PJ's have used index cards as reflectors for a long time. I use them frequently, I always carry some, along with rubber bands to attach them to the flash.
Photographers seen on TV shows are usually extras and the gear they are shown with usually isn't accurate. For example most of the photographers in the background have flash in the hot shoe and so does the guy in the foreground. But if you watch red carpet shows and see the photographers in the background you'll notice most appear to shoot using a straight bracket that puts the flash directly above the camera in portrait mode. The shoot in portrait mode because that's how most photos of people and magazine covers are cropped.
Wedding and editorial PJ shooters are more likely to use flash-flip or cameara-flip style brackets because they switch between portrait and landscape for vertical individual / couple portraits and horizontal groups and other wide shots. I prefer the camera flip style because I think it puts less strain on the foot of the flash and I like the fact I can change orientation with my camera grip hand without my eye or hands changing position.
The origin of the card reflector was in the 70s when Vivitar and others introduced tilting flash heads. Bouncing light down off the ceiling makes the angle more natural, but with the flash head aimed up there's nothing reflecting in the eyes — no catchlights = dead looking eyes. Attaching a card to the back with a rubber band created a reflective catchlight in the eyes and bounced a bit of light forward for fill. The little pop-up white panel on speedlights today is for creating catchlight reflections, not as a diffuser / fill source.
I've used a bracket since the early 70s for 35mm and medium format. I bought the Stroboframe camera flip shown below in 2000 with my first digital camera and its now on my forth one 12 years later. One of the better $40 investments in gear I've made...
The diffuser is a DIY design I came up with because all the commercial ones were designed for single flash use and bouncing most of the light off the ceiling. I use two speedlights most of the time with the one on the bracket in the role of centered fill so I don't need to bounce light off the ceiling and made my diffuser with an overhanging top flap to re-direct the light forward. There's still a good bit of spilled fill off the ceiling, but that's more a function of the overall footprint it creates not by design.
Diffusion is a function of light coming from directions other than the primary source. Most of the magical "wrapping" quality attributed lightening shadow and giving them fuzzy edges is actually due not to the light somehow bending 180° to reach the dark side of the nose and far side of the face, but do to the fact the footprint of the light is hitting the ceiling 2-3 feet above the camera. That's evident if you compare results at the same distance indoors in a low ceiling room vs. a high ceiling ballroom or outdoors at light. At best the marginal enlargement of the apparent source if the light will make the highlights a bit less harsh and the catchlights in the eyes reflecting the source larger and more appealing than the pinhole catchlights of a direct flash.
PJ's have used index cards as reflectors for a long time. I use them frequently, I always carry some, along with rubber bands to attach them to the flash.
Very true. I see paparazzi using index cards all the time at events in LA.
