![](\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/images\/models\/claudia\/NV2_0776.jpg\")
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For a straight-forward but effective portrait like this, there are just a few things that have to come together … all within your control as the photographer:<\/p>\n
This is mostly as simple as looking at the edges of the frame in your camera’s viewfinder, and then deciding how much head-room or breathing room you want to allow. Also look at the background, and\u00a0exclude what doesn’t add to your photograph. In this example, it was easy enough, working in my studio which has a grey wall.<\/p>\n
So often though, I find that aspiring photographers that I teach at my workshops, haven’t developed the ability yet to look at the way they frame the subject, and look at the edges of the frame in their viewfinder. They either shoot too tight, or way too loose, or with a lop-sided composition as they center their subject in the frame. It just needs a little bit of practice.<\/p>\n
My subject here, Claudia<\/a>, is a professional model who was our subject at the flash photography workshop<\/a>\u00a0held in my studio. She certainly knows to pose – however, she doesn’t know how the photographer is going to frame her. So it is still up to us to tell her how we are framing her. It doesn’t help if her hands and arms are out of the frame if she thinks we are shooting half-length compositions. So even with a professional model, you, as the photographer, still need to guide and pose your subject. Here are more articles discussing the topic of posing<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n Here we come to the essential part that I wanted to discuss here – the lighting. In this example, the lighting is clean and open, with a slight gradient across her one cheek. That gives a more dynamic lighting pattern than flat lighting would have.<\/p>\n If this look appeals to you, then I have good news for you – it is within your reach. You too can easily have your portraits look as good as this!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The lighting is simplicity itself – on-camera bounce flash<\/a>. This was shot indoors without much available light\u00a0– my studio.\u00a0Which is why I can’t really show a pull-back shot on the lighting – there isn’t anything else other than the speedlight on my camera.<\/p>\n If you are shooting indoors, and using your speedlight on your camera, the the simplest approach is invariably the best way to use the flash.\u00a0This is discussed at length in my book,\u00a0On-Camera Flash Photography<\/a>.<\/p>\n There are two of the most important\u00a0tips I can give you on getting the most of your on-camera flash when you use it indoors:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n An elegant portrait need not be difficult in execution. Don’t get overwhelmed. A step-by-step control over the elements, and\u00a0a straight-forward approach, is often the key to success here.<\/p>\n The next step though in expanding your repertoire, would be lighting with\u00a0off-camera flash.<\/a>\u00a0If you’re new to off-camera flash, and unsure of what gear you’d need, here\u00a0is the\u00a0gear list – starting out with off-camera flash<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Improve your portrait photography: \u00a0Lighting with bounce flash For a straight-forward but effective portrait like this, there are just a few things that have to come together … all within your control as the photographer: Framing \/ Composition\u00a0 This is mostly as simple as looking at the edges of the frame in your camera’s viewfinder, Read more inside…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35487,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[111,861,15],"tags":[881,56],"yst_prominent_words":[4525,1895,1842,1850,4529,4522,1199,4523,1897,1894,1140,4527,1898,4533,1580,1852,1020,4536,1392,1882],"class_list":{"0":"post-35486","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bounce-flash-photography","8":"category-claudia","9":"category-flash-photography","10":"tag-bounce-flash-photography","11":"tag-flash-photography-tips","12":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35486"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35486"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35486\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48935,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35486\/revisions\/48935"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35486"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=35486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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Summary<\/h2>\n
Photo gear (or equivalents) used during this photo shoot<\/h2>\n
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Related articles<\/h2>\n
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