Photojojo Review: Popup Flash Bounce

I recently purchased a product from photojojo.com: The Popup Flash Bounce.

Popup Bounce Flash and the fuzzy case that came with it

I was really excited when I received it!  It diffuses your popup flash to make the light softer. It bounces the light off  the mirror which then bounces the light off the walls and ceiling around you.  It makes the background lighter and the foreground softer.

Here is how the Popup Flash Bounce looks on my camera:

 I was super excited because, as a photographer who is just starting off, I have to rely on my popup flash more so than I would like.  This means either shooting at precise moments in the day to get optimal lighting, or spending hours afterward photoshopping the lighting.  The popup flash cuts my work in half (or more!).

Here are some examples of my flash with and without the Popup Flash Bounce attached.  The photos are of my Lovely Lady statue from Japan.

in front of my kitchen...which needs to be cleaned...

standing on my pen case, side ways flash

The package comes with a troubleshooting area that helps you figure out how to get it to work!  Up the ISO, longer shutter speeds, shoot in manual only, white walls and ceiling, lower ceilings work better, or bounce the light from the side (vertical) off of a wall.  I've tested all these methords and they definitely help!

Something that also really worked (for those pesky rooms that don't have low ceilings or white walls, or for any shots done outside where there are no white ceilings and walls) was to buy a white posterboard (like what kids use for projects, the ones made out of paper).  This kind of object is normally used to bounce light (like sunlight for example) onto the persons face or whatever your subject is so that shadows don't get in the way (kind of like what the Popup Bounce Flash is supposed to do with your camera's popup flash).  My lovely assistant, Liz, held the board over my head as I took pictures of our latest model, Emily, successfully bouncing the light that bounced off of the Popup Bounce Flash perfectly.  We had basically lowered the "ceiling" so that the flash would bounce off of a surface closer to our subjects face.  This technique really helps out difficult rooms!  My Lovely Lady photos are without the white posterboard, the ceiling and walls are white and enclosed enough in my place, so I didn't need it then.

The moral of the story...photographers need to have ingenuity!