A question that often comes up, is whether the white balance will change when bouncing flash. The answer is an obvious one - yes, the light will pick up any color cast from a non-white surface. But that is why we need to shoot in RAW. Then the decision about exact White Balance becomes less crucial.
The photograph above, is of Roz, and was taken during the recent flash photography workshops in Dublin, Ireland. Roz was Ireland's contestant in the 2010 Miss Universe contest, so it was quite a privilege to have her as one of our Read more inside...
Bouncing flash forward without getting that direct flash look
When bouncing my on-camera flash, I rarely point the flash straight-up. Most often the flash is pointed behind me or to the side to a certain extent. This way I get directional light. I want that off-camera soft-box effect. However there are those times when it just isn't that practical.
With this recent wedding, the indoor ceremony was held in this large room. As you can see here in this test shot, the ceiling isn't white, but is a light brown, with wooden beams. The thick cross-beams have the effect of blocking flash Read more inside...
Deep into the busy part of the wedding season, the articles posted recently will be more wedding-centric than usual. But, as I've mentioned before, many of the techniques translate to other fields of photography.
This photograph of a bride, Christine, received some very favorable comments when I posted it on Facebook. So I thought it might make a good topic here, as well as being a good recap of some essential bounce flash techniques. The portrait is quite straightforward in execution - the lighting was quite simple, but effective. It was also Read more inside...
I'm often asked about how I get those catch-lights in the eyes of my subjects. My answer is - if you bounce your flash properly, the catchlights have to be there!
When working indoors with surfaces that I can easily bounce my flash off, the question that I always ask myself is: If this had been a studio shoot, where would I place my softbox?
In a studio-type setup, you'd rarely place a softbox directly over someone's head as a single light-source. There are two places to commonly place a softbox in the studio .. to left (and slightly Read more inside...
An aspect to flash photography that I frequently underline in the articles on this site, is that we need to carefully consider the direction of light from our flash when we bounce our flash. Sometimes we just need to bounce the flash behind us into the room to get soft light. But when we have multiple walls / surfaces we can bounce the flash off, then our choices become more interesting ... especially when we do portraits.
This is Carly Erin, a delightful model that I photographed for my own portfolio: an intimate photo session.
What I Read more inside...
With the formal portraits of the bride & groom, and their families, I usually set up off-camera lighting. But I also try to bring in some variety to the portraits - and I shoot on-location portraits of the bride beforehand, just after prep. It's a good idea to get as much done as you can, earlier on in the day - just in case the time-line gets compressed and things don't quite follow the original plan. You'll be much happier then for having some solid portraits in your pocket.
In this example, I wanted a few portraits of Michelle Read more inside...
Bounce flash - balancing foreground and background exposure
Lighting for the impromptu portrait of this little cutie was simple - just an on-camera speedlight, bounced up and over my left shoulder. This gives soft directional light. A simple technique that works every time when using on-camera flash indoors where there are light ceiling and walls around.
Settings: 1/250th @ f4 @ 1000 iso; TTL flash
My exposure settings was determined by the out-of-focus garden area outside, seen through a large window. It was over-cast, and therefore not super-bright. This meant that the bounce Read more inside...
