The first light modifier I used was something I bought that didn't exactly work out the way I wanted. The Strobist talks about a large light source and what it can do. I didn't want to buy a big plastic globe, and I had tried a soup container that wasn't opaque enough so I got a "globe" that blows up. It turned out not to be what I was expecting and about the only difference I could tell between it and the bare flash is that it cut some of the light and I needed to use a slower shutter speed to match the exposure. This is something I'll put in a drawer and try to forget I bought it.