I'm considering getting one of these in the studio size. I shoot weddings and engagements.
Does anyone have any feedback on this for me?
Is this a good product.
Pro's? Cons?
http://store.garyfonginc.com/whaletail.html

Really? No one?

Hi Jennifer,

Personally I think you'll do better with A Better Bounce Card, not because it will necessarily give you better results, but because it will give you very similar results for a whopping $2 and 15 mins of your time.

Personally I use the Stofen Omnibounce, and to be honest, it's only on certain situations where one can really tell the difference between a Stofen, and Light Sphere, and Whale Tale, or a 3x5 Index card held by a rubber band on the flash. I have shot with photographers that have used all of the above, and to me the difference between all of those is negligible the vast majority of the time. Hope this helps.

I haven't used the whaletail, but I agree with this. I was raving about the lightsphere and then I didn't really see much difference when I used the diffuser that came with my sb-800 which is basically a stofen. I don't have a problem with the lightsphere, but I could have saved a few bucks.

The best addition to my lighting has been some extra flashes, umbrellas, and strobist.com.

A better bounce card definitely.

Plus, you get to take a trip to the hobby lobby type store up there in the great frozen north.

And for more fun, get the black foamie thingy too. It's fun to use that as a shield and not blind people (unless you're outside and want to blind pigeons with bounce!)

What kind of light diffuser or modifier do you guys all recommend for a convention centre environment where the walls and ceilings are too far to bounce off of?

Will you be using only speedlights? In that case an AlienBee strobe bounced off of the ceiling might give you better results.

Yes...just speedlights, and I'll be wandering around the event.
Do you happen to have a link for that alienbee strobe. Will this product work for me?

What I have done in a similar situation where the church ceiling was about 25ft high, I only used the bounce card on my SB-800 and blasted the ceiling at full power. At ISO800, shutter speed of 1/30, and f2.8, I was getting decent results. If you shoot with something like the Canon 5D you may want to use ISO1600. Another idea is if you have 2 flashes and you can use them with IR as a master/slave setup, it may help to bounce the on-camera one from the ceiling at full power and hand-hold the other one with a diffuser to give you direction lighting. Just don't use a diffuser of any kind on the one on camera and bounce straight up.

For the Alienbee I would recommend the AB800, but you will need Pocket Wizards to trigger it, a light stand to mount it on, and an outlet to plug it into. If there is an area where you'll be concentrating your shooting it may help, but if the convention room is too large it won't help if you are 100ft away from the strobe and where it bounces.

Hope this helps.

Assistant with speedlight on a stick.

I do have two flashes and I shoot with a 5D.
So what kind of diffuser would work best with the directional flash?
This is kind of what I thought the whaletail would be good for.

Can you get those at the state fair?

Well, I don't have an assistant for this day..but I do have a tripod for the flash.I also have an ST-E and two flashes if necessary.So...shouldn't the flash be diffused if it's directional. From above and to the side of me...is what I'm thinking.I think so....but if it's not dipped in chocolate sauce, I don't want it!

Just about any really, but the A Better Bounce Card should be pretty good. I am thinking of getting one that Neil Cowley uses, which is kind of a soft box for a speed light. You can check it out at this link where Neil opens his bag

Thanks Ramiro. I appreciate your advice.

Jen

I think the Whail Tale does great for horizontal images, beautiful diffused light.

For some to many (depending on several lighting factors) verticals it produces little to no shadow. Still I have countless verticals using it where I see a direct harsh shadow (and this is with bouncing and using it).

Additionally the flaps (which are designed to be removed) can be knocked somewhat easily, so when not shooting with it (if you decide to get it) I recommend taking them off and storing them in a pocket of your gear bag.

Thank you for your feedback Danielle.

I own the whale tail and it can be good, but you need to know how to use it. I haven't found it to be that much better then my stoffen. Probably because I don't know how to use it! I don't know that I would buy it again, but that's just me!

mmm...deep fried sb-600 on a stick from the fair. Quite the tasty treat indeed.

Those $20 flimsy monopods at best buy work pretty well for the old strobe on a stick routine if that's the way you end up going.

What about the lumiquest softbox as a diffuser for directional flash?

Also does anyone know what these sell for? http://www.photoflex.com/Photoflex_Product...it_1/index.html

Well, for anyone who is interested, I found the photoflex litedome for $81.99 CAN but the connector is more. Haven't found the price on that.

that look cool but its too big even though its light weight, and what i noticed is the dome blocks the speedlight's censor

I use that on a separate stand for backlight or side lighting, etc. great for location work for bridal stuff. I hook up my camera and that remote flash with pocket wizards. Works great.

Oh...I didn't think of that. Really? I'd need pocket wizzards to use this?

I shoot in these conditions on a regular basis. A diffuser does not help you if there are no bounce surfaces. All a diffuser does is send the light in every direction. If you are surrounded by nice bounce surfaces then diffusion can be helpful, if not, you are just throwing away flash power.

If there is no way to bounce I shoot the flash direct and drag my shutter. This picks up some of the ambient light to keep from having a bright subject on a black background. If there is a pronounced color to the ambient light you can gel your flash to match it.

Going to off camera light works, too. I shoot in one venue that has a 75 foot high ceiling. I put a light in the balcony and aim it at the ceiling. I put another light on the other side of the balcony, also pointed at the ceiling. These lights are on separate Pocket Wizard channels so I can pick which one I want to use. The light is coming from different directions so I pick the one that will give me the light I want.

I shoot in another venue where every surface is either dark stained wood or old bricks. I shoot with an off camera flash aimed at one spot. I use it when my subject is facing it, and I use on camera light when the subject is facing another way. I also use the off camera light as a rim light when my subject is facing me with his back to the off camera light.

Great advice. Thank you. I wont have any surfaces to bounce from so I think I'm going to shoot off camera...up high aiming down...balancing it with the ambient light.

If you are shooting direct with an off camera flash be sure to watch for the shadows it creates. It's frustrating to have a good picture ruined by a huge shadow of a chandelier projected on the wall behind the subject - or even worse - your own shadow over someone's face.

The light is very hard when done like this so the shadows will be very pronounced.

Hmmm...what if I bounce into an umbrella?

I don't know if this is what you are thinking, but here is an article with images using shoot-through umbrellas at a reception. In your case, if you can't bounce, maybe point the umbrella towards the dance floor, head table. Just be aware that shoot through umbrellas are notorious for creating flare, so you'll have to watch out where you are relative to the umbrellas.

Finding the Light

An umbrella might help but probably not a whole lot. If I'm understanding the room properly it sounds like the light will be a long way from the action. Any light you add is going to be directional and the relative size difference will probably not be enough to make the umbrella worth the light you will loose by bouncing.

Well actually, this is a convention type show...with booths and tables....so most of the action will be at these individual booths.
I'm thinking of bouncing the light into a silver umbrella, back at the booths. The major difficulty will be that I need to move around the convention floor, so I'll have to port my flash, stand and umbrella with one hand and my camera with the other.

Thoughts?