By David L. Tong
In our last article, we touched on the subject of how to control the direction of light for beautiful portraits that won't appear like an unplanned, direct-flash photograph. We know that we can swivel and tilt most flash guns to alter their firing direction, but unfortunately, even if you point the flash head to a certain direction, there will always be some light spilling from the edge of the light beam as the fresnel lens in front of your strobe scatters light in a pre-determined pattern. You can have greater control with where the light is travelling using basic physics and common sense. The easiest, cheapest, and most portable way to achieve that would be through do-it-yourself bounce and flag sheets.
Before I go further, the use of bounce and flag cards aren't new ideas as they have been around since portable, swivel heads were invented. Their applications are nothing new, but with today's access to faddish accessories, many people don't bother with traditional techniques and fall for modern marketing flash gadget attachments instead, even if the former is more effective.
The size you want/need will depend on your shooting style and flash gun size. The examples I'm providing fit most modern flash heads.
Continue Reading @ davidleetong.com
In our last article, we touched on the subject of how to control the direction of light for beautiful portraits that won't appear like an unplanned, direct-flash photograph. We know that we can swivel and tilt most flash guns to alter their firing direction, but unfortunately, even if you point the flash head to a certain direction, there will always be some light spilling from the edge of the light beam as the fresnel lens in front of your strobe scatters light in a pre-determined pattern. You can have greater control with where the light is travelling using basic physics and common sense. The easiest, cheapest, and most portable way to achieve that would be through do-it-yourself bounce and flag sheets.
The size you want/need will depend on your shooting style and flash gun size. The examples I'm providing fit most modern flash heads.
Continue Reading @ davidleetong.com
