I saw an interesting thread on the Magmod Community Facebook Group the other day that sparked a small amount of controversy. A user uploaded a few images of a mannequin with a fixed camera+flash firing at the mannequin with all the various modifiers attached, these images shot indoor towards the ceiling (so all bounce shots) in a makeshift studio of sorts. The user asked the community to guess which picture had which (if any) modifier attached (magsphere or magbounce) etc. The results were quite interesting with many users getting it wrong. The most pleasing exposed image with the softest shadow was the bare flash shot.
It certainly sparked my interest and as a magmod user I aimed to set out to replicate her findings as well as tinker with a few more modifiers and physical manipulations to see if I could alter or improve the shots.
Below I post the results of my own testing which do indeed reflect an accurate finding the initial magmod user found with her own experiment. To those of you with better technical understanding of photography and lighting in general, the results won't surprise, to those more amateurish (like myself) they might be a bit of an eye opener.
The test was conducted under the following conditions;
Camera+Flash Bracket (with a v6ii and RF60x attached) was mounted on a tripod on my verandah. The mannequin placed a few feet back with a simple blind as a backdrop.
The camera was in Manual mode, 1/60, f4, ISO 200 (the first image is a non flash shot to illustrate the ambient light (lower than I'd normally have but important to really detect what's happening with the flash lighting effects).
TTL mode used throughout, Exposure 0.0
WB set to 5000K, in the Menu I have configured flash use to NOT take over the WB and set to AWB, instead keep it at my 5000K as chosen. I think this is interesting to note as a lot of the 'MagBounce' shots seem to lose their 'warmth'...
The entire test was performed around 3pm, on a dull overcast day, studio environment this was not. However it was completed within 20mins or so and the ambient lighting conditions didn't seem to alter much (and I think the comparison shots reflect this).
I think it's
really important to note however that the Magsphere, Diffuser Gel and Magbounce were not all intended to be used in this specific set up way. Different environment, distances to subject and desired effect wanted all dictate their uses.
The Setup
Shot 1, No Flash
Shot 2, Bare Flash, Ceiling Bounced
Shot 3, Magsphere, Ceiling Bounced
Shot 4, Diffuser Gel Only, Ceiling Bounced
Shot 5, Magbounce
Shot 6, Bare Flash, Directly Facing Fwd
Shot 7, Magsphere, Directly Facing Fwd
Shot 8, Diffuser Gel Only, Directly Facing Fwd
Shot 9, Diffuser Gel+Magsphere, Directly Fwd
Curious to understand why this shot would look underexposed. I mean of course the flash has to penetrate two diffusers, but isn't the point of TTL to fire a preflash quickly first, ascertain what is required from that flash output and then for the real shot compensate accordingly to bring the shot into proper exposure? I would have thought this shot would be exposed the same as the rest but the flash fired would have been stronger (requiring a longer recycle time). Hmm...
I decided here to try pulling the maggrip down further on the flash, so that the gap I saw between the Magsphere>Maggrip and where possible flash spill light was slipping out was minimised;
Gap
No Gap, Maggrip pulled down further
To save you scrolling up, here's the shot again from earlier with the magsphere facing the ceiling
with the gap existing;
And now below with the gap taken away;
And the same with the Magbounce, with the Gap (as before);
And now without a gap;
I think without the gap the shots are better, softer shadows slightly.
We typically have a small gap there and cannot always have the maggrip that low down on the flash head due to using other modifiers such as maggrids and maggels which are flat.
Anyway, hope you find these results interesting. To my eye bare flash wins, magsphere with no gap a close second, and interesting to note that there is not a dramatic difference between using the diffuser gel and sphere when ceiling bouncing. Magsphere produces a better image if used directly at the subject than bare flash imo, but it's not that profound. All the images look a tad underexposed with a modifier, I think they would have looked better if I had compensated the TTL exposure slightly.
Cheers,
Bruce