Wrapping light

In my photography these days I am learning to balance ambient light with off camera flash, and I am putting the light through a Lumiquest Softbox III for soft, wrap-around light. With the exception of using the on camera flash for a bit of fill, gone are the days of using a shoe mounted flash as my main light. Why turn a very smart camera into a xerox machine, producing flat harsh light?



Exposing for the wonderful sky would have left the faces dark. But if you expose for the sky and add back about 1/8th power of soft flash, you instantly get a much higher quality of light, not to mention great subject seperation and catch light in the eyes.