So... I got a FlashBender (a few new ones)

cuthbert

cuthbert

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Mark
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On the recommendation of somebody from the Lighting and Studio forum, I thought i'd get a FlashBender to light portraits on location when I'm not up for carrying around loads of clobber. I purchased the diffuser panel which I used here - the whole lot came to about £25 (edit 40) quid or something from Amazon.

Anyway, I'm impressed. To put it into context, when I shot these earlier today, it was very dull, no sun, even a reflector would struggle to give lift unless used closely. This is one of the scenarios I thought this would be useful for. I also want to try it at sunset and golden hour to see what results I get too, but that's for another day. I will just say, my kids weren't on top form (late night as they went to a party) so i only got a few shots.

All these were shot with the FlashBender off camera. Personally I think the quality of the light is really nice. It's going to take a bit of experimentation to get the optimal effect, but for a first go I was pretty pleased with the results.

Anyway, here are a few pics:

As always, feedback, c+c and hints and tips very welcome and very much appreciated.

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I think they look great. As always, love the colours/processing you use too.
 
Beautiful shots and processing. I was always skeptical about using flashbenders, but your post has proved me wrong.

Mind sharing the link of the product on Amazon?
 
Lovely sharp shots mate, light is great as is the clean processing. (y)
 
Lovely, lovely portraits. I own a Flash bender, but didn't get results the same as yours - could you show a 'set up' image to help me understand how you used it please? Thanks Mandy
 
These are superb!:clap:

These are the kind of shots I would love to be able to achieve!(y)

I'm thinking this is a 70-200 lens but would love to know!
 
Really nice shots, it certainly looks to have done a good job, your kids are so cute.
 
thanks again for your lovely words :)

I used my favourite lens in the whole world, the Canon 135/F2.

The lighting set up was really simple - the distances aren't perhaps 100% to scale, but are fairly close:

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because i wanted the lighting on the faces to be fairly even, i positioned the flashbender to just fill the shadows and used to sun as my main light. even though it was a dull day, the shadows were very evident under the eyes especially - but at a metre or so, it's got enough power to lift them giving a even soft fill.
 
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A huge thank you for taking the time to reply. I've since looked at your previous posts and agree with all the positive comments you receive. You are producing an inspirational body of work.

Now to dig out the bender! Mandy
 
Really nice shots with a fairly simple and inexpensive lighting set-up, and colours and pp are superb.

Care to share your processing secrets with us?

Thanks.
 
Well you've just cost me £43! That has to say something for your shots!
 
Lovely shots, really nice lighting.

I have the flash bender, however I have found that the light is still quite harsh from it, so perhaps I need to play around with the position more and/or order the diffusion panel.
 
Thanks again everyone -

landwomble - I used highspeed sync with ettl metering on these - I did play at home with normal flash and it works just as well with ettl.

axnxdxy - i did use the diffuser panel and i did place it as close as i could to the subject, in playing around with it, you quickly work out that the smaller the light source relative to the subject, the harsher the shadows so get it as close as you can.

david - I do most of my processing in Lightroom now, I'll take a screengrab tonight of the adjustments.
 
I've been thinking of buying this for a while now but wasn't sure if it was just a gimmick now seeing your pictures and the results you have, ill be buying one as soon as I get home from my holiday

Really nice pictures
 
Thanks again guys, can't wait to get out and have another play around with it at the weekend. Hopefully the weather will keep nice.

As promised, here are the adjustments i did in Lightroom. They may vary a bit from image to image, but that's all I did.

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note the "Reset Settings" in the middle, I must have been playing around with that one, so ignore everything before that.
 
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Yep, that's another purchase !!! Great light from such a simple gadget.....
 
Thank you for the LR settings Mark, much appreciated.

I will give it a try, and will be happy if I can reproduce the effect, it's lovely.
 
Great shots, love the sharpness and DOF you always seem to get with that lens. I've got the smaller version of the flash bender. So much you can do with them. I tend to use mine as a flag when using the speedlite as a studio light when lighting the backdrop.

I've not really used it for much else, so would be interested to know the direction you had the flash pointing in relation to the children. Have to dig mine out and have a play.
 
Curse you Mark!


Yet another product to the wish list!!

Really like these. You have a great "look" to your photos by which I mean you can tell its one of your photos when they're up (if that makes sense).

Really kind of you to share the lr4 tips too.

Ta

S
 
Mark has bought shares in the Flashbender now as he is selling them now.:LOL:

Great shots mate and great control with the light.Did you ever try a shoot through umbrella before you bought the Flashbender outdoors?
 
thank you again everyone for all your lovely words.

Dean - i haven't tried a brolly yet - it's on my list to get - i've seen a couple of kits which seem to be a bit less portable than this but much more portable than the softbox i have, i might just order one next week.

managed to get out and have another play today. did it with the sun low in the sky and deliberately shot into the sun to see how the flashbender would balance in these conditions. i'm pretty impressed. there doesn't seem to be a huge amount of power loss from the flash, i got a good amount of fill. here are a few from today.

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as always, your feedback very much appreciated.
 
Excellent work - I've played with a brolly and a cheap softbox - based on these images I would stick with your chosen approach.

I often fail to use my soft box because its cumbersome or draws too much attention or makes the model feel self conscious.

Sometimes the simple approach gets the best results. Keep posting, love your work Mandy
 
Thank you Amanda - i do prefer the light from a softbox, i think, but as you say, it's pretty big and i suppose overkill for lighting family snaps in the woods.

i did actually order the cheap lastolite brolly kit today, i'll give a whirl and see how i get on. it might be a very good compromise too. i'll try to do some comparisons if i can to see how much different the shadows are.

thanks again,

Mark
 
cuthbert said:
Thank you Amanda - i do prefer the light from a softbox, i think, but as you say, it's pretty big and i suppose overkill for lighting family snaps in the woods.

i did actually order the cheap lastolite brolly kit today, i'll give a whirl and see how i get on. it might be a very good compromise too. i'll try to do some comparisons if i can to see how much different the shadows are.

thanks again,

Mark
Click to expand...

Hi

Ordered today.......I'm sure that dividend from Rogue should pay well :LOL:

Looking forward to giving it a good workout. Be even more pleased if I get results half as good!!

S
 
Still learning mine so won't post results just yet! I want some more though!
 
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