Flash diffuser cap or 'rubberband and white card'?

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123paradox321

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Hey there guys, gals, gurus..

I'm going to be shooting a cultural event with a nikon sb600 on a nikon d90. which should i use to diffuse the flash indoors? what's the difference between the two? thanks for your replies =)
 
Diffuser will do nothing if your not bouncing, and if you are will take a colour cast of the ceiling/walls.

White card will help to direct the light at your subjects more, and will not take a colour cast, so possibly better for you?
 
sorry, but what do u mean by colour cast? are u saying that the subject with be lit with the same colour as the bounce surface?
 
Yes, if the celing is red, the bounced light will have a red tinge to it. It may not be noticable, but it might throw off colours you are trying to capture.
 
They both work in the same way and both will pick up a cast from the bounce surface. In an average room the results will probably look the same.

Stofen-style diffuser cap sends light everywhere so will pick up on any nearby surface. It will also waste a lot of light if there isn't much to the sides or behind. And you can't really control the ratio of bounce to direct fill-in.

A card is more controllable. You can direct light where you want, alter the ratio with the size of the card, and also by zooming the flash head.

At the end of the day, the biggest difference will be the room, and who's using it ;)
 
I find a card works really well. I made mine from 3mm white foam "funky foam", sold in craft shops for about £1 for an A4 sheet. You can make it a decent size and then adjust it as required by folding it back. I put a piece of black foam behind it so that people behind me aren't disturbed by the flash leaking through the foam.

I've used it in a room with a green ceiling and didn't have a problem with a colour cast. However bouncing the flash without the card produced distinctly spooky results. If the room is too large for bouncing the card will still diffuse the light nicely.

Look up "betterbouncecard" for more details. I just use an elastic band dropped by the postie to attach it but you could easily make a band of broad black elastic to look more professional.
 
HoppyUK said:
They both work in the same way and both will pick up a cast from the bounce surface. In an average room the results will probably look the same.

Stofen-style diffuser cap sends light everywhere so will pick up on any nearby surface. It will also waste a lot of light if there isn't much to the sides or behind. And you can't really control the ratio of bounce to direct fill-in.

A card is more controllable. You can direct light where you want, alter the ratio with the size of the card, and also by zooming the flash head.

At the end of the day, the biggest difference will be the room, and who's using it ;)
Click to expand...

THanks for the tip! I'm a terrible newbie with flash photography. Am gonna be trying out the sb600 with both methods so i know which would work best and when.
 
Tracer said:
I find a card works really well. I made mine from 3mm white foam "funky foam", sold in craft shops for about £1 for an A4 sheet. You can make it a decent size and then adjust it as required by folding it back. I put a piece of black foam behind it so that people behind me aren't disturbed by the flash leaking through the foam.

I've used it in a room with a green ceiling and didn't have a problem with a colour cast. However bouncing the flash without the card produced distinctly spooky results. If the room is too large for bouncing the card will still diffuse the light nicely.

Look up "betterbouncecard" for more details. I just use an elastic band dropped by the postie to attach it but you could easily make a band of broad black elastic to look more professional.
Click to expand...

Looks like you're quite a DIY man, MR trace. Quite some good pointers with the flash leaking issue there. There's even "eye shields" sold online for that purpose! haha. Thanks for the info. Appreciate it..
 
One of the main advantages of using a piece of white card is that you can avoid any direct light from the flash falling on the subject, so the results can look far more natural. Aslo, if you have a flash that can turn and tilt like a Canon 580ex you can control the direction of the flash making it look like window light etc. I too have one made from foam board from an art shop - a very well spent 80p !
 
Second that. A white lined Black Foamie Thing is very useful and versatile. Can be used when bouncing to shield the subject from direct flash and as a flash card if there is nothing to bounce off.

I'm a bit of a gear whore so I use a Demb Flip-It too. It's just a fancy bounce card but I'm always surprised at how good the results are when I use it.
 
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It's a rectangle of black foam from a craft shop. Held on by a hair band. He uses it as "flag" while bouncing so he just uses black. If you are going to make it serve dual purpose as a bounce card, you'll need black one side, white the other. And a way of attaching it to your flash when it is opened out.

Btw, there are quite a few article on his site about the way he uses the Black Foamie Thing and each one has a nugget of info or two. Worth following all the links.
 
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