Do Plastic Flash Diffusers Really Work?

 

If your Speedlites or hot shoe flashes were not supplied with a white plastic flash diffuser there are plenty of after market examples available.

But do they really work and if so how? I'll not go into too much detail as David Bergman on Adorama TV has the best explaination.

 

Basically:

• They reduce light output decreasing battery life.
• They are useless outdoors or where there are no surfaces close by to reflect light.
• They are still a small light source relative to the subject so any direct light will have a hard shadow edge the same as the bare flash tube.
• They're fine pointing up indoors where there's a ceiling that is not too high and wall close by to bounce light back into the shadows. This is fine providing the walls are white or a very pale tint. Stronger colour will reflect and contaminate the shadows.

My favourite use of the little white plastic box diffuser is to spread the light inside umbrella and other light modifiers.

If it's softer light you're looking for then it's best to enlarge the relative size of the light source by using a bounce card such as the Rogue FlashBender v3 Large Reflector.

Rogue FlashBender v3 Large Reflector

A Rogue Flash bender v3 larger reflector on camera creates beautiful flattering
butterfly lighting. In this frame a foam core v-flat reflector (aka the Brooklyn reflector) was used to fill the shadows.

To quote the Rogue Flash website "The FlashBender design also conserves energy because it directs the light from your flash towards your subject instead of scattering it everywhere.  This has the benefit of allowing you to shoot on lower flash power settings with faster recycle times, and results in fewer overheating problems and longer battery life.

Simple flash diffusers on the other hand just do one thing, scatter light everywhere.  This can work when you're shooting under an 8' white ceiling, but not so much when you're shooting outside, or under an off-colored ceiling (yellow, orange, etc)".

Disclosure

This post is not supported by any of the brands named herein. It is purely for educational and information use.

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