Hi Zuiks,
I recently photographed a friend's wedding and having been
forced last minute to improvise a large flash diffuser I thought I would
share the idea.
I started out wanting a portable add-on flash bounce diffuser
like a lumiquest. Having looked into it, I decided to order a bounce add on
for one of my Sunpak patato mashers. This clip on works more like a small
umbrella unfolding to a large assymetrical rectangle that "floats" above the
flash head which is first pointed upward or even angled backwards. The nett
effect is like a giant bounce card about a square foot in size. (Downside it
looks a bit fragile and probably catches the wind.) Adorama promised that it
would deliver the bounce diffuser in time for the wedding, "although it was
temporarily out of stock". I did not think too much about it until just
before the wedding when I realised it was not going to make it. Never trust
camera stores. (It finally arrived two weeks late for the wedding and only
after some prodding)
For the wedding I improvised my own large area diffuser from a 12
inch by 12 inch polyethelene foam bag (about 2mm thick) . I placed the open
end of the bag over the flash head (pointed upward and slightly forward) and
taped it down with athletic (cloth) tape. The bag is stiff enough so that it
stays erect and can be shaped so that the forward side intersects the flash
beam at a steep angle to throw more light forward. This makes a really good
diffuser: It is robust,folds up easily and cushions your gear when not in
use. When used it lights up like a giant flash bulb, definitely no good for
lurker mode. The polyethylene foam (not to be confused with bubble wrap) is
often used for shipping and looks milky white and slightly streaky. The
thickness determines how stiff it is and hence how well it stays erect. I
used a commercial packing bag but you could probably make your own bag from
polyethelene foam sheet and some tape. Here in California TAP plastics sells
polyethelene foam wrap in various thicknesses from large rolls.
Although I used this with a Sunpak 544 it should work as well with
BG2 and T32. It probably is not quite as easy or convenient to put on a T32
alone (with tube tilted up) . But it has the advantage over the flash
extender of not adding torque to the fragile shoe and eliminating red eye
more completely.
Tim Hughes
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