In the wedding or party, how do you use your flash ?
Room condition: light is strong yellow and ceiling is high

1. diffusing
2. bouncing
3. light sphere
4. others

Just a pooling, thanks :)

bounce with card or lightsphere

I'd say lightsphere is the way to go. :D

For me is no. 1 and 3, diffuse and lightsphere :)

What I mean with diffusing is using direct flash to the objects with filter gel.
Is this what you mean, Keith ?

And bouncing is using flash which tilted upwards.

Anyone using Ray Flash or even a Macro Flash ?
I saw an uncle used twin flashes (one left one right of his lens) during an exhibition :ph43r:

I would say the reflector card as reccomended bythe PVi some months ago... :P However its a confirm no no... For built in flash unless like me "boh pian" if not the back will appear dark...

I have never used the filter gel before, the diffuser i used is the plastic diffuser built into the flash. Many other things can be used as diffuser, tissue paper etc.

Yup bouncing is upwards or side also can

Nope i have never tried a ray flash or a macro flash

Hi Keith, you haven't posted message for several days !!

Although you can use several material as a diffuser, I don't want to destroy my reputation using toilet tissue paper :lol:

I am not so that stingy like that laww

:lol: u miss him liao is it???

Hahaha i'm so lovable that everyone misses me :D actually i have never used tissue paper as a diffuser before, using tissue paper will have to find a rubber band to secure it as well.
Hey you never know, maybe this little piece of tissue will win you the first prize in a photo competition haha :P

Maybe we can have a picture of wedding/party photos witht he room conditions of different flashes and we can compare..
I'm quite new with flashes though i always see my friends using light sphere (issit the one with the light bulb shape thingy ?)
heehee~*

Yeah -_-

Because we are big happy family right ?

Yes you are correct !

It's a good one.
But I don't like it too much, because :
1. expensive (comparing with filter gel)
2. you loss light, only for short range usage (cloud type) :(

he'll be going to Bintan, u can see him for the whole 3D2N ya :P

Light spheres, difussers, bounce cards, etc etc are all merely add-ons to aid in the usage of flash, where needed in a low light environment. They may or may not work, depending on several factors, such as light control, WB, physical attributes such as ceiling height, etc.

My personal opinion is that prior to investing in such add-ons, one should understand the flash's capability as much as possible and also have a good understanding of the various techniques in using a flash. Only then, are you able to decide what fits you best.

wow... well said...
i guess i need to practice more with flashes~* perhaps with the built in flash first before getting the external flash unit... :)

Just save the money and buy the external flash unit.
2nd hand flash is ok too, just check before buy it.

You will have more creativity with the external flash :D

heehee~* thanks for the tip..
*saves like a squirrel.. :)

Hahaha this expression is so funny, here's a squirrel for you :lol:

heehee... that squirrel is nice... did u take that photo~* :P

Is it your pet ? What's his/her name ?

So cute !!! :wub:

Yup i took the photo. Haha Jeff, it's not my pet, it's wild but lives near my place, i see it quite often.

Where do you stay ?
Do you stay near Nature Reserve ? :blink:

For the safety of the squirrel i shall not reveal where i stay haha. This squirrel likes the fruit of the christmas palm tree, maybe you can see squirrels if you find the tree too :)

From flash we talk until squirrel haha..back to topic :lol:

That's because someone said "saves like a squirrel" :D

I can guess, you stay around Bukit Timah or another Bukit :lol:

Hahaha "saves like a squirrel" this expression is so funny :lol:

The estate at Bukit Timah is too high end, I live in a HDB estate with a forest near my place and i grow up loving the forest :)

I prefer Gunungs to Bukits haha

I read you also like hiking and trekking !
No wonder you grew up in a forest ? ;)

so he's yr neighbour!!!!

You mean, his flatmate ? :lol:

Haha neighbor yes but flatmate cannot, i don't want my room to smell like squirrel :D

Now, rather than suddenly talking about Squirrel, let's back to original topic.

I am asking a bit "more complicated" thing :lol:

For EVENT or PARTY photography, so can be indoor (can be low/high ceiling) and outdoor (no ceiling), which brand do you recommend and which type ?

1. Gary Fong product : eg. Lightsphere II Clear
2. LumiQuest product : eg. LumiQuest Pocket Bouncer or LumiQuest Softbox
3. Stofen products : eq. Stofen Omni Bouncer or Stofen Two Way Bouncer
4. Better bouncing card (make your own big white reflective paper / or other color depend on your taste and attached it with gaffer tape)
5. Don't buy anything, just use your original bouncing card

Please vote !

Well...

If there's no ceiling, it's good to start exposing for the background and do a little bit of shadow fill... in that case, you might need to colour-gel up your flash gun to match the ambient colour temperature of your surroundings.

In this case, this tiny bit of light (like, awlfully tiny bit, especially at night/dark places) will lit up only the shadowy regions of your subject - helps a lot especially if your subject is backlit, hopefully without making him/her look like a deer in the head lights.

Here, the apparent area (with reference to your subject) of your light modifier dictates the evenness of the flash light painted on your subject.

So...

Anything that says "bounce", including the GFLS, basically still relies on having a large dispersing surface to bounce from... the ceiling/wall is your biggest friend here:

Lighting up an entire patch of the ceiling converts that piece of (white-washed) painted cement/plaster temporarily into a huge light, which bathes everything in range with light. The problem with just bouncing alone without any modification means - that people with a prominent brow ridge will have a huge shadow cast onto their cheekbones, and darkening their faces.

Here is where basically all the light modifiers come to rescue. Your friendly GFLS, LQPB/Softbox, Stofen or bounce card, (or even the diffuser from your F36/56 hastily pulled out halfway and erect), handily directs a little bit of that light towards your subjects, filling up the shadows created by the ceiling bounce (as softened direct light - the bigger it is, the more even.) this creates a soft, pleasant effect of a good fill and illumination that's making a ton of money for our friendly inventors. :)

So without a ceiling, the modifiers become less effective. Your flash gun only becomes as big as the size of your reflector/light modifier here.

Here is a thread containing photos made by a very competent photographer, bro leejay (who exposed for ambient light and filled the shadows - Requires clubsnap membership to view i think):

http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/showthread.php?t=325601

shots by DeadEnd:
http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/showthread.php?t=422521

shots by lukexav:
http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/showthread.php?t=421038

shots by dwaynefoong (who apparently used natural light):
http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/showthread.php?t=417362

This is a collection of how various photographers deal with the same situation, and it's a good learning place - to land yourself in a trade show, and take some photos, and watch how other photographers' photos turn out.

-----

At its lowest, the ceiling level of the Singapore Expo convention hall is around 3-4 floors high, max is about 5 floors high, corresponding to a roughly, 18 to 30 meter round trip for the light from your flash gun. Technically, there's little to no ceiling to speak of there... and you'd be blasting away in futility with your flash gun at full power and waiting 6-8 seconds for your flash gun to recover...

Well if there's no ceiling... I simply used the floor (after being enlightened by one of my sensei bros, uncle Willis). ;)

Basically, if you shoot with understanding of how light behaves, you can create photos nobody else can:

Well, showing off here... :P

This is how my shot looks like, same place, same day, same conditions:






B)