Bounce Flash

[Dylan]

All,

I recently aquired a 420 EX Speedlite flash which I'd like to learn more about. I can do the basic shots but I'm very interested in the bounce flash shots. How do I know where or when to bounce. How do you learn what angles will work best etc.? Is this just practice or is there a theory? Thanks for the help

 

[vandecarr]

it takes some experimenting but, you can bounce off a wall or the ceiling and you often end up with racoon eyes when bouncing.

Try to google bounce flash tips and you'll probably find some interesting results.


Mike V

 

[EOS_JD]

If you have a ceiling or wall that is not too high you can use this. Better if it's white as coloured walls and ceilings will create colour casts in your image.

Practice with bouncing and you'll see the effects of the amount of light reaching your subject. To shallow or too much of an angle will not provide the optimum light but then again that may be what is required. Light bounces of subjects at the same angle it hits so you can usually have a fair guess at how to bounce right. Remember to think of where the shadow will land. Bouncing up may cause shadow in the eye sockets and bouncing off a wall pay have a light abd dark side of a face.

Practice.

 

[Dylan]

Yeah, Googling bounce flash tips is a good idea. As far as your advice EOS JD, I'll take it and I guess I can only get better in time.

 

[Big Mike]

Most of the 'flash accessories' avaliable on the market are meant to help when bouncing. As mentioned, when bouncing...the light hits your subject from above and can give bad shadows (raccoon eyes etc.).

Products like the Stofen Omnibounce, the Fong Lightsphere, the Lumiquest 80-20....they all let the light bounce up but also put some of the light forward.

You can also do the same thing with a bounce card...just a white card strapped to the back of your flash.

 

[EOS_JD]

Yes the 580 EX has a small white card which bounces some light forward to give a catchlight in the eye.

i generally use the Fong LightsphereII

 

[Dylan]

The lightsphere looks really nice but I'm settling for the Stofen Omnibounce for now. As for the racoon eyes, I'll take that into account. I'll be that happens a lot.

 

[suefoto]

I use bounce flash all the time. You can see your results right away so just change the angle a bit until you get the pic you want. You do need a white or light coloured ceiling that's not too high. I also use a silver reflector to bounce some of the light back on the side of the face that's not in the sun. Practice makes perfect!

 

[zedin]

Or instead of paying 20+ bucks

http://www.abetterbouncecard.com/

 

[Garbz]

Yeah zedin that is a great video. Since I saw that ages ago it has been my preferred method of bouncing. Even at weddings when we were outdoors I still aimed the flash up to give it more surface area to form a light source, although most of the power was then wasted, the results were still spectacular.