Pistnbroke Loc: UK

I told you what to do ...ignore at you peril.

Charles 46277 Loc: Fulton County, KY

In the past, I never found things like that--some people made their own. That is neat. (I just ordered one.) It does soften the light (more diffuse), but it also loses a lot of the light. Auto exposure with flash will compensate, but it won't reach far in a big room (fine under 10 or 12 feet). In a big dining hall flash on camera is good for snapshots but for a studio look--not so much. For a group portrait, flash on the camera is fine--it is far enough back to be softer unless it is a very wide lens, which may be darker on the sides. If I were shooting a line up (perhaps one row seated and one row standing behind, I would curve the lineup in an arc around the camera--that way they all get equal light and equal focus. Otherwise, the people at the ends are much farther away from the camera.

Diffuse light means the light source is large (or larger)--specular light means the light source is small (or smaller). Specular light is sharper, because the texture of the surfaces catches minute shadow, and this can be unkind in people pictures (but great in macro for bugs, where people often choose pin-point light sources).