continued from "Bounce your Flash Part I"

Lighting the Subject with Bounce flash.

Things to think about.

1. Distance from the bouncing surface affects flash power required

2. Distance from teh bouncing surface affects the quality of light - the further you are away from the surface, the larger the apparent light source will be. I don't like my light to be too soft. Shadows are useful in describing shape and texture.

3. The light takes on the colour of the bouncing surface. Bouncing off a green wall can make your subject look sick. Notice in the first 2 pics that the bounced flash is slightly warm (that is because the wall was not white).

Where to Bounce.

Side wall bounce- very effective in giving some shape and soft shadow.

Wall behind bounce- provides a large front fill light source. Point the flash toward the wall behind you.

This method can produce great results when combined with a backlight (e.g. window, lamp).

1.no flash 2. Flash bounced off the wall behind .

Ceiling bounce. - this gives a fairly even illumination of the subject and room. If you are close to your subject, you can get unpleasant shadowing of the eyes as the light is coming from directly above. To reduce this eye shadowing, use a small bounce card attached to the flash.

Ceiling bounce. Without and with bounce card. Notice the shadowing of the eyes is reduced in the second pic and also some nice catchlights in the eyes..

(bounce card pictured above with flash pointing up at ceiling. )

Practical Example:

In this example above, my back is to the subject and I am shooting into a mirror. My flash head is aimed over her head and into the corner of the wall/ceiling behind her. This creates a soft backlight. The light also bounces around the room lighting the front of the subject.

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Other Tips:

Conserve batteries and improve flash recharge times by using high ISO and wide apperture. Although you might want to stop down for group shots to maintain DOF.

Don't try bouncing off super high ceilings. Instead bring your subjects near a wall or other appropriate bouncing surface (white shirt, white cloth, white card).

If you are using ETTL metering for your flash, this will give quite consistent results for most normal situations. Learn how to use Flash Exposure Compensation (FEC) on your camera to tweak the flash output. For more control in tricky situations, switch to manual mode if your flash has it.

This is a really great site for more info: http://planetneil.com/tangents/flash-photography-techniques/.