Thanks, Julie. There's "something" going on with the way pics are displayed on the forum. My pic is also much softer and muddier when viewed here. I initially thought PrestoPhoto was modifying it (a lot of online hosts crunch pics so they take up less server space), so I tried hosting it myself, but it still looks not-so-good here.
A snoot (besides being a cool-sounding word) is a tube that is placed over the flash to limit the spread of the light. That's what produced the spotlight effect in my pic. In reality, it was just a piece of black foam craft material rolled up and rubber-banded to the flash.
Off camera flash is easy to get into. I paid $70 for the speedlight. Of course, like all things photographical, it's easy to throw more and more money at it. What attacted me was the results people get, and the fact that there's a very strong do-it-yourself (=cheap) community out there.
A snoot (besides being a cool-sounding word) is a tube that is placed over the flash to limit the spread of the light. That's what produced the spotlight effect in my pic. In reality, it was just a piece of black foam craft material rolled up and rubber-banded to the flash.
Off camera flash is easy to get into. I paid $70 for the speedlight. Of course, like all things photographical, it's easy to throw more and more money at it. What attacted me was the results people get, and the fact that there's a very strong do-it-yourself (=cheap) community out there.