Digital Flash Samples

"Tom Nakashima" writes:

I'm thinking of purchasing an external flash for my digital camera.
Most of the pictures I've seen so far have been very harsh looking.
Has anyone figured how to soften the light with a single flash?
Perhaps using diffusers or bounce reflectors.
Would love to see samples.

The most typical way is to bounce the light off of the ceiling, this makes the
apparent light source real large (and the light comes from above like the sun).
You can also get an umbrella setup for flash that will reduce the shadows. I
have tried several of the small accessories that fit on top of the flash, and
while they help a little, they don't help all that much.

Here is an album I made last year to figure out what the shadow characteristics
were for each of the flash modifiers I had at the time:
http://www.the-meissners.org/2004-sm...mod/index.html

--
Michael Meissner
email:
http://www.the-meissners.org

"Tom Nakashima" writes:

I'm thinking of purchasing an external flash for my digital camera.
Most of the pictures I've seen so far have been very harsh looking.
Has anyone figured how to soften the light with a single flash?
Perhaps using diffusers or bounce reflectors.
Would love to see samples.

The most typical way is to bounce the light off of the ceiling, this makes the
apparent light source real large (and the light comes from above like the sun).
You can also get an umbrella setup for flash that will reduce the shadows. I
have tried several of the small accessories that fit on top of the flash, and
while they help a little, they don't help all that much.

Here is an album I made last year to figure out what the shadow characteristics
were for each of the flash modifiers I had at the time:
http://www.the-meissners.org/2004-sm...mod/index.html

--
Michael Meissner
email:
http://www.the-meissners.org

"Tom Nakashima" writes:

I'm thinking of purchasing an external flash for my digital camera.
Most of the pictures I've seen so far have been very harsh looking.
Has anyone figured how to soften the light with a single flash?
Perhaps using diffusers or bounce reflectors.
Would love to see samples.

The most typical way is to bounce the light off of the ceiling, this makes the
apparent light source real large (and the light comes from above like the sun).
You can also get an umbrella setup for flash that will reduce the shadows. I
have tried several of the small accessories that fit on top of the flash, and
while they help a little, they don't help all that much.

Here is an album I made last year to figure out what the shadow characteristics
were for each of the flash modifiers I had at the time:
http://www.the-meissners.org/2004-sm...mod/index.html

--
Michael Meissner
email:
http://www.the-meissners.org

"Michael Meissner" wrote in message
...
"Tom Nakashima" writes:
..
Would love to see samples.

The most typical way is to bounce the light off of the ceiling, this makes
the
apparent light source real large (and the light comes from above like the
sun).
You can also get an umbrella setup for flash that will reduce the shadows.
I
have tried several of the small accessories that fit on top of the flash,
and
while they help a little, they don't help all that much.

Here is an album I made last year to figure out what the shadow
characteristics
were for each of the flash modifiers I had at the time:
http://www.the-meissners.org/2004-sm...mod/index.html

--
Michael Meissner
email:
http://www.the-meissners.org

Michael,
Excellent! exactly what I wanted to see; "SAMPLES!"
The 45" white umbrella looks the best in my opinion. No shadows against the
wall, and very nice skin tones... btw, I'm glad you took the test shots by
the wall, so one could see shadows of the flash used. The Ceiling Bounce
samples surprised me, they're not bad. I also like the way you included the
histogram and data.
Well done!,
-tom

"Tom Nakashima" writes:

Michael,
Excellent! exactly what I wanted to see; "SAMPLES!"
The 45" white umbrella looks the best in my opinion. No shadows against the
wall, and very nice skin tones... btw, I'm glad you took the test shots by
the wall, so one could see shadows of the flash used. The Ceiling Bounce
samples surprised me, they're not bad. I also like the way you included the
histogram and data.
Well done!,

Thanks. One other thing that I learned in doing that, as the subject of all of
these pictures, I much preferred the umbrella and ceiling bounce as being the
easiest on the eyes. At some point I want do an album like that to better
learn lighting setups.

--
Michael Meissner
email:
http://www.the-meissners.org

"Tom Nakashima" writes:

Michael,
Excellent! exactly what I wanted to see; "SAMPLES!"
The 45" white umbrella looks the best in my opinion. No shadows against the
wall, and very nice skin tones... btw, I'm glad you took the test shots by
the wall, so one could see shadows of the flash used. The Ceiling Bounce
samples surprised me, they're not bad. I also like the way you included the
histogram and data.
Well done!,

Thanks. One other thing that I learned in doing that, as the subject of all of
these pictures, I much preferred the umbrella and ceiling bounce as being the
easiest on the eyes. At some point I want do an album like that to better
learn lighting setups.

--
Michael Meissner
email:
http://www.the-meissners.org