[dtkc]

When should I use the flash diffuser ?

[Philippe]

不想光質太硬的時候,但閃燈火力要夠.

[dtkc]

Dear Philippe,

Sorry, what is 光質太硬 ? How about the use of bounce card ? What ate the different for using these two method ?

Thanks for your advice.

[Philippe]

光質太硬即係陰影好明顯,黑還黑,白還白,柔光罩可以把光打散等陰影冇咁明顯,bounce卡效果好似好D,但對閃燈火力要求更高.

[neongtr]

anytime. directly flash usually produces a very strong shadow. And the light is very strong and sharp on the focused objective, the rest of the pic is dark.

a diffuser or bounce card makes the light source from the flash project more 'evenly', so the problem of the strong will not exist and the overall picture looks more soft (even light)

I use diffuser all the time on people at night shot to get even distribution of light around the object

there is no different between using a diffuser or a bounce card. diffuser is a box that customly fit the flash (expensive compare to bounce card.
you can make a card from a white carboard, stick and band it so that the flash project onto the card (only external flash with a adjectable head can do it).

also you can try to warp the flash with whites tissue (couple of pieces) to see the effect with/without before you get the diffuser

[tyuen]

When you use a small point source of light, it will be a hard lighting. It will show clear details of the objects. But the shadow will be harsh.

When you use a diffused light, the lighting shall be softened. The effect will be opposite.

If you want a soft lighting, you will need to increase the surface area of the light source. Diffuser, bounced card, umbrella, etc. are used to do so.

[dtkc]

Dear All,

Thanks a lot for your advice.

[dcnut]

用bounce card 反射閃光，部份光會從上而下射，會令面部輪廓更現，眼袋更深，鼻影更重，影女仔未必很討好，這情況直打天花bounce light會更甚；用柔光罩直打面部會白滑些，但較容易出現過曝。

[tyuen]

dcnut, perhaps the Lumiquest 80-20 system helps to some extent as it provides some fill from the bouncer. Well, there will be a compromise for using a single flash.

But I don't understand the exposure problem from using softbox.

[canon_man]

too close to the object!

[Philippe]

太近可以試下縮細光圈

[peterchan04]

縮細光圈 和 用 diffuser 效果不相同.
而且 縮細光圈 ... 會另 shutter speed 慢.... 未必 理想.

[Philippe]

咁又係,diffuser一個唔夠用兩個囉,實有辦法整到唔爆