Omni-Bounce

I've just about mastered getting reasonable results with my EOS300D with 550EX for indoor shots of my little girl. Basically I nearly always have the camera in manual mode, large f stop and the shutter around 100-125 second. However I was unimpressed with the harsh light and shadows I was getting, so I started angling the head at about 45 degrees with the flap thingy extended. The results were better, but not as good as I'd hoped for so I've purchased an Omni-Bounce to see if that'll improve things. The following image is with the camera in manual, shutter at 125, f5, ISO 100, Omni-bounce fitted and flash angled at 45 degrees. I was amazed how dark it was, it wasn't much better with +1 FEC dialled in, any ideas, guidance?

My only thought is I might have been a bit close, was about 4-5 feet away (guess)

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Dial FEC @+2 and you're set

Get Westcott's Mini Apollo Softbox.

Thanks Rob, will give it a try. I take it because of the Omni-bounce it won't come out too harsh, even at +2?

A better idea that slapping plastic onto your flash is to understand light. I don't like the omni at all. Unless you bounce it it makes no difference, if you bounce it you might as well just use a white bounce card.

amen

Isn't that precisely the same principle as extending the flap thingy and angling the flash at 45 degrees or vertical? If so I'm getting quite harsh shadows using that technique.
As far I understand it, it's virtually impossible to eliminate the shadows using a single flash on the hotshoe anyhow. I'm only after a compromise given that I don't want to go hassle of setting up appropriate lighting. For the price of the Omni-bounce it was worth seeing what advantage (if any) it offered over the technique I was using previously.
My little girl will pose for about a nano second before getting bored and either wandering off or trying to grab the camera, so you have to be fast and don't have the luxury to think things through. If I can come up with some "default" settings for taking shots indoors with the flash that give me reasonibly consistent results then I'm happy. In the absence of any actual advice, I'll play with the Omni for a bit and then decide whether it adds any benefit over my original technique.

Do as I do when using the omnibounce, put the camera in manual iso 400 f5.6 shutter 1/125 and angle the flash at 45 degrees and dial in +2 on the flash. I have never had a problem with this setup.

Bruce

The omni bouce is better than straigt on flash. I never bouce it unless I need to cut intensity in a very small room.

Boucing light when possible is preferable. Flash straight up with a white card on flash.

Sometimes when not at 45 degees the omnibouce fools your sensor into under Exp.

I generally find I must use FEC +1-1 2/3 with the omnibounce.

Now I know why I need FEC as my diffused flash head reduces light by a stop, stop and a half but when shooting with ETTL mode in theory the flash should adjust for the decrease flash output from the omnibouce.

My experience is that I most deffinately need flash exposure compensation when using the omni bounce or just plain bouce period. I'm just wondering why EttL doesn't atomatically compensate for me.

Any comments?

I can only tell you that with an 8-12 ft ceiling (white or very, very light) and using LumiQuest's 80/20 bouncer I can't recall any metering problems using ETTL.

Thanks for the input guys, whilst all this is very reassuring I am a bit confused why the ETTL doesn't just automatically compensate. However nice it would be to know, I've got to the stage with my ETTL relationship (7 year itch syndrome!) where I just don't care anymore and just want to get some consistency with my results. Will try more FEC and see if it helps.

Regardless of our opinions of the various flash attachments available, so far no one in this thread has offered an explanation as to why the shot is underexposed. I don't have a good explanation, either. Sometimes E-TTL can be confused if there's a fair amount of white in the frame. Perhaps the child's white shirt was a factor. We may never know for sure. This is a good example of why we should look at our histograms frequently and adjust accordingly.

Regarding the Omnibounce attachment, remember one thing: "Omni" means "every". It is designed to throw the light EVERYWHERE, with the idea that it will BOUNCE off of whatever it hits to create a diffuse light source. The angle of the flash head with this attachment won't make a lot of difference.

This might work sometimes and lead to disastater other times. The amount of light that hits your subject directly from an angled flash head will depend on the flash zoom setting, subject size and distance, and other factors. If you want to bounce the light without the omnibounce, aim the flash straight up and use an index card rubber-banded to it to creat catchlights and a bit of direct illumination. In the shot above, the camera was rotated clockwise 90 degrees so the flash was on the right side of the camera. In this orientation, you will need to swivel, rather than tilt the flash to point it toward the ceiling. The built-in pull-out mini bounce card thingy won't do any good in this arrangement. Alternatively, an index card attached to the flash head would need to be secured to the side, in order to direct light toward your subject.

Can't help on the underexposure, sorry. I have an omnibounce but find if you're close up indoors, what's best for me is point the flash striaght up with the catchlight card out. This gives nice soft fleshtones, if it's quite dark use Tv Mode and play with exposures to let as much ambient light in as poss, try as slow as 20th sec if need be, the flash will fix the subject. BTW Stofen recommend 65 Deg.

Thanks Curtis, there's some really good points in your post that I'd been completely oblivious to, but obvious now you've pointed them out. I'll certainly take them onboard from now on.

peatoire, I'll certainly try playing with the head angle, although the destructions that came with the Omni definately recommended 45 degrees.

Yes, sorry you're rifgt, my mistake,
could have sworn it said 60 on my instructions.
Give Tv mode a crack though.