Timmers Loc: San Antonio Texas.

Outside The Box 01, Modifier for Small hand flash.

A simple way to improve on a flash modifier that will deliver consistent and excellent results. There is a primary way to set this up and another if your hand flash will not mount backwards by a swivel base.

If you have a hand flash that will swivel so it is pointing backwards, then that is ideal. If your unit won't point backwards, you can still point it facing backwards, you just can't use the electronic eye (thirstier circuit) to control the flash output. To be vary honest, with hand flash units mounted on the accessory shoe I prefer the ratio control to adjust out put.

I do all of the 'modifications' while the flash unit is NOT mounted on the camera body, I find this easier and no worries of damaging the flash and camera. You will need three things to create this flash modifier. A small piece of aluminum foil (you will see the size needed after the next part). A WHITE children's balloon, inflated so it will fit the front of the flash exit window, but will not obscure the electronic eye (thirstier circuit). Clear packing tape (you can use the 1/2 or 3/4 scotch tape but it is not as good as the wide clear packing tape).

The assembly is ever so easy. Place the flash on a table. Take the inflatable balloon and fit it over the flash units window. At first it is best to use some small lengths of tape to secure the balloon in place. This is the only tricky part but it is really not that difficult to do. Take the aluminum foil (matters not the shinny nor dull side facing out or inward) and cover a little more than about half of the balloon that is exposed. You can start with a smaller piece and add to this first piece by using small pieces of tape to hold the add on shards to main piece. What you want to avoid is covering the electronic eye (thirstier circuit) for obvious reasons, and if you are using ratio control flash output this is of no concern.

Now put one long piece of clear packing tape around the entire assembly making sure the tap will be long enough to go around the balloon with aluminum foil, and still be able to hold this to the flash. Secure the open white balloon portion against the window of the flash and bring the clear packing tape down onto the sides and rear of the flash. This entire accessory with flash is then slipped onto your flash mount on the top of the camera but it is to be facing backwards with the aluminum foil facing backwards towards you as you hold the camera.

Yes, it looks really silly, extremely amateuristic in appearance! But this sucker really delivers.

In effect you have converted your flash, to a flash with a softbox (brolly box). You will get the same result that you see with a softbox (brolly box). That soft low contrast wrap around light that is so advantageous for portraits. With this accessory I find that you can place the subject close walls and objects without the strong shadows that often happen. Photographing a baby in a crib is a breeze as well in a play pen (no ugly black bars ) as well as the light wrapping around those bars while you shoot between bars.

In addition to the above, I would place in a small zip lock bag some balloons, folded aluminum foil, and a small roll of tape (that I had crushed down flat) so I had the materials read to make one up on a moments notice.

rjaywallace Loc: Wisconsin

Timmers - I believe it is called a “thyristor circuit”

Timmers Loc: San Antonio Texas.

If you are looking for a discussion on a brolly box, of which this idea draws on, you can find them U-Tube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xNVPHdVsUw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LORBtfsBC5g

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

That is all well and good, and very creative. From the point of playing at home it most likely works very well. However, from a client's point of view, I'd rather stick to softboxes, umbrellas, and chimeras.
--Bob

Timmers Loc: San Antonio Texas.

Thanks for your opinion. A company called Bright Ideas use to make an item like this but it was discontinued. So I went over the idea and created a replacement. That is where this came from.

You see, I truly never cared if it looked foolish, which it does. And clients like doctors and attorneys have commented on how it appears. I often ask if they would rather have a greater charge and all the high tech stuff, it could easily be done, but then I was concerned to deliver a quality product (photograph) at a reduced price.

Most were more interested in their bottom line cost with highest quality. And the men were always the easiest as they were shown how simple it was and the great results that the modifier produced, and how they could use it on their own cameras and improve their results.

I goes to show that when you go beyond the basic business relationship and make friends out of clients you tend to improve your opportunities for growth in your bottom line. It nicely illustrates that old saying, "What goes around comes around." But mostly I want to be known for the quality of what I create as a photograph for someone not if I appear foolish in the creating of that photograph.

Timmers Loc: San Antonio Texas.

You are correct, that is the term referencing the electronic eye in a flash.

f8lee Loc: New Mexico

Well, technically, the thyristor is the circuit that quenches the flash tube to control light output - since the Xenon tube can only put out a specific amount of light per millisecond the thyristor is the circuit that to produce less light kills the output after 1/10,000th or 1/30,000th or whatever of a second based on what the electric eye reads.

rook2c4 Loc: Philadelphia, PA USA

When shooting for a client, creativity usually has to be put on hold... only what the client wants matters.
As a hobbyist, I'm so glad I don't need to deal with clients at all.

Timmers Loc: San Antonio Texas.

I do think you have a vary low opinion of what a client desires. When working with pathologists at MD Anderson I used technical skills and creative insight to do several procedures to assist in the rapid diagnostics of what was then referred to as Hodgkin's Disease by shooting with P-Mich E-4 film.

I do believe that in most cases delivery of creative solutions to unique situations is just as important as the everyday bread and butter work.

I am delighted to say that I have had some excellent clients who have been more than happy with my ability for problem solving and innovative solutions for their needs, or so they have told me that.

E.L.. Shapiro Loc: Ottawa, Ontario Canada

The successful use of light Modifiers, bounce flash techniques, and achieving good indirect lighting aesthetics are all dependent on the photographer's knowledge of the dynamics of light. I am not referring to the complex physics of photons and electromagnetic radiation- just the basic principles of reflection, diffusion and the relative size of the light source to the subject and the distance between the primary and secondary light sources and the subject.

Just about any manufactured or home-made improvised modifier will work if the photographer understands the basic principles and the attributes and limitations of any given modifier or method.

If you have a good grasp of ther angle of incidence theory, the inverse square law, how diffusers work and how the size and distance of the light source affect the hardness and softness of any lighting device or method, you are good to go.

There are many modifiers on the market, clip-on diffusers, softboxes in every imaginable size, all kinds of umbrellas, flat and concave reflectors, every kind of shape, configuration and catchy name. I venture to say all work, in a manner of speaking, if you know how to use them.

There are all kinds of controversies about certain brands, the Gary Fong variety brings on lots of debates- pro and con. Most of the naysayers probably don't know how to use them or understand their limitations.

There is no such thing as a magical modifier that will do everything or miraculously convert a single on-camera Speedlight into a "portrait studio" - it's still falt lighting but it may be softer or more spread out. Certain bounc techniques can cover more area, simulate more natural light and somehow might kinda defeat the inverse square effect of direct flash but it ain't a cure-all. Even if you just aim you on-camera light at a wall or ceiling there are certain finite techniques that should be employed and there are many variations.

Of course, you can make your own modifiers out of balloons, Tupperware, aluminum foil, white plastic bottles cut in half, pie plates and/or just about anything you can find in a junkyard or second-hand store. Some of these Rube Goldberg rigs can work well in a fixed location or a studio. If you have to work in a highly mobile, nimble and gun and run manner you will need the convenience of stuff that will not fall off or damage your camera and look distracting or comical to folks at an event.

Yes! It's fun to make stuff out of Foam-Cor, hot glue, and elastic bands but they are not practical. Sometimes plastic and other materials that are not made for photographic lighting contain impurities that can throw your color temperature off as can bouncing light or surfaces t of unknown tints.

With all the interesting modifiers, strobes, speedlights, LEDs and tungsten equipment out there, perhaps we shoud have a special section, here on the HOG, dedicate to LIGHTING DYNAMICS. What do Y'all think?

Bridges Loc: Memphis, Charleston SC, now Nazareth PA

Talking about modifying a small flash unit -- something that has always bothered me (not really bothered but mystified me) -- you know the small square light domes they make for many flash units like the Nikon and Canon speed lights. Well I understand the use of those -- to spread the light so it will bounce off the celling and sidewalls and give the appearance of wrap around light (not that in reality you can wrap or bend light -- light travels in one direction only except under the influence of super magnetism), but the bouncing around certainly gives the illusion of "bending" light. Anyway, the dome shoots light out in all directions which is fine for the most part, but more often than not, the light coming from the rear panel is just a waste of energy since the wall behind you is usually too far away to affect the light falling on the subject. I like taking a small piece of silver tape and blocking that rear panel. That allows more of the energy to exit all the other facets of the dome. I have a roll of silver tape that is used for duct work and may be too expensive for a small use as I have described but the same could be accomplished by using double stick tape and a square of aluminum foil. I like seeing innovative ideas on light as in this post because to me the right light is at least 50% of the equation of good photos -- sort of like the speakers on a stereo system. You can have the best amp and turner, but if you don't have good speakers, you don't get a quality sound. You can have the best of bodies and lenses but if you don't get the light right, you suffer poorer quality shots.

JD750 Loc: SoCal

Chimeras?

E.L.. Shapiro Loc: Ottawa, Ontario Canada

As I alluded to in my previous post, you can figure out the answer to your issue with that little plastic dome if you understand a few principles.

Placing such an attachment atop a typical Speedlight and aiming it up at the ceiling will do very little- here's the theory:
In a typical Speedlight, the flash tube and reflector are recessed in the body of the unit. It is basically designed to project the light forward. A flash unit with removable and interchangeable reflectors is capable of bare bulb operation. The flash tube can be vertically oriented and this will provide a 360 degree omnidirectional light source. In these types of flash tubes, the majority of the light is emitted from the side of the tube within the envelope. This can be fitted with a diffuser if required. In whichever case, some of the light will project upward and some of the light will strike the surrounding walls (including the back wall) and some of the light will strike the subject directly. Especially in a smaller room with light colored reflective walls, this can provide a nice bounce lighting effect and since some the light is going forward it will tend to light the subject's eyes.

Placing a dome over a speedlight may have some effect but not very much. If the flash is aimed directly upward, very little or no light will be projected sideways or forward leaving the subjects eyes and eye sockets (the orbital area of the face) insufficiently illuminated causing the "raccoon eyes" effect- same as you get with overhead sun or skylight. All the diffuser will do is deprive you of a couple of f/stops. If, however, you aim the light at a 45-degree angle where part of the beam strikes the subject and some of the beam strikes the ceiling and bounces from the ceiling around the room - that's called partial bounce, you will have a better effect in the eyes. The diffuser will have a slightly softer effect than a raw light. The light would need to far enough form the subject so that the angle of incidence is correct, otherwise the "raccoon" effect can still occur.

The Speedlight is still a comparatively small source relative to the subject's size. That's why a modifier such as the Light-Bender or the ones that look like a scoop or a paddle will soften the light more effectively- it enlarges the light source and spread it more efficiently. That is also why your shiny tape idea would probably work better but it would not soften the light all that much.

Timmers Loc: San Antonio Texas.

I would say this is an interesting idea, in fact could help many people to have an outlet for practical ideas and give them the opertunity to share useful ideas and information.

So, how would you suggest that such a thing could be done?

Timmers Loc: San Antonio Texas.

I don't understand what you have written here. Put a white balloon over a flash head, directing the light into the balloon, then reflect the light off some aluminum foil back to the subject in front of you, and as the light exits the balloon it is diffused into a soft light. That is the essence of this idea.

It is easy to make on location, extremely inexpensive and effective.