Bounce flash photography and dark ceilings
With the tutorials here on how to bounce flash, the questions inevitably come up – what if there is nothing to bounce your flash off? What if there are dark ceilings? Well, these limitations do affect how I use flash at events – but I still work according to a few set guidelines that give me the best results with bounce flash.
I bounce my flash into the direction that I want to come from, regardless of whether there is a white wall or ceiling. It really is all about the Direction of Light.
I also shy away from using any of the on-camera plastic diffusers or flash modifiers. I rarely use any other light modifier than the Black Foamie Thing.
These are topics we have discussed before:
– Bounce flash off a dark ceiling
– Wedding reception lighting with one flash
Now, there are times when I have to resort to off-camera flash to help augment the on-camera flash, and sometimes when I have to rely on just the off-camera flashes to be able to capture the event. Difficult venues where on-camera bounce flash just isn’t plausible.
This recent wedding took place in a venue with a wooden ceiling – but worse than that, there were wooden beams which really didn’t reflect much light … and still, my first approach is to see how on-camera bounce flash would work.
You can see how the beams here would create deeper areas where the light just isn’t reflected when you bounce flash. In the background, and to the right, you can see that there were strips of white areas to the ceiling. This just complicated things.
With times like these, I revert to manual bounce flash, rather than the customary way of using TTL bounce flash. The TTL exposure is too erratic in this scenario – I suspect that so little of the pre-flash is returned (that the camera uses to determine TTL flash exposure), that the camera just can’t give a proper TTL exposure. It was the case here with the Profoto A1 flash (B&H / Amazon) that I was using.
I ended up using full manual power on the flash to be able to get f/3.2 – f/3.5 @ 3200 ISO here when bouncing off the wooden part of the ceiling. When I moved to where the flash would bounce off the white part of the ceiling, the exposure would then completely blow out. There TTL flash would make it easier again.
This is where the Profoto A1 flash (B&H / Amazon) came in really handy. Not only does it have a bit more power than the regular top-end speedlights, what helped me was how easy it is to flip between manual flash and TTL flash. Just the slider switch on the side. No need to go into the menu to toggle the setting. Just slide the switch up or down to either TTL or manual flash, depending on where I was in the reception room.
This did mean that I had to continually check where I was bouncing my flash – but this has become second nature, since I am always considering the direction my light has to come from.
The Profoto A1 is also superb in allowing me to repeatedly fire full bursts of flash without the flash overheating.
Here are a few more of the results:
I did use the Black Foamie Thing here as my on-camera flash modifier. Not so much because it would control the direction of my flash, but to not blitz people in the eyes with such a strong beam of light.
Photo gear used during this photo session
- 1/100 @ f/3.5 @ 3200 ISO
- Nikon D5
- Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8E VR /equivalent Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L II
- Profoto A1 flash for Nikon (B&H / Amazon); also available as
Profoto A1 flash for Canon (B&H / Amazon) - On-camera bounce flash in TTL mode.
With the BFT which wasn’t absolutely necessary.
On-Camera Flash Photography – revised edition
This book is explains a cohesive and thorough approach to getting the best from your on-camera speedlight.
Particular care was taken to present it all with a logical flow that will help any photographer attain a better understanding of flash photography.
You can either purchase a copy via Amazon USA and Amazon UK, or can be ordered through Barnes & Nobles and other bookstores. The book is also available on the Apple iBook Store, as well as Amazon Kindle. Also check out the Amazon Kindle store.
Learn more about how the cover image was shot.
Summary
In a sense there is nothing new here about bouncing your flash – rather it is an affirmation that keeping to specific ways of approaching lighting, gives a look that is consistent with the style of photography that clients see on my website. That becomes important – creating a look that clients can expect when I photograph their events. Also, bounce flash photograph is really easy – and give superb results if applied with some thought … even when it seems near-impossible.
Related articles
These trendy venues, always throwing up a new challenge! Just out of interest, what would you do with a tall ceiling with gridded bevelled mirrors, so you get a nice grid shaped shadow sometimes and other things at other times?
I’d have to see at the time, and then adapt. But mirrored places are hell to shoot in with light scattering everywhere with unpredictable hot-spots of light.
Thank you, Neil! I just saw, and commented on, your post on Facebook. With the camera settings you used, can you tell me what the ambient exposure was?
With the little boy dancing (in the top image), there was obviously light coming in from the window which gave back-lighting. But other than that, the photos would have been completely under-exposed without flash. In other words, the flash wasn’t merely fill-flash.
Thanks, Neil. I was wondering how much the flash was lighting everything.
Neil, just curious: had you been hired to photograph the Royal Wedding, would you still have used the black foamie thing?
Oh, nothing less than the Gold Plated Thingamajig.
Wow! TTL metering issue!
That explains a lot.
Now I can’t wait for my next barn wedding so I can use my “BFT” with manual flash.
Good call.
The Profoto gear is just wonderfully designed – their strobes are so simple to use for consistent results and it seems like the A1 has just continued this trend
Neil, I know you shoot RAW, but still, I would think it’s impossible to get natural colors when the light is reflected from these rather dark brown wooden beams. Wasn’t that a problem at all?
The WB of the RAW files of the kids dancing, was adjusted to 4700K in post. Not too crazy.
Niel, your camera setting was 1/100 @ f/3.5 @3200 iso, what was the distance between you and the kids dancing?
Thank you.
Hi there Theo
I am fairly close up to the kids, since I shoot most of the wedding day with the 24-70mm lens, and on the dance floor, I am using the wider focal lengths.
My own distance isn’t that important here, since I am bouncing my flash behind me. There is no direct light from my flash falling on them. I don’t use a diffuser cup at all. Nothing throwing light directly forward. The light is all purely bounce flash.
I’m always struggling with bounce-flash-during-daylight-near-large-windows situations. Just like your first picture. Very hard not to completely blown out the window, and sometimes there is a huge amount of light coming from the outside, messing up the lighting. Using lower ISO or smaller aperture demands too much from the bounce flash, often times the flash is not strong enough even at full power. I usually just try to stay away from the windows, but it is not always possible. Any tips on this? What do you usually do?
You would need to match your flash output with that of the outdoor light – depending on the time of day and how overcast it is, it is probably in the order of 1/200 @ f/11 @ 100 ISO … a massive amount of flash power that you would either get from direct flash (which is ugly), or studio-level flashes like the Profoto B1 … and this might not be practical. It definitely won’t be comfortable for the guests there.
The way I usually approach is just like in that top photograph – I don’t mind the outdoor scene blowing out. I don’t need that context here. And I am happy with the light that floods in being rim-lighting on my subjects. So I am happy with the results here, even if someone would think it is a compromise in lighting.
Got it! Embrace it, use it. Thanks a lot, Neil!
Hi Neil,
With the Profoto A1, would you (or do you) still use the CTS and 1/2 CTS gels on them if there was tungsten lighting? Profoto A1’s flash is round, which would require cutting the gel bigger than the SB-910 or 5000.
Yup, business as usual. I keep to my known shooting workflow for results that are consistent.
Great info, just what I was needing for my wedding which is in a very dim Moose Lodge, to beat it all. Question: would your exposure for the manual flash have been the same if you used a speed light? Cause that is all I have. The 58exII and Yongnuo 685.
From my estimate, it looks like the Profoto A1 is half a stop more powerful than the usual top-of-the-rage speedlites. So my settings would probably have changed accordingly.
Ok thanks, half a stop is not bad for me to adjust for :)
I will just have to accept the noisy ISO 3200 of my Canon 77D
Neil,
You produce brilliant articles on bounced flash but how do you keep accurate focus on your subjects, especially when they are moving their heads etc.
I would love some advice on your methods for pin sharp focussing.
Thanks
Michael, it has much to do with using a responsive camera like the Nikon D5,
and also using AF-S / Single focusing mode which allows the flash’s infra-red AF beam to work.
I also generally work at f/4 or thereabouts.
In other words, I don’t take chances with the razor-thin DoF that f/1.4 might give me.
So that bit of latitude in DoF helps too.
Thank you for you latest Tangents. This article about bouncing flash off of a dark ceiling was very useful. A situation I have encountered more than once. Whereas in the past I would automatically resort to direct on-camera flash with the typical results, now I see how to handle it better.
One question related to that article, the first image of the little boy posing for the camera has several people in the background including a lady on the right with her head cut off. What is the best way to deal with such situations?
Ignore them, the main subject is all that is important.
Include complete people even if it compromises the composition of the main subject.
Try as best as possible but make no compromises so if some people lose their heads, so be it.
I would also like to thank you for demonstrating the black foamie thing. It is now a constant companion in my camera bag and gets complements where ever I go.
Martin … that’s an interesting observation.
For the reasons you mention, this image would get shot down at competitions – the confluence of elements in the composition just didn’t quite work out. Yet, I love the little kid’s expression.
I tried different crops, but a closer crop would truncate the girl in the background. I felt that her being lifted up, helped give context here – kids having fun at a wedding reception.
For me then, while the image misses the mark on being on the level of Elliott Erwitt’s perfect observations, I do feel this is a photo that needs to be included with all the images I give to the bride and groom. And that’s exactly as how you described it – when it is a situation that we con’t control like we can in a studio, then we can ignore non-fatal flaws to the image’s composition if the main subject is important.
Neil, nice article as always!
One thing about the Profoto A1. I have two of them and as you know they come with a magnetic modifier that acts like the BFT. But the problem is, when I use it and kneel down for taking a photo it touches the ground (I am using a double strap that holds the camera upside down) and the modifier easily gets off the flash. As it easy pops on it also easily pops off accidentally. Somehow the magnets are not strong enough at that point or it works with the ‘leverage effect’. I hope you know what I mean.
So do you use the magnetic BFT or your own version with hairband at the Profoto A1??
-Jan-
The Netherlands
I had the same problem with the stiff black card that you have. So I now use the exact same BFT on the Profoto A1, as before. With the same hairbands. It works really well.
Thank you Neil, the only ‘problem’ is that the flashead zoom output will also be adjusted when turning the BFT around. But I will try to find a way around.
Don’t have the hairbands pressing on the zoom ring of the flash. Have it in the head itself.
Hi Neil, great article as always. I noted that the very first comment on this post you responded with “mirrored places are hell to shoot in” Do you have any suggestions for shooting weddings in glass green houses? I can use available light of course but I also want the flexibility of using flash (either on or off camera). Any suggestions on getting even lighting and avoiding the huge reflections that will come with bouncing the flash behind or to the side of me? Or even off camera from a soft box or umbrella?
Ross
Ross — here is a wedding reception in a conservatory / atrium which was all glass with white-painted structures.
https://neilvn.com/tangents/wedding-photography-using-high-iso-and-flash-at-the-reception/
So it is entirely possible to bounce flash off these surfaces, but you’d have to use high ISO settings.
Unless you bounce directly into a nearby section of glass, the light should be fairly even, without hotspots. But the exposure might not be predictable.