Reddit mentions of Canon OC-E3 Off Camera Shoe Cord 3

> I know there are more professional tools than the ones I want to make myself but I really enjoy making them, and personalizing the main one, which is my camera.

> I just prefer a minimal size/always at your dispose light over the fastidiousnes of increase the weight of your camera and mounting/unmounting parts . As you can imagine I'm an amateur, looking professional is the least of my worries.

These are absolutely legitimate reasons to want to do this. My points don't apply.

> Your photos are great by the way, really , but what I'm looking for is to take pictures like this : https://www.flickr.com/photos/66469336@N02/23102037215/in/album-72157661350740135/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/66469336@N02/24396867472/in/album-72157661451662613/
> Which I recognize is not the most beautiful style for night pictures, but hey, it is mine.

On the contrary, your style is actually very attractive and serves a niche. Your photos don't come across as amateur; they have a very defined style and I actually like them quite a bit. I might personally expose the background slightly more, but otherwise I think what you're doing is great. It really captures a moment that's more than just grabbing shots of people smiling at the camera: you're catching people as they're having a good time, and they're involving the viewer in their moment.

Because of this, some of the traditional lighting rules simply don't apply. "Use a larger diffuser to soften the light", for example, is irrelevant of the light source also becomes part of the scene. The first photo you show actually has the phone present as a prop of the scene: your subjects are taking a selfie. The lighting in that scene makes perfect sense, and it works.

So, most of my advice about lighting in this context? Forget it. I'd still recommend against gluing something to your camera, but consider my hot shoe idea: buy some hot shoe caps (they're available in both plastic, and metal with a 1/4" threaded post), and then attach your light to those. You can use stronger adhesive so it won't fall apart while you're shooting, and you don't have to worry about removal later because they'll just pop off the hot shoe later. You might also consider using an external strobe but taking it off-camera. There are many ways to do this, but the cheapest is simply a flash shoe cord, which is available from your camera's manufacturer, or third-party for significantly less money.

However, if you're happy with the results of a tiny LED (and I think you have reason to be), I see no reason to change what you're doing. As a photographer, it's important to establish a "look". You've done that, and I see no reason to stray from it unless you want to experiment. It's clearly working for you. :-)