Diffusers and color correcting for lighting indoor events, can/should you do both?

Hey guys, I'm looking to pull from those who have more experience then i do with lighting for indoor invents. I have several sunpak 383 manual flashes. I usually use them on camera for fill, when taking portraits outdoors. I have always used a diffuser on them. I will be doing some indoor event photography in the near future and am aware that I may need to gell my flash to match ambient light color temp. If I am gelling, would I be able to still use a diffuser, or should i try to bounce with the gell as much as i can and don't worry about a diffuser? I know physically they both cannot be on the flash at once. I appreciate input from those who know!

By diffuser do you mean a stofen style thing? If so, firstly there's nothing stopping you putting a gel on, then putting the stofen over it, if your gels aren't quite big enough to be held on by the stofen then just put a bit of tape on the ends. Secondly, if you're shooing outdoors then, with the odd exception, putting a stofen on your flash does diddly squat apart from eating a couple of stop of light from your flash.

Certainly you can do both! I have done both for years...I have a 1/8 CTO filter on my flash to warm the flash a bit from its normally slightly cooler light (compared to daylight) and also used a light modifier with it.

Yes, i have a few of the stofen diffusers. I will try taping the gel underneath. SJRobbins you are probably right, they likely are not needed when just adding fill for outdoor work. The sunpaks i have only go to 1/16 power. Next time out, i'll give bare flash a try and see how it works for me. I have not tried just bare flash yet. I just assumed it would be a little harsh, but it is likely not the case when using them for a little fill. Thanks for the input!

I believe Roscoe has ND gels as well, you can use that to lower the flash output, but be careful, you need an air interface or they might melt from absorbing all that heat.

And outdoors, agreed with SJ, there's no reason to use a Stofen. If you want softer light, bounce it off a wall or use an umbrella. Even an assistant holding a diffuser panel in front of the flash, like the one in the 5 in 1 reflectors, will work better.

I would leave the 'tupperware' diffusers in storage for outdoor work. All they do for you outdoors (or in very large indoor venues) is waste light and thus battery power.

You can use a reflector type diffuser such as the LumiQuest Promax System that directs all of the light from the flash (whether or not the light is going through a colored gel) toward the subject. This combination works well anywhere.

SkipD wrote in post #14424802
I would leave the 'tupperware' diffusers in storage for outdoor work. All they do for you outdoors (or in very large indoor venues) is waste light and thus battery power...

Only the blue rays of light go forward to the subject. All the rest of the light rays are wasted, because they do not go directly to the subject, and there are no adjacent surfaces outdoors to serve as large reflective surfaces which can reflect light back toward the subject and surroundings.

The lumiquest promax system definitely looks great! I should have went that route in the first place. Thanks for the input everyone!