Here’s a basic pitfall of bounce flash photography: You’ll get the hang of it quickly–just be willing to make a few mistakes when you’re starting out. Really, I’d recommend that you experiment with different angles. A steep angle will reflect back steeply, whereas a shallow angle will reflect back shallowly. If you want to create shadows on the left side of your subject’s face, then point your flash at the wall to the right.Īnd you can fine-tune the shadows even further by thinking about the intensity of the angle. So if you want to create shadows under your subject’s nose and chin, you’ll want to fire the flash at the ceiling above.

Then ask yourself: If you fired the flash at the wall, how would it reflect? Really, you need to think of the surfaces around you as a sort of mirror, and think of your flash as a laser beam. By bouncing the flash in different ways, you’ll end up with different shadow shapes, which can easily make or break a photo. Choose Your Flash Angleīounce flash starts with the right angle. Now let’s take a look at how you can create a beautiful bounce flash effect. Note that you can also use the bounce flash technique with studio strobes and the like, but there’s generally not much of a point if you have a sufficient number of modifiers to achieve the look you’re after. So that means speedlights that allow the head to rotate (this is very common!) are generally fine for bounce flash.īut a pop-up flash won’t work, because they only have one direction: straight ahead. What Equipment Do You Need to Create a Bounce Flash Effect?Īs long as you can direct the flash, you can use the bounce flash technique. Sure, it’s not as flexible or as powerful as a flash with modifiers or a flash mounted to a lightstand, but it’ll still give you a good result.

Whenever you want soft light, or whenever you want non-direct shadows, you can use a bounce effect. But if that setup isn’t available to you, or you just don’t have the time, you can bounce the light off a wall and create the desired shadows anyway. Normally, you’d achieve the sidelit effect by taking the flash off the camera and triggering it from a distance. Well, with a flash that comes from the same angle as your lens/camera, it’s just not achievable.

You might also want to use a bounce technique if you’re working with a camera-mounted flash and you want shadows coming from different directions.įor instance, say you wanted a three-dimensional, sidelit effect, like this: (This is what light modifiers generally do, by the way they widen the flash to cover more area, and thus create a softer effect.) And you get a softer effect, as if your flash was very large to begin with. You see, the softness of the light is about size, where the bigger the light source, the softer the light.Ī naked flash is very narrow, which means that you get harsh, contrasty light.īut if you take the flash and you bounce it off the wall, the light becomes much broader. So if you’re in a situation where you’re working with a naked flash and you don’t have access to any modifiers, you’re probably going to want to bounce it. They give your subject a flat, unpleasant look, with contrasty shadows that just aren’t flattering. Whenever you’re working with a movable flash (that is, a flash that you can adjust the angle), then it’s a good idea to bounce it, unless you have some form of light modification available (e.g., a softbox or an umbrella).īecause unmodified flashes look terrible. Note that bounce flash is generally done with a flash mounted to your camera’s hot shoe, though you can technically do it with off-camera flashes mounted on light stands. Though you have a surprising amount of flexibility, and can use it to light your subject from different angles and with different amounts of harshness.

Eyelash reflector photography