Gpa-15 Loc: Tinton Falls, NJ

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Hehehe... I MOST-Assuredly agree with the YOUNG-Genius!!!
...and Thanks also for the Equipment List. --- MANY-YEARS ago I used a D70 film camera.

Gpa-15 Loc: Tinton Falls, NJ

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I'm NOT smart enough to use PP.
...I'm the guy who prefers to 'CAPTURE' a 'Realistic-Image' using HDR; ...as opposed to 'CREATING' a 'Perfected-Image' through PP. -- Actually, R.P. ...I'm the personification of the OLD-Adage of trying to teach an Ole-Dog, a new trick. -- Pushin' 80 soon!!!

berchman Loc: South Central PA

Terrific portrait. Makes an instructive contrast to the picture of the woman with the insect-like hat, the suggestively shaped vase on the table, and the looming fake waiter in the background.

Gpa-15 Loc: Tinton Falls, NJ

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Thanks for this Post Mr. B

Jim Bob

Not.

mrtobin Loc: North East Ohio

That is the one good thing a UV. filter is good for.
You can super glue a scrap of nylon to the edge of the filter. Or just smear some petroleum jelly on the filter, leave the center spot open. The UV. filter can be cleaned with soap and water.

Back in the film days they had all sorts of soft focus filters, a person could go broke trying to find that "Special" one. Now with digital it is easer to do it in post.

Paul Buckhiester Loc: Columbus, GA USA

Yes

camerapapi Loc: Miami, Fl.

Perfectly well exposed portraits of female faces are possible with flash IF you know how to use flash for your subjects.
You should take a look at www.planetneil.com. Neil van Nierker is a great wedding photographer based in New Jersey who has written lots of articles on flash and how to use it to soften the light for female portraits.

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

Neil's is one of my favorite sites: http://neilvn.com/tangents/ :thumbup:

Flash photography techniques section here: http://neilvn.com/tangents/flash-photography-techniques/

Reinaldokool Loc: San Rafael, CA

Forget the "tongue in cheek". Use the stocking, but make sure it is a black one. It still works well.

I am also partial to the Gary Fong Lightsphere. I have tried 6-8 light modifiers (bounce reflectors, soft-boxes, etc.) None has worked as well as the Lightsphere. (And no, he doesn't pay me. :D )

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

:thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

Late to the party here, but everything you said is 110% correct. I would add that bouncing off of a large piece of white foamcore aimed at the subject, or shooting through one of those 5-in-one reflectors that have a translucent material as long as the flash is far enough away from the reflector to cover the area will also work nicely. In a pinch I have also fired the flash up into a 20# white paper bag, but it was only about 5 ft from the head and shoulders of a model I was shooting.

This is one of those situations were size really matters.

Gary fong containers - they suck up light output, and don't make the light any softer - there are far better options out there.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

IMO, bouncing flash light is a horribly inaccurate waste of the flash's power making for longer flash recycling, as well as producing too-flat lighting that susceptible to ugly tints caused by the color of the bounce surface (as can be seen in some of the sample images in earlier responses). And it's not possible with most Smartphone cameras that I've seen!

I have no idea how Smartphones handle flash. But a cloth over the flash might be work and may be the only possible option.

A white cloth or other form of diffusion does, in fact, soften and improve direct flash lighting, without the unnecessary problems of bouncing (and a cloth might be your only option with a Smartphone). If you look at the flash of most experienced event, wedding and portrait photographers you'll find they are pointing the flash(es) directly at the subject and usually modifying it with a diffuser of some sort.

I shoot with Canon and often use two or more layers of white gauze bandage over the flash head....


...both to diffuse it and to reduce the output of the flash when using it up close for macro shots like this...


I can vary the strength of it's effect with more or less layers of the white gauze bandage.

Here I used the flash directly for fill (reduced power, about -1.66 stops), without any diffusion...


Indoors where I am using the flash more fully, I'd be more inclined to diffuse it. I'd still usually not bounce it unless really, really desperate... such as I forgot to bring my mini-softbox! Note: bigger is better, when it comes to softboxes... But something is a lot better than nothing and when walking around shooting handheld candids... and a mini-softbox is a lot more practical than dragging around a 45" softbox!

To improve your portraits with a DSLR, I first recommend getting the flash out of the hot shoe. Get a flash bracket to mount the flash on... and in most cases an off-camera shoe cord to connect it to the camera (some now can be used wirelessly). This will move your flash up away from the lens axis and off to one side, which both reduces risk of redeye and makes for better shadow effects.

Many modern flashes also have a small, built-in diffusion panel that's primarily intended to use with extra wide lenses... that also can serve at times, when just a little bit of diffusion is needed.

I shoot with Canon gear and the way their ETTL (and ETTL II) works is that the camera actually fires the flash twice for each exposure.... the first "pop" is a pre-flash at reduced power (1/64, I think) that the camera uses to calculate a correct exposure, then uses to set the flash output, after which it finally fires the flash at the setting it determined. All this happens so fast it seems like a single "pop" of the flash. The latest ETTL II also can use distance information from the lens, determined by where it's been focused.

This is TTL metering, much as those old Oly film cameras did. But it's now much more accurate and flexible. Measuring flash off the film didn't take into account subject tonality, which I can adjust for using Flash Exposure Compensation with the modern metering method. Also, with current cameras and their dedicated flashes it's possible to use the various meter patterns: evaluative (aka, matrix), center weighted, partial and spot metering. I don't think this was possible with the old school cameras and flashes.

I don't know if all the camera manufacturers meter and control flash exactly the same way... but I bet it's something similar.

Regarding your second question, I have several "portrait" filters that do what you want to more or less. Some are homemade. For example, I made a couple with small pieces of black mesh "netting" (finer and coarser) that's stretched and trapped between two empty filter frames. Others I bought, such as black, white , clear and flesh-tone "splatter", as well as some with etched grids or circular patterns.

These have different effects. Black mesh and "splatter" reduce fine detail (such as wrinkles in skin and fine hairs) but otherwise are "invisible" without effecting sharpness, more major details or inducing any flare or color tints. White and clear do similar, but tend to cause flare effects too. Flesh-tone will cause color tints and flare. Etched patterns typically just cause overall softening and flare. Those with an etched grid also can create "star" effects, while those with a circular pattern have sort of a "fog vignette" effect. "Splatter" is literally that... the filter looks like someone randomly sprayed some thick paint droplets onto it. Some of these can be accomplished pretty well in post processing software, but it's often not quite the same as a filter.

ballsafire Loc: Lafayette, Louisiana

Depending on the camera-- you can use wet toilet paper pasted on the flash to soften the light.
Nice woman!

jcboy3

A diffusion filter will soften the shot. Smear a little vaseline around the outside of a UV filter. I've got an old Nikon filter with a cross-hatch of threads sandwiched between two elements.

Don't use any of that now, just blur the image in post processing.

NoSocks Loc: quonochontaug, rhode island

Dumb hat.