Hi everyone!!
I’ve been using my camera setup with the most basic things needed to even take a photo, ever since I got it. I bought a Canon EOS 200D and a Canon EF-S 60mm F/2.8 lens 3 years ago, and since then I haven’t made the move to finish the setup. I do know I need a flash and a diffuser, however I need guidance from someone who actually knows what they’re doing…
I am looking into the Godox TT350 or the TT685 (if I do find a good deal for it) for a flash, however I’m somewhat lost about the diffuser. I found this 40€ Aliexpress one that looks good enough, but I do want to know what other options are there. I’ve searched around, and Micael Widell has a bunch of videos about it, but the diffuser options he gives are really expensive “made-to-order” stuff.
So, I wanted to ask about a nice enough diffuser for macro photography, as well as advice on how to make my setup better down the line.
Thanks in advance!!
You could make you’re own diffuser! It can take a little trial and error but it’s generally very cheap and you can get some pretty stunning results - here are a couple threads on the subject:
https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/macro-flash-diffusion-material/33277
https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/my-diy-wrap-around-flash-diffuser-plans/16158
FWIW I’m not too skilled with my hands (and/or possibly lazy) so I bought diffusers from AK Diffuser. It’s US-based, though, so may not be a great place to order from if you’re in Europe.
My home-made diffuser is ugly as hell and made out of packing foam, corflute and gaffer tape but really does the job.
It also helps to attach some LED lights to the diffuser to help with focusing in low light conditions.
There’s a Facebook page called home-made diffusers with loads of ideas.
You can’t really go wrong with the ole pringles tin, paper plate and white interfacing fabric. It costs very little and will get you started while you search for a good one at a good price.
I’ve recently gone for the Cygnustech diffuser, which comes all the way from Australia. It’s one of the ones recommended by a whole load of semi-professional macro photographers so should be really good, but it is pretty expensive and comes tailored for your particular lens/flash setup, so if you later change setup, you may have to rebuy. I would just ask… do you really need flash? I do a very great deal of macro photography, but I stopped using flash five or six years ago as it was too complicated to get the results I wanted. With modern post-processing software, particularly for denoising, I find you can up the ISO to levels previously unthinkable and get reasonably good quality images in more or less every light condition, except night of course! I have recently bought a flash as next season I want to do more low-light macro photography, particularly of moths, otherwise I probably wouldn’t have bothered. Just a thought 
.