Shooting with a Lastolite Diffuser Outdoors

Today’s Post by Mark Toal

On these bight summer days when there isn’t a cloud in the sky a small collapsible diffuser can save the day. I always carry a Lastolite diffuser in the trunk of my car. I like this specific Lastolite TriGip model because it has a handle to make it easier to have in one hand while I hold my camera in the other. You will lose a stop of light through the diffuser but that’s not a problem in the bright sun.

The other morning I got up early to go out and shoot the Dahlias that are blooming in my area right now. Although I got up at six AM and was in the Dahlia field by 6:30 the sun was already very bright. I grabbed the diffuser and held it between the sun and the flower and made the shot. And shooting with a small lightweight mirrorless camera like Panasonic’s Lumix G7 makes it easy to hold and shoot the camera with one hand.

You can see the huge difference in this before and after photo and the Dahlia shot my itself. This also works great for outdoor portraits especially if you have somebody to hold the diffuser for you.