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I've been playing with some off-camera shooting, just concentrating on getting some really simple setups working. The one I am playing with at the moment is a single strobe with a shoot-through umbrella, quite close to the subject, just a little above and to the side. sort of like this:

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=======BACKDROP=========

         OOO

       L1
       
       
          C


I love the soft lighting I can get with this setup, but I am getting quite a bit of lens flare even though the brolly is out of frame. Here's a typical example:




I am getting around it at the moment by applying a bit of judicious vignetting to the final image like so:



but that will not always be appropriate for the image. It goes away if I arrange it so that the lens is past the brolly and therefore cannot see it, but I like to stand a ways back and shoot with a telephoto.

Any ideas?

Hi Des,

Is the lens wearing a cond - er, I mean lens hood?

Perhaps you may want to consider some black card between the camera and the light source, to help prevent the spill from the light coming in from the front? This could even be a reflector, but it basically should stand between the camera and the light source - out of camera sight - and should help prevent the spill from occurring in the first instance.

And instead of using a shoot-through brolly, what about a soft box?

Hi Gary... Yep - I have hoods on all of my lenses, no matter where I am shooting (at the moment, I am predominantly using the 17-55/2.8 and 70-200/2.8 (with the odd bit of 85/1.4 thrown into the mix)

I have also considered getting a softbox - I like the look of the square/rectangular catchlights rather than the very obvious umbrella shaped reflections I am getting But the range of softbox and softbox mounting options is a bit bewildering to me at the moment. Has anyone successfully used one with a speedlight, or have any model suggestions I can research?

Are you coming to the BBQ at Leon's?

If so, I can let you play with some options. The Lambency is another that springs to mind, but we have a few others here you can experiment with.

If you're not coming, I'm sure we can organise something to help you to decide.

The real problem is that a speedlight is a small and intense light source, and the goal that you're seeking is to make that "apparent" light source as large and diffuse, relative to your subject, as possible.

Haha, I did a bit more research tonight and the problem ISN'T lens flare!! I took a shot without the background light just to see what was happening... and sure enough, the key light was lighting up part of the backdrop - so the loss of contrast in the shot is simply the key light contaminating the background.

Guess I need to move the subject and key light further forward!

That'll be a lesson - don't always assume the first thing that comes into your head is automatically the correct answer