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Stofen OmniBounce
These little bits of molded translucent plastic are worth their weight in gold. The first thing I do when I get out my 550EX flashes is to attach the StoFen OmniBounce diffusers. I typically put one white diffuser on whichever flash is going to be my secondary slave, and put a gold diffuser stacked on top of a white diffuser on the main flash. If I'm only using one flash, I'll stack all three. If I'm looking for a special effect, I'll add a green OmniBounce to the secondary slave, which adds a strong cyan color cast (the gold one warms things up) which can make for dramatic backgrounds and accents.
OmniBounces are especially effective for macro work when you can get the flash right up next to the subject. The smooth silky lighting effect is beautiful.
Due to the small size, they are not as effective as a soft box or umbrella. They are the most effective in smaller spaces like the rooms of a typical house, where the diffused light has walls/ceilings or other surfaces to also reflect off of. When I need to use them in a space large enough that I don't get any light bouncing off the walls or ceiling, I tape paper plates to them to act as reflectors. It looks strange, and a bit cheesy, but it works! To get the paper plates to fit, I cut two slits making a flap slightly wider than the flash. this allows for swiveling and tilting the flash head. Pie tins would also work.
Rating: Good (4 out of 5)
Recommendation: If you have a flash that they have a model for, buy at least one. 2 is better, as stacking them greatly improves the
amount of diffusion.
