On Camera Softbox vs Bare Flash For Outdoor Fill Flash

If you're shooting a portrait outdoors and you exposure for the background, the subject will be in shadow. If you want to fill in this shadow with fill flash, what would you use and why out of these TWO options:

Option 1) On-camera bare flash pointed at subject on a weak flash setting

Option 2) On-camera flash in a small softbox such as the LumiQuest SoftBox III (8" x 9" in size)

Thanks

I don't have a soft box..Option 1...

OK let me rephrase this. If you had a softbox like the Lumiquest Softbox III, would you still use a bare flash head?

I assume you are placing your subject in the shade with sunlit background....

Yes I would still use the "bare flash head"...

Yes, subject is backlit so their face is in shadow. Ok thanks, may I ask why you won't use the softbox? Is it simply not needed in this example? What if it was nighttime, would you use the softbox then if the only other option was bare flash?

I don't use bare flash for anything. It just feels naked...

I'd use my sb700 with my soft box.

Thanks for your answers but no one has explained WHY...

Light, natural or artificial is all about shadows and angles... direct blasts of artificial light creates angles and shadows that are generally unpleasing because of the angles of the shadows... the eye sees the shadows, but the brain interprets the angles as being artificial... the softbox reduces those shadows, regardless of how small, and gives a more natural glow if you will, tricking the brain into not seeing the un-natural shadows...

But a small softbox that is also a distance away from the subject would create harsh light right? To create softer light, the softbox has to be much closer to the subject OR become much larger in size (if you're further away) But for fill flash, I am unsure how this would come into effect, as flash light would not be the dominant light.

I think with aperture and shutter speed + dialing down the power of the flash would do the job..

I probably would not shoot the scene your portraying...

My softbox doesn't... it's totally exclosed (both my small one, and my large one) The small one is used closer than the large one... it's on a SB-600... and by dialing down the light, it can provide just the right amount of fill light without creating any shadows..

@pedroj, so if you're on the move, and want to shoot outdoor portraits, you would use off camera lighting? Even on the move?

@FredKingston, is this with ON camera softbox? I am asking specially about ON-Camera.

Yes... I use the LumiQuest mini Softbox on the SB-600... either on-camera, or hand held with a 3' SC-29 cable...

So you use the softbox off camera and hand held it over the subject? I did this the other day with my sister but I don't have a TTL cable, I use the popup flash and shoot in manaul flash. I was using a Tamron 70-300 which is heavy so my hand stated to really ache. It's not easy to hold a DSLR with a heavy lens with one hand. What lens do you use when you hand hold the softbox? If you use the softbox on-camera, how close to you from the subject? at what focal length?

I have the same problem with certain heavy lenses... I mostly use the 55-200mm because it's all plastic and light... portrait distance for me is around 5'-6' for head shots... the closer I get, the more I tend to hold the light off camera to prevent mostly red-eye conditions, and squinting from the subject...

I rarely shoot iTTL...

both, I have a small softbox, on remote cable so you can hold fairly close.

@FredKingston, why use a TTL cable if you don't often shoot in TTL? Wouldn't a popup flash triggering your speedlight wirelessly be the better option? How do you position the softbox off-camera? Like 45 degrees in front of the subject, slightly elevated?

I use the cable to keep from doing a bunch of gyrations to keep the on-camera flash from firing...

And it just dawned on me, I may have used the word on-camera incorrectly... I mean to say, the speedlite on the camera as opposed to the pop-up light...

IOW... I don't want the pop-up firing... all my flash is done with speedlites or strobes...

And yes... the position I find most comfortable is up and to the right or left of the camera...