While some photographers will tell you to take the flash out of your camera’s hot shoe, others love using it in that position. No matter what you’re doing, the only thing that matters is making sure that the light looks beautiful. This can be done with the flash on the camera or off ot it and the way to do it is usually with a flash modifier of some sort. But there are also a couple of tips and tricks that you can use to make it look even better.
Here are some of the best flash modifiers for your speedlights (speedlites) along with some tips on how to use them.
RoundFlash Ring Flash
Roundflash is a pretty new company, but the modifiers that they’ve been making for speedlights are really effective and also great to work with. Meet the company’s Roundflash Ringflash version 2. It’s an improvement on the first version and delivers light output that will make a subject’s eyes dazzling.
Ring lights are often used in fashion work, portraiture, and for macro photography. For what it’s worth, this diffuser is far too large to be used for macro work. But it’s great for portraiture. What you’ll really love is the trademark ring in a subject’s eyes when you’re close enough to them. This catchlight can be really beautiful or emphasize the deer in headlights look that so many fashion editors want.
To use it, your flash will need to be mounted to your camera’s hot shoe. Then unfold the Roundflash ring, snap everything into place, put it around the lens of your DSLR, slip the flash head into the body of the ring, and you’ll be all set. We found that there is around a 1 stop light loss, but the fact that it has a silver interior makes the light very punchy.
Read the review.
Buy Now: Amazon
ExpoImaging Rogue Flash Bender Large
ExpoImaging makes their own Ring Flash adapter, but it’s nowhere as popular as the company’s Flash Benders. These can be used with the flash in the hot shoe or off. Basically what they do is act like, well, a ton of different flash modifiers. The Flash Benders are quite literally a bendy piece of white cloth surface that holds its own shape. It helps your flash control the direction of the light. They’re most often used totally flat and facing towards the ceiling to let light hit the ceiling and also bounce forward towards the subject.
To use them, place the flash bender around the flash head. Then mold the bender into the shape that you’d like. They can act like snoots, let light only come out of one side, or totally change the direction that the light is heading.
They come in many sizes, but we recommend the large version for most photographers.
Read the review.
Buy Now: Amazon
RoundFlash Dish
Roundflash’s beauty dish for speedlites isn’t perfect, but it is far from being terrible. The company encourages you to use this modifier with your flash mounted off-camera since it is a beauty dish and that’s how they’re meant to be used. The Dish is designed to mimic the look of a beauty dish, but what it does instead is gives off the look of a dish and an octabank together. That’s totally fine though–because we love the light that it can output.
To use one, you’ll need to equip the special belt that comes attached to the back of the dish and make sure that the special stick inside is below the flash head. Then you can start shooting.
Again, this modifier will cut the light down by about a stop, but the silver interior will make it look much more specular.
Read the review.
Buy Now: Amazon
Westcott Apollo Orb
Though we haven’t reviewed the Apollo Orb, I used to use it quite often. It’s a special softbox with a totally different philosophy on how a speedlight should be placed inside of a softbox. Instead of putting the light in the back of the box, you’ll put it in through the bottom and make it bounce all around the interior. The light will then come out and be further diffused by the diffusion panel on the front. As a result, you’ll have beautiful soft light that many photographers go completely crazy for.
Buy Now: Amazon