I’m starting a new segment here on Mom*tog called “Mom*tog of the Week”.  Well, hopefully it will be a weekly thing  Let’s see if I can keep up with it!  Basically, I want to feature Moms who have an interesting product (photography or mom related) they’d like to review, have a super cute picture of their kiddos, or just an ordinary Mom who has something interesting to say.  I want Mom*tog to be a place where we can all connect rather than just having to listen to boring old me day in and day out  If you’d like to share a topic or would like to nominate someone to be a Mom*tog of the week then email me!

Our first Mom*tog of the week is Brandi Blaha from Virgina.  Brandi is the mom to two very cute little boys and has recently started her own photography business.  Brandi left a comment in the flash post talking about an interesting product that I thought would help a lot of Mom*togs shooting with on camera flash, so I asked her to write up a little review on it.  Thanks Brandi for taking the time to write this!

PS  If you’re on Facebook can you pretty please take a second out of your day to vote for this?  You can read more about why you should vote for it here.  THANK YOU!!!

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I was so excited to be asked to talk about the LightScoop on MomTog!  I am a mom of 2 boys under the age of 5.  I have been a professional photographer for 10 years, working for high volume school photography company.  After years of people asking me if I have my own business I’ve finally made that big leap.  It’s a very exciting time for me.  You can check out my photoblog at here.

The LightScoop is my most favorite new toy.  We have all enjoyed post after post about using Flash and how challenging it can be to maintain that natural light look when relying on available light alone is not enough.  The trick to good flash photography, in my experience, is to use the minimum amount of flash required.  I often use fill flash when shooting outside as well, if the situation allows.  However, the LightScoop will only work indoors.

I snapped of few pix of my son in the tub so you can see the difference in the overall appearance of the photos.

The first shot is with the pop-up alone.  You can see the light is very harsh and also cause shadows behind him on the wall.  The shot was taken on Program at 400 ISO.

The 2nd image is with the lightScoop and give the appearance of ambient light in the room, which by the way has no windows.  This shot was taken with the recommended setting:  800 ISO, Shutter Pref f-stop 200 with the pop-up flash on 2+.  You can adjust the power of the pop-up flash on most DSLR’s.

I love the MomTog Blog because it’s for all levels of photographers.  Just like anyone else I like to take simple candid photos of my kids at their birthday parties and on holidays and just for everyday fun.  I’m pretty sure my kids are photographed on a daily basis.  I found myself relying on my tiny Canon Elf during these situations as I was always disappointed with the results of my DSLR with the pop-up flash when shooting candids indoors.  That’s when I found the LightScoop and it has allowed me to LOVE my DSLR even more.  It’s a lightweight and compact bounce attachment for the pop-up flash on your DSLR.  It’s genius if you ask me.  It can also be used in professional applications as well.  For instance, I recently photographed my friend and her 9 week old baby girl.  It was night time so there was no light coming into the windows.  I plopped them on my couch next to a floor lap, snapped in the LightScoop and shot away.  The results are amazing.  The lamp allows for some nice size catch lights in the eyes (without which the photo would lack punch) while the bounced pop-up flash lets soft light flow down around them.

You can purchase your own LightScoop online for less than $40.  I own the standard, they offer a Warming Lightscoop as well but I don’t think that’s necessary.