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Bounce flash photography and dark ceilings

May 21, 2018 Neil vN 32 Comments

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  Read more inside...

Flash photography – bouncing your flash behind you

January 9, 2013 Neil vN 17 Comments

Bouncing your on-camera flash behind you

A comment posted to the article, directional light from your on-camera flash, asked a lot of questions about bounce flash photography. While most of these have been answered over time in various articles, it might be a good thing to pull it all together in directly answering those questions here. This uncomplicated portrait of Anelisa that shows specific elements in how I bounce flash: catchlights in the eyes directional light which can be observed here as that gradient of light across her cheek no hard shadows from direct  Read more inside...

Bounce flash photography at wedding receptions

November 12, 2012 Neil vN 42 Comments

Bounce flash photography at wedding receptions

This photograph from a recent wedding got a few comments and questions in the album on Facebook. The questions really hinged around "where did all that light come from?" or whether I had used off-camera flash. The purple and blue light in the back-ground is from the up-lighting from the entertainment / DJ company. The light on the couple entering the reception room ... is all one on-camera bounce flash.  Read more inside...

Bouncing flash forward without that direct flash look

September 7, 2011 Neil vN 26 Comments

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...

Using on-camera bounce flash outdoors at night

June 29, 2011 Neil vN 48 Comments

Using on-camera bounce flash outdoors

With wedding photography, when doing the night-time romantic portraits of the couple, the pressure is usually on. The only opportunity to whisk the couple away for a few minutes, is during dinner time, when the party is at a lull. The pressure is on because you have even less time than you had during the earlier part of the day, and you also don't want to lose the attention of your couple who wants to get back to their guests at the reception. I usually scout a few places before-hand, getting a clear idea of what I want. When setting out with  Read more inside...

Flash photography basics

April 12, 2011 Neil vN 27 Comments

Flash photography basics

In teaching workshops on flash photography, I frequently encounter newer photographers who are overwhelmed by flash photography. Overwhelmed to the extent that they fear their flash, and would rather not deal with flash photography at all. Instead, they adopt the idea that they will only specialize in available light photography. Now, that kind of thinking is an artistic dead-end. As a photographer that aspires to truly being creative, you need to understand light, regardless of how it is supplied to us. I do feel that flash photography is one of those  Read more inside...

Flash ‘on top of’ ambient light – Adding bounce flash to ambient light

January 14, 2011 Neil vN 20 Comments

Adding bounce flash to ambient light

Using images from a past workshop, I want to explain a simple concept with flash photography on location. In workshops and seminars I quite often describe the flash as 'riding on top of' the available light exposure. It's just another way of describing the usual technique of under-exposing the ambient light somewhat, and then using flash to give correct exposure. We can thereby control the final look of the image by controlling the direction of light from our flash. By using flash like this, we can use the flash to 'clean up' the light in the  Read more inside...

combining flash and ambient light

January 4, 2010 Neil vN 46 Comments

combining flash and ambient light

Going by the emails that I receive, one of the areas that many photographers struggle with is that of combining ambient exposure and flash exposure.  This question  is also expressed in other ways.  It can be a frustrated, "where do we even start?"  I also often see it expressed as an involved step-by-step deconstruction of technique, making the entire process more complex than it is. In reply to that, and many other emails I've received in the past few months, I'd like to offer an analysis of a few images from a recent shoot. One of my  Read more inside...

Why use an on-camera flash modifier that is black, instead of white?

December 22, 2009 Neil vN 29 Comments

Why use an on-camera flash modifier that is black, instead of white?

This question repeatedly comes up as response to the various articles here on my favorite light modifier - the black foamie thing. For anyone new to this, here are the two main articles on how I use a piece of black foam to flag my on-camera speedlight. The question invariably comes up: why a piece of black foam and not a white card or a piece of white foam? The short answer: The idea behind the BFT is that it acts as a flag, not a bounce card.  Read more inside...

using bounce flash outdoors

January 3, 2008 Neil vN 18 Comments

using bounce flash outdoors

While the bounce flash techniques described on these pages are heavily dependent on shooting indoors which provide those places to bounce flash off ... it wouldn't seem possible to use these techniques outdoors.  After all, you can't bounce flash off the clouds.  (Although we've all seen photographers attempt this outside.) So while there are obvious limitations in applying these bounce flash techniques outdoors, there are times when these techniques can still be quite effective. This example, also shown in the tutorial pages is of this image taken  Read more inside...

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