Proper use of 420EX and Stofen Omnibounce

I too extend it about 2-3 inches above the flash, but i take a lot of portrait/close photography, so i point my flash straight up and have the light bounce and diffuse off the white card.

If the subjects are a little further away, i angle the flash 45 and then bend my card up (so it's vertical) to diffuse the light and bounce it forward.

Again, I'm still a beginner at photography, but I have found these methods to work very well. . .

Can anybody comment if I am doing this correctly?

I just tried this method this past weekend at a company Christmas Party where I was asked to take pictures of the couples attending while seated at their tables. The ceilings in the banquet room were extremely high and the ambient light in the room was pretty low. Photography nightmare! But VIOLA – I pulled out my rubber bands and my recipe card stolen that morning from my wife’s recipe box and I was in business. I also tilted the head of the 420EX straight up and then extended the card 2-3 inches over the top of the flash head. I got some very good results. I will try and post an example later tonight. I did notice that my results varied by the amount of zoom used. I really should have tried to leave the zoom lever alone as this affected the quality of light that the exposure received from my recipe card. Overall, I would say that this a great technique and one that I will continue to utilize. (Although I guess I do wish that all those recipe cards were full in my wife’s cabinet right???)

Hey just browsing around Amazon while eating my lunch and noticed this:

http://www.amazon.com …ce&s=electronic​s&n=507846

It seems that Stofen is aware of the index card trick and has tried to mimic it with this item. What does everyone think of this?

I've used the Lumiquest (still do when I take all my gear with me) with great success. I agree it's less than attractive but it IS effective. These days I use the back of a cigarette pack or index card or whatever is available. Recently I was stuck with nothing available and just rested my open hand along the back of the tilted flash head (420EX), extending my fingers to reflect some light forward. Worked a treat.

Here is an example of what I was getting recently using the "index card and rubber band" homemade diffuser......I was pretty happy with most of results.........

HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Byte size: ZERO | PHOTOBUCKET ERROR IMAGE

Nice-looking picture. . . isn't the index card the coolest idea? It diffuses and distributes the light so evenly. i have figured out the omnibounce recently to get similar results. here's an example from a family gathering yesterday:

HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'text/html' | Byte size: ZERO

Hi,
When I shoot in a living room or other small room I just remove the omnibounce and aim straight up at the ceiling, no shadows are seen what so ever, when using an omnibounce you will get some nasty shadows behind the subject.

The only time I really use the omnibounce is when I shoot directly at someone and there is no wall or other object behind him/her.

Greetings,
Frank

Markubig,

I would love to see that photo using the Omnibounce. I am still teetering as to whether or not I should even invest the money in one - if I would find enough times where it would be needed. Your picture is not loading - can you re-post it or just paste in the link to it? Thanks and happy holidays.