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How-to's Accessories Reviews

Flash Brackets and Diffusers

Russ MacDonald (Arkayem)


Keywords: nikon, speedlights, lighting, flash, diffusor

I am often asked about diffusers and brackets. Photographers mostly want to know what they do and which ones are best. Well, both the bracket and the diffuser were introduced into photography to solve problems of the small flash.

The problems of a small flash, when used pointed directly at the subject, are that it makes harsh, flat light, that often causes 'Red-Eye', and, when turned to the vertical, casts a harsh shadow to the side of the subject.

HARSH LIGHT

In general, harsh light comes from a physically small 'apparent' source. An infinitely small source is called a 'point' source, because the light comes from a single point.

I use the word 'apparent' because the both the size of the source and its distance from the subject cause the apparent size to change from the perspective of the subject. For example, one of the harshest light sources is also one of the largest - the sun. It is huge - over 800,000 miles in diameter, but it is so far away 93,000,000 miles, that it acts as a point source to a subject here on earth. In other words, its apparent size is very tiny. This type of light casts very harsh shadows and makes facial features appear dull and lifeless.


The solution to harsh light is diffusion. Diffusion is the process of scattering the light from a point source so that it acts like a much bigger source. Under harsh sunlight, a translucent diffuser is recommended between the sunlight and the subject.

Think of the sun on an overcast day. The light still comes from the sun (effectively a point source), but the clouds scatter the light as it falls on the earth so that is becomes some of the softest light you can find. In effect, the clouds have changed the apparent size of the sun from a point source to a source the size of the entire sky. You can make extremely good portraits on an overcast day outdoors, where the facial features have nice texture and seem to come alive.

The shoe-mounted flash is also very small in physical size (about 3 square inches) and is an effective point source beyond a foot or so. Consequently it makes extremely harsh light that is not suitable for portraits without modification (diffusion).

Now, some people think that simply placing a diffuser in front of the speedlight will make it soft, but this is not the case, because that does nothing to increase the apparent size of the flash.

There are two ways to create diffusion when using a small flash.
1) Utilize a physically large 'retransmission' system or …

2) Bounce off large surfaces.
You can also use a combination of these two.

A 'retransmission' system is usually made from a large piece of translucent material that is lit by the flash that then retransmits the light evenly across its surface. The Gary Fong Light Sphere II is such a system. It looks like an inverted Tupperware bowl that is mounted on the flash. Then, the flash is pointed straight up and when it fires the whole translucent bowl lights up. In fact the cross section area of the bowl is about 16 square inches. However, in this case, more important than having about five times larger area than that of the flash itself, what makes it unique and very effective is that it will be using all walls, the ceiling and most surfaces in the room or studio to bounce off the light. This softens the light so that portraits made within about five feet are noticeably softer than those made with bare flash.

20130902_081407_14.image-1_harsh_no-diffuser_800px.jpg

Image 1. Harsh light from direct flash

 

20130902_081407_14.image-2_soft_lsii-diffuser_800px.jpg

Image 2. Soft light from a Nikon speedlight with LightSphere II diffuser

Another even better 'retransmission' system is a soft box. If you get one that is 36 inches by 48 inches, that's 1,728 square inches of area. Even when not bouncing the light from all walls and ceiling usually creates light that is just as soft as the light on an overcast day.

The problem is portability. How big is too big to carry mounted on your flash. My personal feeling is the LightSphere II (LS-II) is about as large as you can conveniently handle under normal circumstances; even more so today with the Collapsible model.

As you probably know, the SB-800 flash and newer models come with a small snap-on diffuser. If you lost it, you can buy an after-market snap-on diffuser from companies like Sto-Fen. Just looking at this snap-on diffuser, you can see that it is physically very small and the question is: does it work?


It is obviously not much bigger than the bare flash itself, so it cannot increase the apparent size of the flash directly. However, think of this small diffuser attached to the flash and the flash pointed straight up. Then when it flashes, the light scatters to the sides, up, back, and everywhere but down. This means some of it goes directly to the subject, but most of it goes towards walls and ceiling where it can bounce, sending some of the bounced light back at the subject.

The key is that the bounced light hits the subject at a different angle than the direct light. This different angle is what makes the apparent size of the flash much larger. So, there is a small portion of the light which is still harsh that goes directly at the subject and the rest that bounces off walls and ceilings is soft. The small amount of harsh direct light is what makes the 'catch-light' reflection in the eye of the subject and is usually not objectionable.

The reason the LightSphere II works so well is that it is large AND it scatters light in all directions, making all the walls and ceiling the bouncing area. This makes it work extremely well indoors where the direct light is much softer than the small snap-on diffuser, and the walls and ceiling all increase the softening effect more than with small snap-on diffusers.

Now, outdoors, all the light that scatters from a diffuser is lost forever. It never makes it back to the subject. This leaves the subject lighted entirely by direct light from the flash which is still harsh because the apparent size of the flash is still small. So, outdoors, the only thing that happens if you use a diffuser is that your flash batteries run down quicker, because the flash has to flash at a much higher power to light the subject than normal. The bottom line is that outdoors, never use a small diffuser; just use the flash direct. However, the Light Sphere II is useful outdoors due to its large size which softens the direct light out to about five feet.


SHADOWS AND RED-EYE CONTROL


Flash shadows are always objectionable and you should always strive to eliminate them.

Red-eye is also extremely objectionable. It is caused by the flash reflecting off the retina of the eye and back into the picture. Red-eye is best addressed while taking the picture, but can also be somewhat corrected during post-processing. I will discuss how to avoid causing it in the first place.

The solution to the red-eye and shadow problem is to raise the flash higher above the camera while keeping it directly above the lens axis. This can be achieved with either a flash bracket or a flash diffuser that sits high above the flash.

The flash bracket attaches to the tripod mounting hole on the bottom of the camera and the flash mounts on its top directly above the lens. It raises the flash several inches higher than when the flash is in the hot shoe. Then, there is a cable that attaches the hot shoe on the bracket to the hot shoe on the camera, so that the camera thinks the flash is still in the hot shoe.

The main reason for raising the flash higher above the camera is to force the flash shadow down behind the subject where it can't be seen. The LS-II diffuser also raises the flash high enough to fix the shadow problem when the camera is in the horizontal orientation.

Also, by raising the flash higher above the camera, the angle of the direct light causes the red-eye reflection to fall below the camera lens. This simple step eliminates 99% of the red-eye problems. It is important to note, however, that the farther you are from the subject, the higher the flash needs to be raised to avoid red-eye. For instance, if you are using a telephoto lens, and you zoom tightly onto a person's face from 30 or 40 feet away, you risk red-eye.

So, the solution to red-eye is also the bracket, although with a DSLR, the flash is already much higher above the camera than with a point-and-shoot, so red-eye problems are less of a problem.

There is another very important feature of a flash bracket - it fixes the dreaded 'side shadow'.

When you turn the camera to portrait orientation (vertical) and the flash is mounted in the hot shoe, you cast a shadow to the right of the subject on a wall. This shadow is very unprofessional and is to be avoided at all cost. With a flash bracket either the camera or the flash rotates so that the flash always remains directly above the camera. By locating the flash above the camera, the shadow will now fall behind the subject and out of sight.

This is a relative disadvantage when using the LightSphere II diffuser in vertical compositions. The LS-II still casts a side shadow if the subject is too close to a wall, although it is much less defined than with a bare flash. Often when I want a vertical orientation while I am using the LS-II on the flash in the camera’s hotshoe, I simply shoot horizontal and crop to vertical later in post processing.

20130902_081407_14.image-3_custom-brackets-cb-jr_ls-ii.jpg

Another important consideration with a flash bracket is the direction you rotate the camera when going vertical. Most professional photographers rotate the camera counterclockwise so that the alternate shutter release button is on top and useable. But some flash brackets for some inexplicable reason force you to rotate the camera clockwise, so you have to be careful when buying.

 

Lie many professionals and advanced amateurs –Nikonians and non-Nikonians- I use a Custom Brackets 'CB Junior' flash bracket with my D200, D3 and D800, and SB-800, SB-700, SB-600 flashes. It is relatively inexpensive, not very obtrusive, and works well. Custom Brackets now produce folding flash brackets for even easier packing, and models with an integrated Arca-Swiss type clamp for fast mounting and dismounting.

 

Editors note:

You may want to read the Nikonians Gary Fong LightSphere II Review

 

Got a Nikon Speedlight question?

You have a question regarding your Speedlight flash unit? No problem - just ask in our Speedlight and Lighting forum.

 

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(11 Votes )

Originally written on September 2, 2013

Last updated on January 24, 2021

Russ MacDonald Russ MacDonald (Arkayem)

Awarded for his high level skills in flash photography

Richmond Hill, GA (Savannah), USA
Gold, 6156 posts

12 comments

Franklin J. Ellias (Franklin43) on July 7, 2014

Great, easy to understand article. I have used a Strobe Frame bracket for many years and just (6 months ago) switched to the Gary Fong collapsable defuser. After many different deflectors and defusers, I am getting the best results from the Gary Fong unit. The rest are sitting on a shelf.

User on September 7, 2013

Good information. Thanks

George Chapman (Icemann) on September 5, 2013

Donor Ribbon awarded for his support to the Fundraising Campaign 2014

From a newbie here and to flash photography Thank You.I got some very good advice from this article and I going to look into that bracket

J. Ramon Palacios (jrp) on September 4, 2013

JRP is one of the two co-founders of Nikonians and has in-depth knowledge in many photographic areas Awarded for his contributions for the Resources

Steve, On image 1, an unsolicited helper turned the external flash directly upon the subjects. So it was considered a very illustrative user error by me, the editor.

Mark Page (mpage) on September 4, 2013

Russ, Thanks for the information. I had been using a Stroboframe for several years and it worked well. But I looked at the CB product you mentioned and like what I saw. I did a bit more exploring and found the perfect strobe bracket for me at the Custom Bracket Web site: http://www.custombrackets.com/ I ordered the CB Folding-TA Flash-Rotating Bracket with Arca Swiss Quick Release Clamp from B&H. I also ordered the optional CK-500 Arca-Swiss Plate Conversion Kit. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/359998-REG/Custom_Brackets_CK500_CK_500_Arca_Swiss_Plate_Conversion.html Now I will not need to remove my Kirk L-Bracket to use the strobe bracket. With the CK-500 I can easily mount the camera with bracket onto my tripod. Unlike the Stroboframe the CB bracket folds up so it can easily be carried in a pocket.

User on September 3, 2013

Well done...thanks !!!

User on September 2, 2013

Hi Russ, Having shot over 4,000 weddings I'm pretty experienced with using flash on camera and your article was very informative. That being said, I do have two slight critiques to offer: 1. In "Image 1. Harsh light from direct flash", considering how high the shadows are behind your subject's heads, the shadow above the nose on the right side subject, the light under the nose on the central subject, and the shadow on the cake, it almost looks like you turned the camera and flash upside down to accentuate the problem. The direct flash lighting is bad enough even if you don't do that! 2. In your discussion of flash brackets you mention that either the flash or the camera can rotate and one design solution is not better than the other. However, if the camera rotates then the format of the camera is arranged vertically, while the reflector of the flash is positioned horizontally. Considering the hard edged pattern of most shoe mounted flash units, unless you use a flash unit with a round reflector (Lumedyne, discontinued Sunpak 120's, or the Quantum Trio or Q-Flash) you run the risk of having both the top and bottom of your vertical format being darker than the center of your frame. like I said at the beginning of this post...overall you wrote a good article. regards, Steve Sint

Alan Dooley (ajdooley) on September 2, 2013

Awarded for his frequent encouraging comments, sharing his knowledge in the Nikonians spirit. Ribbon awarded for his generous support to the Fundraising Campaign 2015 Ribbon awarded for his generous support to the Fundraising Campaign 2017 Ribbon awarded for his generous support to the 2017 fundraising campaign Awarded for his in-depth knowledge and high level of skill in several areas, especially photojo Ribbon awarded for his repeated generous contributions to the 2019 Fundraising campaign Donor Ribbon awarded for the contribution to the 2020 campaign

JRP -- I took the comment about "most professional photographers" to mean that was the right or best way. My bad! As I told Russ, his series of flash post is brilliant. I think I can see a book here. In fact, I have been copying each posting into a single document and have the ALL collected in case I can't find them on this site later. I don't want to lose this advice and will revisit it not infrequently.

J. Ramon Palacios (jrp) on September 2, 2013

JRP is one of the two co-founders of Nikonians and has in-depth knowledge in many photographic areas Awarded for his contributions for the Resources

Alan, All Russ is saying is that we need to make sure the flash bracket we select allows for rotation in the direction that best fits our camera shutter and shooting habits.

Alan Dooley (ajdooley) on September 2, 2013

Awarded for his frequent encouraging comments, sharing his knowledge in the Nikonians spirit. Ribbon awarded for his generous support to the Fundraising Campaign 2015 Ribbon awarded for his generous support to the Fundraising Campaign 2017 Ribbon awarded for his generous support to the 2017 fundraising campaign Awarded for his in-depth knowledge and high level of skill in several areas, especially photojo Ribbon awarded for his repeated generous contributions to the 2019 Fundraising campaign Donor Ribbon awarded for the contribution to the 2020 campaign

Wish we could edit comments! I offered my though ONLY about your closing discussion of which way a flash bracket should be designed to turn when you want to orient your camera vertically. Otherwise, as I said -- the entire series has been a remarkable effort on your part. Your willingness to share your experiences in such a concise and comprehensive manner is super!

Alan Dooley (ajdooley) on September 2, 2013

Awarded for his frequent encouraging comments, sharing his knowledge in the Nikonians spirit. Ribbon awarded for his generous support to the Fundraising Campaign 2015 Ribbon awarded for his generous support to the Fundraising Campaign 2017 Ribbon awarded for his generous support to the 2017 fundraising campaign Awarded for his in-depth knowledge and high level of skill in several areas, especially photojo Ribbon awarded for his repeated generous contributions to the 2019 Fundraising campaign Donor Ribbon awarded for the contribution to the 2020 campaign

Russ - This series of thoughtful articles is extraordinary. In fact, it would make a very useful book! I do however, question your discussion of flash brackets, as it applies only to the D3, D4 or a body with an added battery pack. Not everyone has those Nikon items, and for them, I believe a bracket that enables clockwise rotation and then reorientation of the flash may be their best solution.

Zita Kemeny (zkemeny) on September 2, 2013

Very explanatory. Thanks.

G