An elegant portrait of a delightful young woman, Supriya, taken at her Sweet 16 party. With events there isn't always the opportunity to use involved lighting setups, and to keep the interest of your subject, you need to shoot fast. Yet the results need to look top-class. For this I most often revert to on-camera bounce flash. How to bounce flash - this is a topic we have covered thoroughly here with previous articles. This time I want to I want to highlight an aspect of that - the direction of bounce flash - and this is best served by showing correct and Read more inside...
Bounce flash and choice of background + backlighting
This is where style and technique intersect - the choice of how to use flash (or any other kind of additional lighting) at wedding receptions. Many photographers prefer the crisp look of multiple off-camera flash setups at wedding receptions. While I do think some of the photos look incredible, I am not convinced that the success rate is all that high. Hot spots in the background, and weird cross-shadows will mar many of the photos. My preference has always been for the predictability and flexibility of using on-camera bounce Read more inside...
When photographing any kind of portrait with on-camera bounce flash, my main consideration is that I want flattering light. For example, this photo of the bride dancing with her dad, I want flattering light to illuminate her face. It should be obvious that I decided to bounce the flash towards camera-right, so that the light comes in from that direction. I don't want to light up the side of her head. I want to light up her face.
This means that as the couple rotate, I will continually adjust the direction that I bounce my flash into. This Read more inside...
A recurring topic on Tangents is how to bounce flash in pretty extreme situations. With a related article - bounce flash outdoors with a reflector - I showed some images from an event at a New York restaurant.
I intensely dislike direct, hard on-camera flash. Yet, this venue had all kinds of corners, and no place to effectively place off-camera flashes on light-stands. The venue had an interesting ceiling. And with "interesting", I mean tough. The ceiling was dark, with black panels at different angles. Here are photos of the ceiling and walls, to Read more inside...
There are occasions where you really need to work fast with flash - time might be tight, or it might just be too cold outside to linger. After photographing John's surprise 50th birthday party, John and Stacie and I went outside to Columbus Circle for portraits of the two of them. After the high of the party, I wanted to keep the momentum as well by working fast. And since it was mid-November in New York, it was nearly certain that the late night air would be nippy.
I didn't want to use direct on-camera flash - I wanted that diffused Read more inside...
With on-camera bounce flash photography, there is the initial idea that you need a white wall or ceiling to bounce off. With these examples from an engagement photo session of DaWeon and Toban, I want to show that it is entirely possible to really enhance the available light on location, with some unexpected bounce flash.
For those who are just joining us now, here is a tutorial on bounce flash. We're just expanding here on that article. The essential idea from that tutorial - you bounce flash into the direction you want the light to come from. Read more inside...
The last wedding of the year just behind me, I want to use one of my favorite images to touch again on the recent topic of high-ISO bounce flash with on-camera speedlight. I want to show that the results aren't a fluke - but that with a consistent approach to bounce flash photography, you can get consistent results. However, since we shoot under various scenario changes, we have to adapt a bit.
The venue was this hotel reception room with massively high ceilings ... but with the walls closer by. Easy enough to bounce on-camera flash off. Read more inside...
Bounce flash vs. Available light vs. Using the videographer's light
The expressive trumpet player in the band at a wedding - a simple portrait of this musician, sweetened with some bounce flash. The light on his face, is by now perhaps predictably, on-camera bounce flash with the black foamie thing. Looking at the light pattern on his face, you'll see there was no direct flash of any kind.
camera settings: 1/60 @ f2.8 @ 2000 ISO // TTL flash
Nikon D3; Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 AF-S VR II; Nikon SB-910 Speedlight
In comparison, here are a few other images. One with no flash, Read more inside...
Simple lighting setup to photograph kids indoors - Bounce flash!
Meet Jack. He's 1 year old. We kinda photographed him just over a year ago with the maternity photo session with his mom and dad. But this is him now, for real. When Amy and Nick asked me to do a portrait session with him, we started off at their house. I wanted to grab a few candid photos of Jack happily playing before we set off to a nearby park.
Since kids scoot around all over the place, for me, it made most sense to just use on-camera bounce flash. Minimal gear - just the speedlight on my camera. And of course, Read more inside...
Bounce flash comparison: With & without the black foamie thing
One of the presentations that I gave at the After Dark event in St Louis, was (perhaps inevitably by now), about bounce flash photography. Part of this was a sequence explaining how the direction that you bounce your flash into, will define the light pattern on your subject. The black foamie thing helps in directing the light from your flash, especially if you want short lighting on your subject.
And here is the comparison - with the black foamie thing, and without. Without flagging the flash, there is direct Read more inside...
