Someone asked me about my experience with this Gary Fong Lightsphere
Universal Inverted Dome Cloud Diffusion System (Frosted)
I use this as my last resort, which means I will only use this when I cannot
use a larger modifier. This will give you better result than direct on
camera flash.
There item comes in with two parts,
1. a lightsphere,
2. a translucent dome (it looks like a inverted cap)
There are three ways of using it at TTL mode
1. Point lightsphere direct at your target, without dome/cap
2. Point lightsphere direct at your target, with dome/cap
3. Point lightsphere to a reflective surface to bounce light off, with dome/
cap. The reflective surface could be a wall, or ceiling.
Among these three methods, number 3 will give you the best result. Depending
on your distance to your target, you will need to adjust flash exposure
compensation. The closer you get to your target, the more -X you need to use.
Ok, here are some test images.
flash not fire, 1/40s, f/4, iso 100. Yeah, almost black. Make a quick guess
how much under exposure this is? This is about -5 exposure
Same camera setting, plus ETTL flash, -1 FEC, method 1. This look is almost
the same as direct on camera flash
Now method 2, notice at same FEC, it is over exposed
now redo method 2 at -1 1/3 FEC, it looks ok. Compare to method 1, shadow
gets filled in more, and shadow line is softer
Now method 3, -1 FEC, the shadow line is softer than 2, and more fill in
shadow. It looks ok on LCD, but slightly over exposed on computer. I did not
do a -1 1/3 on this
And the cat want to be photographed.