This is the solid-colored piece that slides out at the top of your flash. Some flashes have a bounce card built-in. Usually, the flash is pointing up with the bounce card strapped to the back of the flash. A flash bounce card, such as the Rogue FlashBender, attaches to the back of your flash and bounces the light back into the frame. Try a Bounce Card for Soft Lighting AnywhereĪ reflector isn’t the only tool that will allow you to use the bounce flash technique anywhere. This is why using a wall or ceiling is often the easier option. While reflectors are a great option for flash photography, you’ll need an extra person - or a stand - to hold the reflector in place. Unlike bouncing the flash off a wall, you can change the position of the reflector to get the right angle of light on the subject. Reflectors are photography accessories designed specifically to bounce light back into the scene, whether that’s sunlight or a bounce flash. Instead, point your flash into a large reflector. Maybe the ceilings are too high, the walls are painted a bold color or you’re outside.īut that doesn’t eliminate the possibility of bounce flash photography entirely. Sometimes, the scene just doesn’t have a great bounce surface. No Bounce Surface Handy? Use a Reflector Lit using an off-camera flash with a bounce card, by Rodger Evans This allows you to turn up or down your flash power just like you’d use exposure compensation to lighten or darken an image. Terrified of manual flash? Ease your way with using flash compensation. Try starting with 1/4 and adjust up or down as needed. With bounce flash, you’ll likely use camera settings that are higher than manual flash photography on-camera or using an off-camera flash system. But thanks the ability to instantly preview a digital photo, it’s easy to take a test shot and adjust the flash based on the results.Ī 1/1 flash is at full power, the brightest that your flash can get, while a 1/2 is half power, a 1/4 is a quarter power and so on. Unlike the meter on your camera, your flash doesn’t have a built-in meter to guide you. Using manual flash will allow you to control just how much light the flash emits. If the flash is pointed somewhere else, that’s not the correct distance. All you have to do is set your camera settings, no flash settings. On TTL, your camera is automatically calculating the distance to the subject. Try Manual Flash Image by Russell Harrison PhotographyĪnother way to perfect the art of bounce flash? Use manual flash photography. The closer the light or the subject is, the less power the flash will lose on the bounce. If the bounced light isn’t strong enough in the image, try moving either the flash or the subject closer to the bounce surface (or both). While bounce flash creates great, soft light, the technique significantly reduces the power of your flash. Experiment With Distance to Increase the Strength of Your Flash Unless you want that colored tint, look for a neutral colored wall or ceiling, like white or beige. If you bounce the flash off a red wall, the light will have a pink tint to it. The color of the bounce surface will leave a color cast on the subject. There’s more to a great bounce surface than just size, however. But you can often adjust the placement of the subject to get the light falling in a way that flatters them.įor a portrait, for example, try bouncing the light at a 90-degree angle or a 45-degree angle from the side of the subject. The bounce flash will appear to be coming from the direction of the object that you bounce the light off of. Just turn the flash head until the light is pointing directly at that surface. This creates softer, more flattering light. By directing that light into a large wall or ceiling, you easily increase the surface size of that light. Look for a surface that’s large to create a nice, soft light.įlash photography is harsh because the size of the flash head is small. A wall or ceiling bounce surface work great. You don’t have to bring any extra gear with you. Look for a Large, Neutral Colored Surface Off-camera flash bounced off a ceiling, by Christian Y Ocampoīounce flash requires something to bounce the flash off of. Usually, this surface already exists. Make sure the flash in your kit has an adjustable head. Some will have a wider range of motion than others. Most hot shoe flashes allow you to move the head to redirect the light. To use bounce flash, you’ll need a hot shoe flash with an adjustable head. Pop-up flashes can’t be used for the bounce technique (excluding some bounce cards) because those built-in flashes are fixed to digital cameras. What Type of Flash Can You Use for the Bounce Technique with Bounce Flash?
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