I've been an on-location, natural light photographer for a while now. Shooting in natural light is easy and makes editing painless. Moving indoors, without all the fancy schmancy equipment, is another story. I had put off indoor shooting for quite some time, aside from the Momtogue shots I take of my kiddos or at family functions. Like many others, I assumed that to get amazing indoor shots that didn't require tons of editing, I'd have to splurge on some top of the line equipment and flashes.

I was wrong. Professor Kobre's Lightscoop proved me wrong.

Let's get back to those poorly lit indoor shots for a moment. Shots like these....



Not horrible but, not speedy editing. It's possible to change one of those to this...



...but, it's not ideal, nor is it ideal to have to edit for long periods of time simply because the flash didn't light properly.

Professor Kobre's Lightscoop is a simple concept turned into a low-tech device that is insanely affordable and gives you gorgeous lighting indoors. Created by Ken Kobre, head of the photojournalism program at San Francisco State University, the Lightscoop simply slides over your camera's pop-up flash and redirects the light from your flash onto a ceiling or wall. This gives you a broader scope of light that is softer and more diffused and comes from a more natural location than straight on. While it doesn't replace an external flash or all the high-tech and expensive gadgets, it is phenomenally better than a standard pop-up and affordable enough for anyone to use.



Now, photos come straight out of the camera looking like this...



...and editing them to perfection takes no time at all...



It's also been a dream to take pics of sleeping babies without having a flash going off right in their face waking them up!

Taking pictures of a sleeping child in an almost totally dark room turn out like this....




...and childhood memories can be saved with no editing at all.

My Lightscoop has been making me sublimely happy lately. The images I'm capturing in my small home studio far surpass any I thought I'd be able to do indoors. It's not just about getting great lighting either. It's the fact that the lighting I get when using the Lightscoop is just more natural looking. I love that. I highly recommend Lightscoop to anyone with a DSLR. Whether you are a mom taking pics of your kids on Christmas morning or a budding photographer not wanting to spend a ton on flashes and equipment, Lightscoop delivers fantastic results every time.

Until 6-15-11, use the coupon code LOL15 and get 15% off your Lightscoop!!