BOUNCING YOUR FLASH Part I

In this tutorial, we will keep things simple, keeping our flash on the camera hotshoe and shooting in TTL flash mode. This allows a free flowing style of shooting, free of complicated triggers, modifiers and flash metering. We will see how we can still achieve great results without having to walk the strobist path.

Bouncing a flash off a wall or ceiling affects the quality of light that illuminates the subject. Point sources of light are considered harsh and give deep sharp shadows. Large sources of light (relative to the subject) are considered soft light sources and are generally more flattering for portraits.

By bouncing flash off a surface, we are turning it from a point light source to a large light source. We also give the light some direction, rather than being straight on to the subject, which aids in defining texture and shape in the subject.

Examples here show the difference between straigh on flash and bounced flash (bounced off a side wall). The bounced flash is much softer, gives better shaping and is more flattering. Notice the harsh chin shadow in the first pic.

Bouncing a flash is a good place to start to learn more creative ways of using your flash. However, don't fall into the trap of thinking that soft light is always better. Sometimes hard directional light is better for your subject and is necessary to give a certain edge or mood to a shot. Using your flash off camera is a whole separate world of complexity. Strobist is the way forward once you have mastered and been limited by your on-camera flash experiences.

Metering ambient background light.

The first step is to set your camera exposure for the ambient background. Don't worry about the subject for now, the flash exposure is set separtely and we can leave that up to the camera to decide for now.

Use a manual exposure setting so that you can get consistent results throughout the shoot. With a digital SLR, you can check the screen to see that your background exposure is how you like it.

Once you are happy with the background exposure, you can add in a flash

First pic. 1/60s. Second pic 1/200s. Both at ISO 200, f/5.6. Notice the background is darker in the second pic. The subject brightness stays the same as the camera controls that part and usually gives quite consistent results.

Continued in Part II...