Rogue Modifiers

I always tell people there is a huge difference between brands that are designed by people sitting in an office behind a desk, and brands that are designed by photographers for photographers, or at least by people who listen to the people using their gear. Rogue is a company that listens to their users.

I became familiar with Rogue due to one of their first FlashBenders. it was one of the first Rogue Modifiers I used with speedlights.
I absolutely loved the product and started using it in ways where…. well it was not really designed for (but it looked cool).

Over the years we started working together on the FlashBender which eventually led to the XL pro-V3, which is also known as the Frank Doorhof edition

On this page, I show you the categories in the Rogue product line. The FlashBenders, Magnetic Modifiers, Gels, Grids, and Snoots are designed for speedlights or round flashes. For more information visit the US website of Rogueflash.com or our Dutch website of Rogueflash.nl

The FlashBender

The Flashbender I use in almost any situation you can think of.
You can fold it into a snoot and follow the bride and groom on the dance floor to make them jump out.
But you can also use it as a bounce card to open up shadows. You even get a softbox attachment.
I even use it to create cool patterns on the background and light the model.
And of course… my favorite setup is as a striplight with a grid.

retouchting skin in Lightroom

The New Rogue Magnetic System

But wait.. there is more (a lot more)
When working on location (or in the studio) it’s vital that you can be as creative as you want and are not limited by the gear you have to carry.

This is where the Rogue magnetic system is awesome.
You can in essence carry a snoot (which can be used in 4 different setups) and a softbox in your pockets and switch during an event in seconds between omnidirectional soft light to a super focussed light beam with the snoot.

Of course, you can also use a magnetic grid (you can even stack them) and they also did not forget about the color correction gels (to balance ambient light and strobes in color) and the creative gels with deep saturated colors to spice up every shot.

The system works on most round strobes, and they also deliver a special adaptor for speedlights.

the complete Rogue magnetic kit including Snoot

Rogue Modifiers: Umbrellas

Now this is always fun. The umbrella must be one of those light shapers that is often totally overlooked. The reason is actually pretty simple.

When we start with photography we often start with the umbrella. A nice broad light source that …. well… it goes everywhere. And this is something that especially when you start can be a blessing and also a disaster if you don’t know how to control it. So often the umbrella is replaced by a softbox which is much easier to control, and the more we progress the more we forget about the umbrella.

The same for me….

Until Rogue asked me to do a video on their new fiberglass umbrella travel kit.
Now the fiberglass is awesome, this is where most of my umbrellas broke down (and I’m a very careful person).
The funny thing is that when I started recording the video I totally fell in love with the umbrella.
It’s interesting to see how different I now use the umbrella compared to when I started.

I’m using the black umbrella often with the sleeve for very nice soft portrait lights. It also works like a charm to give a little bit of glow to hair. Take off the diffuser and you get some nice shine on darker hair. The skin of the male model really pops. The black umbrella is also very nice to feather the light, there is not a lot of spill light.

The white umbrella you can use to light a white background. And by angling it slightly you can also give your subject a nice edge light.

But the real nice thing about umbrellas is that they are incredibly cheap. (The fiberglass kit retails for just over 100.00 euros). Very flexible in their use. You can light a whole room or feather for just a touch of super soft light on your subject. And maybe some lens flare. And of course very easy to transport and setup, they fit almost every strobe ever made.

made with the Rogue modifier: the umbrella

Rogue Modifiers: Reflectors

We all sometimes use reflectors. Some use them a lot and some only in certain situations.
Without any doubt, I’m in the latter category. But when I use them I want total control and not be limited by the reflector itself.
This is why I love the fact Rogue also delivers a rectangular reflector. This makes it much easier to control the light and keep the reflector out of the frame.
Of course, they also deliver the round reflectors 😀

Rogue Silver/White Reflector 20x40

Perfect color

The final product I use from Rogue is the Expo Imaging ExpoDisc. it’s not really a Rogue modifier but designed by the same company.
For most of my photos, I’m using a lightmeter and Calibrite Colorchecker passport/duo but on location or for video work the ExpoDisc is a much easier tool.
You just hold it in front of your lens and use the custom white balance setting in your camera and voila you’re done. Of course, you have to make sure you are creating the white balance under the lighting you use. You can even use it on your smartphone to shoot the first image with the ExpoDisc create the white balance in your RAW convertor on that image and sync it to the rest. Especially on smartphones with RAW support, the result can be stunning.