Gary Fong Lightsphere: A Review

When using a flash for photography the results can be harsh-long and dark shadows, circles around the subject's eyes and even blown out spots where something reflected most of the light back to the camera. The key is to diffuse or soften the light that hits the person you're photographing.

Bouncing the light off the ceiling is one of the more traditional solutions. If the ceiling is too high or dark, though, very little of the light will hit your subject making the resulting photograph even worse.

Some flash heads are equipped with a small white card or reflector. With it you point the flash toward the ceiling and allow the card to reflect enough light back on your subject to reduce harsh shadows with a more flattering light. If your unit doesn't have one, a rubber band can hold a small piece of white cardboard and produce very similar results.

All of the techniques are effective in the right circumstances, but a studio-quality portable solution to the harsh flash-lighting problem hasn't been invented. The Gary Fong Lightsphere comes awfully close, though.

The Lightsphere is constructed of a relatively clear, although translucent polymer plastic. It's pliable enough to have survived several trips in checked on luggage and it hasn't cracked or broken in 12 months of checked-luggage beating. The unit tested was designed to fit Canon's 580 series of flash heads, although a newer universal version is now available for virtually every strobe manufactured today.

It measures 4 1/4 inches in diameter and 4 inches tall. It weighs only a few ounces, so tucking it in your camera bag isn't a major concern. If space is an issue, which it always is, simply remove the cover and it stores flat and a lens can nestle into the Lightsphere. It's tough enough to take it.

The sides of the Lightshpere are ribbed internally, which diffuses the light in a more flattering manner. The outside is completely smooth and it simply slips onto the flash head. A universal version holds onto the flash securely enough that the company is advertising it can support the camera, lens and flash. Infrared transmitters and sensors are not blocked by this relatively small accessory on Canon's 580EX flash.

Using the Lightsphere is far from intuitive. Luckily an instructional DVD is included that is well worth watching, twice.

For example, simply allowing the unit to point directly at the subject produces results pretty similar to what you get from a bare strobe. With the white cap installed things get a lot better, but the right technique, according to the DVDis to point the strobe at the ceiling. If it's pretty high, take off the white cap to get more light to bounce. The internal ribs helps scatter and diffuse the light more efficiently than a piece of white cardboard, so the soft light that looks so good in portraits is increased on the subject by using this approach. The flash head shouldn't be broadside to the subject either, although it is hard to see much of a difference in the final product.

The company also makes several different caps or domes for the unit called the AmberDome and ChromeDome. Using them you can warm or cool each of a portrait's overall feel, making this unit very versatile for on-site portraiture. When the strobe hits the colored dome, of course, some of that light is directed back into the ribbed unit, warming the face and not just the area that receives the bounced light. It's all very effective and well designed for travel.

Images produced during testing were vastly improved and by adjusting depth of field with the F/stop things only became better. The Lightsphere does add to the overall bulk of the strobe and camera, making it a little unwieldy for candids, but it's tough, works well and is something any photographer interested in taking better on-site portraits should consider adding to their camera bag. Expect to pay somehwere between $50 and $60.