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Hack 42 Bounce Flash for Softer Light

One of the best techniques for using (and
reasons for purchasing) an external flash is to bounce its light off
the ceiling. This creates softer skin tones and a journalistic
look.

Photographer Bill Harvey was awarded the lifetime achievement award in 1997 by
the Press Photographers Association of Greater Los Angeles. He showed
me the setup that I still use with unfailingly excellent results, as
everyone always agrees.

Bill used a Vivitar 283, still available today, mounted
on a pistol grip. With the 283, you just set the ISO, switch the
removable sensor to one of several distance settings, and look up the
color-coded distance setting on the illuminated dial to find the
correct f-stop.

But Bill never shot the flash directly at his subject. Instead, he
pointed it upward, toward a small plastic reflector like the one in
Figure 4-5, made by Sto-Fen (http://www.omni-bounce.com). Sto-Fen makes
several accessories for the 283, as well as Canon and Sunpak strobes.

Figure 4-5. The Sto-Fen reflector for bounce-flash photography (photo by Mike Pasini)

Bill used Sto-Fen's Twin Panel Bounce. Its compact, clever
design eliminates hot spots and covers 24mm lenses and larger.
Digicam zooms generally aren't wider than 28mm
(speaking in 35mm equivalents). I also like their Omni Bounce, which
is a white plastic dome with a black panel on the back that sits
right on top of the 283 lens. It gives an even softer shadow than the
Twin Panel but doesn't have quite the range. Both
bounces come with a black plastic mount that just snaps over the
283very simple, elegant, portable, and reliable.

If the head of your flash pivots upward, you can also bounce the
light from your flash with a rubber band and the back of a business
card. This disperses the illumination. Some flashes even include a
bounce card built into the head.

Bounce flash gets you soft, natural shadows over a wide area and
completely eliminates red eye, as shown in Figure 4-6.

Figure 4-6. Using bounce flash to produce more natural results

The 283's removable light sensor is an important
feature. You can mount the removable sensor on the
camera's hot shoe but move the light around to other
positions and still get good exposures. In Figure 4-7, I've rigged up a Vivitar 283
to a Nikon CoolPix 990. This isn't sophisticated
dedicated flash circuitry precision, but it
keeps the sensor with the camera; after all, that's
where the exposure is made.

Figure 4-7. Vivitar 283 with Nikon CoolPix 990 (photo by Mike Pasini)

Bill would add an external battery pack to power his Vivitar, but I
find that today's NiMH AA rechargeables handle the
job with power to spare.

I like to move the flash an arm's length away, up
high or even to the other side of the camera, depending on the
subject. I know the sensor will adjust to whatever I want to do,
rather than force me to do something the flash expects. I can
comfortably wave the flash around, because it's
mounted on a nice, molded Vivitar grip. The grip pops on and off a
bracket that attaches to the camera via its tripod mount. It
couldn't be simpler.

The whole rig is a bit ostentatiousit makes me look like I
actually know what I'm doingbut
it's actually easy and natural to use. And
it's a lot of fun to be able to paint the picture
with the light of the flash.

4.5.1 One Important Catch for Digicam Users

The problem with the popular 283, apparently (it's
hard to confirm this from any reliable source), is that models
manufactured before 1984 use a trigger voltage of 200-300 volts.
Models since then use a less titillating 10 volts, which is under the
12 volts most autofocus SLRs warn against. Digicams with hot shoes
prefer things a little less exciting, generally under 6 volts.
Sending more than that through your digicam's
delicate circuits might eventually fry them.

To protect my digicams, I use the tiny, US$40 Wein
Safe-Synch HS voltage regulator. I
found mine at B&H Photo (http://www.bhphotovideo.com). The Wein slips
into a hot shoe and is tightened safely into place with a thumb
wheel. You can connect your flash to the Safe
Synch's PC connector or the hot shoe to enjoy its
six-volt-maximum trigger-voltage protection.

4.5.2 A More Modern Approach

I thought you'd enjoy Bill's story,
because it shows that the bounce-flash technique has been making
photographers look good for decades. Thanks to modern technology,
however, this magic is easier than ever to use for your pictures.

If your digicam accepts an external flash made by its manufacturer,
you can apply the art of bounce with the brains of dedicated flash
circuitry. In Figure 4-8, I've
connected an Olympus C-5050 with an
Olympus
FL-40 flash via a dedicated remote cord. Why is this important?
Because the intelligent exposure system takes all the guesswork out
of getting a perfectly exposed shot. You simply put the dedicated
flash in the camera's hot shoe, point the flash head
up to the ceiling, compose your picture, and take the shot.

Figure 4-8. Olympus C-5050 with bounce flash

The camera opens the shutter and fires the flash. As the light
bounces off the ceiling and rains down on the subject, the camera
measures the light as it passes through the camera lens. When
there's enough light for a proper exposure, the
camera turns off the flash and closes the shutter. All of this magic
happens in a fraction of a second, and it works beautifully.

I've successfully used this technique with a
Canon G2 camera
with matching Canon 420 EX Speedlite flash, and with an
Olympus C5050.
But Nikon, Minolta, and many other manufacturers make similar rigs,
and they all work wonderfully.

4.5.3 No Hot Shoe, No Problem! (Well, Sort Of)

But what if your camera doesn't have a flash
hot shoe? Does that mean
you're doomed to harsh, unflattering indoor
photography? Not at all.

First, read [Hack #41] .
That will help you get an external flash talking to your camera.
However, as mentioned in that hack, you don't have
the advantage of the camera's dedicated flash
circuitry controlling the light output to ensure a good exposure.
You're in uncharted waters here.

As a starting point, set the external flash to its maximum output
setting so you have as much light as possible to bounce off the
ceiling. If your camera has a Manual Exposure mode, set the shutter
on 1/30 of a second and set the aperture at f-4. Bump up your ISO
setting from 100 to 200, just to make the image sensor a tad more
sensitive.

Now, point your flash upward, compose the subject in the camera, and
fire! Review the image in your camera's LCD monitor.
If it's too bright, close down the aperture to
f-5.6. If it's too dark, open up the aperture to
f-2.8. If it's still too dark after you do that, you
might have to increase the ISO setting to 400.

As you can see, this rig requires lots of fiddling around to get just
the right combination of settings. It becomes a powerful argument for
investing in a dedicated flash system for your next camera outfit
purchase. But until that blessed day comes, you'll
be surprised at the great images you can capture once you nail the
settings.

Oh, and when you do, be sure to write them down.

4.5.4 A Few Bounce-Flash Tips

Unlike direct illumination, bounce flash is
influenced by the surface you use to reflect the light. So there are
a few things to keep in mind to improve your results:

Low ceilings are better than high ones.

The farther the light has to travel (both up to the ceiling and back
down again), the more challenging correct exposure becomes. High
ceilings usually result in underexposure, because there just
isn't enough light left after traveling all that
distance. Look for low ceilings when using bounce flash.

White ceilings are better than colored.

First, white ceilings reflect light better and usually
result in proper exposures. Beyond that, however, remember that the
light that falls on the subject will take on the tint of the ceiling.
So, if the ceiling is beige instead of white, not only will it absorb
more light, it will also color it and influence the tone of your
picture.

Use a rubber band and business card for bright eyes.

Some people who have deep-set eyes won't fare
well with bounce flash. Because the light is raining down from the
ceiling, their inset eyes go dark. You can solve this problem by
making a kick
light reflector with a business card
attached to your flash by a rubber band. Some of the
flash's light will bounce off the business card
directly toward the subject, helping to keep the eyes from going too
dark. The rest of the light bounces off the ceiling, giving you that
pleasing bounce-flash look. Yes, you can have it both ways. (Refer
back to Figure 4-8 for an example of how this setup
looks.)

Angles are important.

Using bounce flash is much like playing a game of pool: you need to
figure the angles to make a good shot. Try to angle your flash head
so the light bounces off the ceiling and lands right in front of the
subject. Digicams make this process easier, because you can take a
shot, review it, adjust, and then shoot again.

If you follow these tips, regardless of whether you have a
sophisticated dedicated flash system or a simple external flash
triggered by your camera's built-in flash,
you'll be rewarded with outstanding images unlike
anything you could capture with the direct illumination from your
digicam's built-in flash.

Mike Pasini and Derrick Story