the white card

[amironsi]

as i am a new guy to photography and i am more interested in portraits and wedding photography, i need your help.
i have an 580EX and it has the built in white card and the other plastic part
both of them i don't know what they do... can anyone help??
all i know is that the white card gives some type of effect.

[jdizzle]

That little white card is to actually bounce light to the subject's eyes or simply the effect of a Catch light. When used properly, it will put shine in the eyes. The other clear part that pulls out actually spreads out the light for wider angle shots. If I'm wrong someone will correct me here. =)

[Eric&Susan]

That little white card is to actually bounce light to the subject's eyes or simply the effect of a Catch light. When used properly, it will put shine in the eyes. The other clear part that pulls out actually spreads out the light for wider angle shots. If I'm wrong someone will correct me here. =)

Your right. You use the clear panel when your using a lens wider than 17

Eric

[amironsi]

That little white card is to actually bounce light to the subject's eyes or simply the effect of a Catch light. When used properly, it will put shine in the eyes. The other clear part that pulls out actually spreads out the light for wider angle shots. If I'm wrong someone will correct me here. =)

Thanks you Jdizzle.

so the White card and the catch light effect are welcomed in portrait pics??? right?
i would love to try this

[jdizzle]

Your welcome. =)I've seen some examples here on the People,Wedding, & Glamour and Nude forum. Try to look for some headshots with fill light and you will see what I mean.


P.S. Try playing around with the flash in your home and adjust your flash accordingly. The key thing in flash photography is to help reduce shadows and to add just enough fill light to your subject. There are some really talented people here and they are all willing to help. To be honest, I'm still learning myself so you're not alone. =) Take care! =)

[Jonathan H]

The white card is used when you bounce your flash vertically. When you do that, it lights the entire room, instead of frontally lighting your subject. It gives nice, diffuse light, but often leaves your subject with "dead eyes" with no catch-light. To solve this, you pull out that white card which will reflect in the eyes of your subject.

Keep in mind, the white card does NOT throw any significant amount of light forward, it only creates small specular reflections in any reflective surface seen by the lens (i.e. eyes).

The diffuser panel - Always use it with any lens wider than 17mm, otherwise you will have significant vignetting and edge falloff - the center of your image will be properly exposed and the edges will fade into darkness.

[jorl]

Clear panel will cover 14mm