Alot of people dont have much understanding of how these units
work, and of course theres no big manual with them.
The unit gets its name from the fact its basically provides for a
bouncing of light. Direct flash is very harsh and bouncing off a
ceiling etc, looks better typically but requires more power and
also leaves shadows under the chin, eyes etc. so it alone is not
the best option either.
The omibounce is a simple tool that when used properly, allows some
of the light to go forward and some of the light to bounce off the
ceiling, thus giving the benifits of both lighting sources from a
single flash.
There are many other tools that do this same thing and even a
simple index card will do it as well. Just rubber band it to the
flash head, bend a part of it over the flash and angle the flash
upwards. part of the light will bounce off the ceiling and part
will reflect off the card for frontal fill.
Using an omnibounce outdoors is useless. Light travels in a
straight line and if theres no ceiling or wall to boucne off, it
will never be of any benifit.
Shooting thru the omni bounce and thinking it will difffuse the
light is foolish as well. All you are doing is using more power
and still getting a harsh direct light source.
To soften the light, you need to diffuse it from a larger source.
Thats what a softbox or umbrella or wall does. The size of the
light source is then very large and thus softer
The omnibounce doesnt really make the light source any larger
Sof-ten makes a small soft box for the flash that does help though.
Its about 4x6 inches in the front and velcro's on. This does
soften shadows a bit and is better than nothing, but certainly not
the soft light of bouncing into a wall or using a real umbrella etc
Hope this clears the matter up for everyone and allows you to use
and purchase your tools in an intelligent manner for your needs
--
http://www.pbase.com/bigbad
