careful if you only are likely to get one shot before your subject takes flight.

http://www.moose395.net/gear/bb.html

http://www.naturephotographers.net/tdg0502-1.html

http://www.birdsasart.com/faq_flash.html (discussion of flash distances)

Posted in Posted by cheewooi at 5:47 PM