{"id":51634,"date":"2023-06-16T02:46:35","date_gmt":"2023-06-16T06:46:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/?p=51634"},"modified":"2026-06-23T01:25:35","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T05:25:35","slug":"huge-venues-and-bounce-flash-how-to-double-your-flash-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/huge-venues-and-bounce-flash-how-to-double-your-flash-power\/","title":{"rendered":"Huge venues and bounce flash – how to double your flash power"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Bounce flash and huge venues – how to double your flash power<\/h2>\n

A spontaneous moment with two of the lovely people at an event I photographed. Perhaps technically unremarkable until you consider the size of the venue, and that I used bounce flash. If you look at the photo below, you’ll see that it was a huge indoor basketball \/ sport court. Now, if you’re familiar with the tutorials on this site on bounce flash photography<\/a>, you’ll know that I try to avoid direct flash as much as possible. Even flash attachments that throw light forward — I avoid using those. Instead, I much more prefer proper bounce flash photography – where I bounce the flash off surfaces inside a venue. Even large venues.<\/p>\n

The ideal for me in terms of the method of bounce flash, is that I bounce my flash into the direction that I want the light to come from. NO diffuser cup, or any other device on my flash, other than the BFT<\/a>. I want to create a large light source, and as far as possible, I prefer that indirect bounce light to the directional<\/strong>. Soft, directional light.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\tBut in large venues, this gets tougher and tougher if you try to maintain a certain depth-of-field and \/ or a maximum ISO. Therefore, at some point, I need to increase my flash power.<\/p>\n

Some photographers will say that with modern cameras you can always rack the ISO higher. But if you double your flash output, you will always be that one stop ahead.<\/p>\n

For those rare situations where I\u2019m in a massive venue and I want to bounce my flash … and I don\u2019t want to, or can\u2019t put up additional off-camera lighting … and my on-camera Profoto A1 flash doesn\u2019t boast enough juice to give me the aperture that I want, at the ISO that I want … but I still need extra juice from my flash, I bring out this ProMedia Gear GF2 Gimbal Head Flash Doubler<\/a> (B&H<\/em>).<\/p>\n

It allows you to add an additional two flashes to bounce, more than doubling your output. Crazy stuff!\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>

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And yes, it is heavy, and the torque on your wrist is tough. Which is why I only use it with an additional flash, as shown in the 2nd image. The slight increase in power from the 3rd flash isn’t worth the physical endurance test.<\/p>\n

How well does this work (if you have the physical stamina to carry this)? Well, look at the top image as being typical of the results I got here at this event.<\/p>\n

The camera settings for the image at the top was 1\/80 \u00a0@ \u00a0f\/4 \u00a0@ \u00a02000 ISO. You might argue that the flash doubler bracket wasn’t necessary here since I could easily have squeezed a higher ISO and a wider aperture for the same result with just one flash. Keep in mind though that I was doing impromptu group photos as well, and sometimes needed f\/5.6 aperture for the group. I was also bouncing flash in different directions that might not have been as “efficient” as with this example.<\/p>\n

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The on-camera flash is obviously the main flash that controls the other flash(es) via wireless radio signals. And it actually works this way. Sometimes howeverwhen a radio controlled trigger is too close to the flash, the flash misfires, but this setup appears to work. It\u2019s heavy. My left hand will have to do a lot of the balancing of the weight.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no stopping me now, except for tendonitis in my wrist and elbow.<\/p>\n

I didn’t weigh it. But I seriously think you will get some kind of strain injury in your wrist because of the torque to the one side with the 3rd flash added.<\/p>\n

As a side note — the Profoto flash mounted on the bracket is the Nikon mount Profoto A1 — because the Profoto hotshoe foot is far more sturdy than the idiotic Sony hotshoe with the delicate pins.<\/p>\n

The 2nd flash would double my power. A 3rd flash would only add 1\/2 a stop. Diminishing returns. I only rarely (2, maybe 3 times a year) hit a situation where a 2nd flash on my camera would be useful. So no big ordeal for me. And if I NEVER have reason to use this, then that’s ideal too. But if I need this, I have it. It’s like insurance. The ideal is that you never have to call on your insurance.<\/p>\n

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Photo gear used with this photo session<\/h3>\n