Lighting Advice

[KAikens318]

Hey everyone. I had a fun little impromtu shoot in my basement the other night with a friend to test out my speedlight that I have. The only problem is that the TTL function isn't compatible with my camera, only the manual flash function so I was trying to bounce the light off various things but didn't find much to bounce it off of. Any suggestions on how to muffle the flash so that it is not quite so harsh? I had a diffuser cap on it but that didn't seem to do much. Thanks!

 

[Big Mike]

Given the theme of these shots, hard light would seem to be a better choice anyway.

But in general, to soften the light on your subject, you can do two things. Move the light closer to the subject, or increase the size of the source.
Bouncing is usually a great option, because it dramatically increases the size of the source, from the subject's perspective. A 'diffuser cap' doesn't do much, because it doesn't really increase the size of the source. Here is where a softbox or an umbrella work well to soften the light.

Also, pretty much anything can be a usable bounce surface. Use not only the ceiling, but the walls as well. Have someone in a white T-shirt stand there and bounce it off of them.

 

[KAikens318]

Given the theme of these shots, hard light would seem to be a better choice anyway.

But in general, to soften the light on your subject, you can do two things. Move the light closer to the subject, or increase the size of the source.
Bouncing is usually a great option, because it dramatically increases the size of the source, from the subject's perspective. A 'diffuser cap' doesn't do much, because it doesn't really increase the size of the source. Here is where a softbox or an umbrella work well to soften the light.

Also, pretty much anything can be a usable bounce surface. Use not only the ceiling, but the walls as well. Have someone in a white T-shirt stand there and bounce it off of them.

Thanks. The walls and ceiling down there were pretty dark so it was hard to bounce light off of it. But I do have a reflector that I could prop up in the ceiling, perhaps that would work better.

Do these pics look okay with the lighting? I like them a lot but wasn't sure if by professional standards they are any good.