Results tagged “Flash-modifiers” from Nikonian Martin Joergensen
By Martin Joergensen | November 17, 2008 11:48 PM | Permalink
I have always liked the light that comes from striplights - narrow softboxes, which create a well defined strip of light. Opposite square or wide, rectangular softboxes, the striplight gives a more defined light, which is not quite as soft as the light from the softbox.
Striplights are often used to accent body shapes or to create distinct rimlights on bodies or faces. the narrow band of light will create character in one direction and soft light in the other. When used on shiny objects the reflections - the specular highlights - will also be narrow strips rather than squares or dots - or reflections of an umbrella or another familiar shape.
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Continue reading DIY mini-striplight.
By Martin Joergensen | August 28, 2008 8:23 PM | Permalink
A snoot is a tube in front of your flash, which keeps its beam of light tight and concentrated, while a grid has lots of smaller, parallel tubes that do essentially the same thing.
Snoots and grids have a lot in common and the line between them is thin, but I usually refer to snoots as longer tubes, often made of a softer material like foam or fabric, while grids are usually shorter and place a tubular grid or honeycomb in front of the light.
You can use snoots and grids in two ways: to make concentrated spots of light and to keep light from falling where you don't want it... by keeping it as a concentrated spot.
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Continue reading Flash snoots and grids.
By Martin Joergensen | August 13, 2008 9:53 AM | Permalink
This is probably the most often used flash modifier apart from the diffuser - if not, perhaps it ought to be.
Filters are cheap and easy to find, fairly easy to use and can give some great effects as well as downright save pictures by adjusting your flashes to match different artificial light sources.
The most common way to use gels is to get the light from your flashes to match the surrounding light, which is particularly interesting when shooting indoors in incandescent or fluorescent light.
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Continue reading Flash filters or gels.
By Martin Joergensen | August 7, 2008 11:30 PM | Permalink
This entry on diffusers is the first "real" entry in the series on flash modifiers I introduced in this overview article. Diffusers are definitely the most common light modifiers.
By diffusing or spreading the light, you get a softer look to your pictures and not least: soft shadows. The hard and harsh shadows of a direct flash is a definite no-no unless you aim for exactly that: unforgivingly hard and bright light and black shadows with sharp edges. In most other cases you want to completely loose or at least soften the shadows and you want a light that treats your subject nicely rather than reveal all its flaws.
A rule of thumb is: the larger the diffuser, the softer the light. Softboxes and umbrellas are the ultimate diffusers, but we will concentrate on the smaller types here.
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Continue reading Flash diffusers.
By Martin Joergensen | July 31, 2008 5:13 PM | Permalink
I will start this series about flash modifiers with the cheapest modifier I can imagine. They do come simpler as we will see later, but at two for 0.99 US$ it's gonna be hard to find a less expensive store-bought modifier. At Saxon Computers you get two mini snoots for less than one buck. You will have to pay for postage of course, but even so... they're really inexpensive.
Apart from being cheap the mini-snoot also separates itself from many of the other modifiers I will discuss by fitting on a built-in pop-up flash. OK, fitting may be exaggerating a bit. Let's make that: meant to be used on. The fitting mainly consists of a bit of gaffer tape.
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Continue reading A mini-snoot.
By Martin Joergensen | July 30, 2008 10:14 PM | Permalink
I have always loved using off-camera flashes and want to extend my arsenal of different flash modifiers. In this first round I will concentrate on the type you can mount directly on the flash. I may return to umbrellas, softboxes, diffuser screens other larger modifiers later.
I have started assembling a flash modifier kit. You may remember my home made snoot from my coin podcast. Snoots are one kind of modifiers, but there are many more: filters, grids, flags, and gobos to mention some. Diffusers can also be counted, but are on the border if you look at modifiers in a more traditional manner. I will not make this a flash photography 101, but just briefly touch on each type, and then return to each in later posts.
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Continue reading Flash modifiers.
