not getting the right results from your
speedlight well that's why I'm going to
talk about the gary fong lightsphere in
the videos coming up all right so what
is a gary fong lightsphere well gary
fong is a guy who invented this small
little sphere there's other ones on the
market
however Gary's a great marketer he also
made a very good product so that's why I
sort of become well known in the
photography world let's first talk about
the make and the shape and why it looks
the way it does so this so this light
sphere has this round cone shape and
then you just put this little dome on
top like this and the thing about it is
it's a fairly easy simple design right
there's nothing to it all right you can
take this little dome off it's fairly
hard can't really bend it however this
part is really bendy alright and it can
collapse down something like this all
right you can store it like this or you
could even use it collapsed you can go
like the other way and use it collapsed
like this alright I usually don't most
people use it like this because you want
to get more light this is super durable
lightweight easy to travel with you know
you can crumple it down if you have to
put in your box like this this thing is
a little more cumbersome but still
pretty small so it's easy to travel with
now when we talk about light we want to
talk about the direction the quantity
and the quality of the light so I had
the speed light right here and the speed
light is great it fits right on your
camera so if I have my camera right here
I can just put my speed light on
all right so my speed light just goes on
like that on the top I'm a hot shoe on
the top okay so a lot of photographers
put the speed light on top like this
because it's very convenient and easy
and you can just aim point and shoot
your camera and bam I'm good right
however if it produces a very
unflattering light it I call this the
DMV lighting right so at the DMV they
just put the light right here right
above the camera and you get that very
unflattering look you get the weird
shadow behind you
some people shoot like that however most
people don't do that and they get scared
of using lighting because they don't
understand it I'm a huge fan and
proponent of off-camera lighting and
off-camera flash however I've been
shooting a lot of events and weddings
recently and while yes I can set up my
off-camera flash flashes there's a lot
of spontaneous moments during these
events or if I'm shooting in a nightclub
and things like that I can't set up the
light everywhere so I have to use often
a flash right on the camera or at least
right near the camera and because of
that it's hard to control the direction
of the light all right I can point it
right at the person but it's gonna give
that again that DMV lighting now the
advantages of pointing the light right
at someone I can get the the same
consistency people argue yeah you you
can use TTL mode and York you'll let the
light do it for you the camera and the
light will be synced up and they'll
they'll produce the right amount of
light TTL works a lot of times however I
am a control freak when it comes to
lighting so I like to do everything in
manual both with my camera and with my
lighting so I always put my lighting in
manual and just adjust it up and down
many photographers will rotate their
camera flash up like this and I'll
bounce the light off the ceiling so it
hits the ceiling and it comes down
and here's an example right here where
it looks very good this was that event
that I shot at a nightclub
it produces really flattering light
because I'm bouncing the light off of a
white ceiling all right so it spreads
out nice and evenly and looks great
however once I moved to an area where
the ceiling changed it was a lot higher
I didn't have time to adjust my light
and even when I bounced it I didn't get
the same look as I did before because
the ceiling wasn't really even at the
top so it produced a much different
color tone everything so then my
exposure got messed up the picture
didn't turn out as as well oftentimes
the ceilings aren't all white sometimes
they're black so you can't bounce them
really off the ceiling so what do you do
sometimes you go maybe three quarters or
you do all sorts of things you might
bounce it off the side off a side wall
and things like that and have the person
turn you just can't do that especially
if you're shooting weddings events you
can't really pose a people it's got to
be spontaneous it's got to be quick all
right so that's why I decided to get the
gary fong lightsphere it's not that
expensive it's very easy to use first
I'm going to attach it and then I'm
going to talk about why I like this
light sphere why it improved the light
okay and then I'm gonna also talk about
the limitations of this light sphere so
it just goes on like this you just
unbell kro it so it has this nice velcro
strap all right it just loosens up you
can loose around it'll fit pretty much
every flesh that you have on camera
flash like this like Nikon Canon I like
Nikon because they're really durable
they make really good flashes
all right so now it's very secure I can
hit it I can move around it's not gonna
fall off right it's gonna stay on my
flash all right one little pro tip a lot
of people will shoot like this hold it
or they'll aim it at the person like
this both are fine I prefer it up like
this you get a better spread however I
like to turn it like this
all right to the side the reason you can
turn it to the side is now that I have
it turned to the side I can shoot like
this and you know the lights gonna be
right there
okay right above give a nice even soft
spread and then let's say I wanted to
shoot in portrait mode like this I just
turn the lights fear like this and it
goes right up now if I had it turn this
way
all right if I go to turn real quick and
take another picture this way the light
is facing that way it's not facing up
and I'm not gonna get the same quality
of light all right so then I would have
to turn it this way and then take the
shot and that's way too slow all right
so if you're shooting events shooting
weddings things like this birthday
parties etc this is gonna be a lot
quicker if you just turn it to the side
because then you can turn it the other
side which way and then rotate so turn
and then I just do that one quick move
and I got the light right where I want
it earlier I talked about the quantity
quality and direction of light so the
bigger the light source the softer the
light that's why I like to use octa
boxes because they're they're big I have
the bigger the better for me so at
events weddings that's not possible all
the time I do use them often when
possible however like I said you can't
use them all the time so this makes the
light much bigger notice the source
before if I take this off the light
source is gonna be very small all right
it's just
around little surface right here this is
the light source okay now look at this
much bigger light source this light
source is also very directional even if
I pointed it up I'd have to bounce it
perfectly and then I get some weird
shadows underneath the chin the eyes and
nose etc and it's not gonna be the most
flattering light this spreads the light
out everywhere so that background shadow
right behind you that goes away it fills
in the light underneath the chin all
right here the eye is the nose and it
also just produces a more soft even
light so again you can do it if you have
a nice white ceiling at the right height
you can bounce the light off the ceiling
get a nice flattering look however you
don't always have that option alright so
when you have that dome on the top right
here to me it looks like a beauty dish
or an octa box because it has that nice
round shape okay so it can diffuse the
light so even if you pointed it right at
the person you're still going to get
that that nice round nice spread of
light all right you're not gonna get any
harsh light so the quality of the light
is gonna be really good and also the
direction it's gonna spread it out
alright and the quantity it's also going
to diffuse it because it has this on the
top and here
so the light's gonna spread out and be
much softer okay so the quantity quality
and direction of light remember those
three things are very important when
shooting people and this light sphere I
think does a great job for someone who
wants to shoot events wants to go very
quickly like shooting in manual mode
also will work great with TTL you don't
want to keep thinking all right which
direction do I bend my light where
exactly do I stand
etc you can use this and it will do save
you so much hassle and headache one last
tip before I go if you want to make your
light even better you can use off-camera
flash you can hold
it to the side a little bit you can put
it over here you can point it at the
person so I want to wrap up by saying if
you're in a pinch and you don't have
another light to use and you have to use
this light on camera gary fong
lightsphere is a great product to have
it'll save you a lot of headache any
event photographers people who shoot
weddings things of this nature I highly
recommend this now people who do
portraits other things that are more
stylized and fine art this can work
however I would recommend something
larger like a octa box or softbox I
think that would be a better option but
in terms of getting something that has a
lot of bang for your buck this is a no
brainer for me all right guys thank you
for tuning in to tech Tuesday we're
gonna have another tech review next
Tuesday every Tuesday turn back in
brekkie ramela if you haven't done so
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