{"id":60,"date":"2007-08-23T00:52:04","date_gmt":"2007-08-23T00:52:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/planetneil.com\/tangents\/flash-photography-techniques\/4-bouncing-flash\/"},"modified":"2024-09-01T00:08:45","modified_gmt":"2024-09-01T04:08:45","slug":"bouncing-flash","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/flash-photography-techniques\/bouncing-flash\/","title":{"rendered":"Bouncing your flash"},"content":{"rendered":"

Flash Photography Techniques<\/strong><\/a>
\nDragging the shutter<\/a>\u00a0 ~ \u00a0Bouncing your flash \u00a0~ \u00a0On-camera flash outdoors<\/a>
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How to bounce your flash<\/h1>\n

The camera settings for this image: 1\/160 @ f3.2 @ 800 ISO –\u00a0using TTL flash; FEC at\u00a00 EV. Those specific numerical values are\u00a0less important to achieving that quality of light, than the thought-process about how to use the light.\u00a0Ultimately, this really is about the\u00a0Direction & Quality of Light<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A single flashgun, used directly, gives hard shadows because it is a small light source. The only way to soften the light, is to make the source of light larger. The most effective way of doing this with on-camera flash, is to bounce it. Not only do we have softer light then (because of it being a larger light source), but we also have the opportunity to make the light directional.<\/p>\n

With this image, I bounced my flash to my left, and upwards. I wanted the light to come from an imaginary softbox near me. My approach to bounce flash photography indoors, is to consider it as if I am shooting in a studio with a single large softbox that I can position. For this reason, I try not to use the ceiling directly between myself and my subject to bounce my flash. That will usually create top-heavy light and shadows under their eyes … along with being flat light coming from the camera’s position.<\/p>\n

If you bounce the flash off a wall to the side of you, or behind you, then the source of light relative to the subject, is much larger than if you had shot with the flash straight on. There is a world of difference.<\/p>\n

For off-camera flash<\/a>, we have a variety of choices how we can control our light source’s direction and quality of light. For on-camera flash, when working indoors with bounce-able surfaces around you, using bounce flash is a fast and effective way of dramatically improving the quality of light from our flash.<\/p>\n

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