The Christmas Portraits - With FlashBender

Here it comes - the Christmas party with the relatives. You are the one with the camera and for good reason - you know what you are doing with it. Your portraits will be the ones that people will want copies of for the album. You are the torch carrier for all the great photographers of the past. Daunting, isn't it?

Well you can dodge out of it by buying an Air Pro and sticking it on the wall and start drinking early, or you can accept the challenge and get the DSLR or mirror-less camera out and do a decent job. If you want to get a bit of advantage over the point and shoots on the day, think about taking a little strobist gear with you. You'll be doing studio-quality between the vol au vents and the turkey and you won't have to break into a sweat.

Here are two kits from Rogue - the people who make the FlashBender reflectors. The Master lighting kit has a little more in the way of reflectors and gels but the whole outfit packs into such a small space that you will not hesitate to cart it with you. Both the Master Kit and the Portrait Kit benefit from the use of off-camera flash control so users of Canon and Nikon are ready to go as soon as they configure their flashes, Pentax people may need to add some cords and Olympus users can get wireless transmitters as well.

You essentially get main light, fill light, and hair light accessories for your portable speed lights. If you have stands and brackets, well and good. But with FlashBenders you can do a great deal even if your speed light is just sitting on the little foot that you get in the packet. That diffusion panel is great, and makes a soft box effect in an area so small that you wouldn't credit it. Small size is the go at Christmas dinner as there won't be a great deal of room, or cooperation.

The gels are interesting. You'll have to make up your own mind whether you want to see your family in Technicolor or not, but even if all you want to do is correct for the lighting in the room, FlashBender give you and extensive set of correcting gels as well. Look at the lineup on the ( admittedly appalling shot of the back of the) packet. I plan to use Follies Pink on several of the rellies as it so clearly captures their character.

These kits are inexpensive - still three trading days to Christmas so still time to grab one.