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RAB's Tip Pad

~ Photographing History, Aviation and People

RAB's Tip Pad

Tag Archives: diffuser

The Three Reasons I Choose to Take Control of the Light

26 Wednesday Aug 2015

Posted by Rick A. Brown in Shooting

≈ Comments Off on The Three Reasons I Choose to Take Control of the Light

Tags

diffuser, flash, photo, photograph, photography, portrait, reflector

  1. Capt. Miller and a Vultee BT-13 at Warbirds Over the West. (Rick A. Brown)To create a specific look. This is where I like to be, it is always best when you are doing things like light the image, to achieve the look you want, not fix a problem. Here I used the look I’ve discussed before on RAB Pad.
  2. USA, Oregon, Portland, Cathedral Park, woman at Cathedral Park. MR (Rick A. Brown)To fill in shadows. Sometimes the light is largely what you want from the sun, but there is part of the image that is just too dark without adding something. When controlling the light for this purpose, it is important to choose carefully between reflectors and flash. In this image I used a silver and gold striped reflector to fill the shadows in an unobtrusive manner and add a hint of warmth.
  3. Restoring Great Lakes NX315Y formerly flown by Dorothy Hester and Tex Rankin. (Rick A. Brown)Sometimes it’s just plain dark. Sometimes, it is just too dark to get an image without a little something. I usually try to find a way to balance in some ambient light for a more natural look, but sometimes, it’s a choice between flash or using an ISO that is just too high for your intended purpose. This image was made with a small portable flash diffuser on the camera mounted flash and allowing as much ambient light in as possible.

Take a look a my portfolio site, www.rabimaging.com.

Homemade Macro Flash Diffusers

08 Thursday Sep 2011

Posted by Rick A. Brown in Shooting

≈ 21 Comments

Tags

diffuser, dragonfly, flash, macro, photography, strobist

Recently, I began experimenting with a homemade system for diffusing flash for macro photography. This system probably isn’t as good as a system you would purchase, but it does a good job for almost no cost.

I usually use two speedlights in my insect photography so I made two of these. Take frosted white, plastic, freezer containers and cut a slit in them that will allow the head of your speedlight to fit snugly inside. Rig these up on your macro flash bracket and balance the ambient light one to two stops darker. I manually set my exposure (usually) to 1/200 sec at f/16 and then vary the ISO to balance with the ambient light.

The attached image is my favorite done this way. I’d love to hear what you think.

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