Bounce Flash Off Walls and Ceilings. By bouncing the flash off the ceiling, you can achieve soft, directional light that fully illuminates your subjects. When using bounce flash, you must learn to gauge angles and distances. Aim the flash unit at a point on the ceiling that will produce the widest beam of light reflecting back onto your subjects. There are two things to watch out for when using this technique. First, avoid bouncing flash off colored ceilings or walls; you may not be able to compensate for the resulting color cast, even with custom white balance. Second, watch out for excessively overhead lighting. This can be a big problem with high ceilings, producing light that is almost directly overhead in nature and not the most flattering look for portraits.
You don’t necessarily have to use your flash sync speed when making bounce flash exposures. If the room light exposure is within a stop or two of your bounce flash exposure (1/125 second at f/4, for example), you can select a slower shutter speed to record more of the ambient room light. If the room light exposure is 1/30 second at f/4, for example, expose the bounce flash photos at 1/30 second at f/4 for a balanced flash and roomlight exposure. Be wary of shutter speeds longer than 1/15 second; the flash will freeze the subject, but the longish shutter speed might produce “ghosting” if your subject is moving. This effect can be quite interesting visually. In fact, many photographers incorporate a slow shutter speed and flash to record a sharp image over a moving one for a painterly effect.
Keep in mind that TTL flash metering systems and auto flash systems will read bounce flash situations fairly accurately, but factors such as ceiling distance, color, and absorption qualities can affect proper exposure. Bounce Flash Devices. A number of devices on the market are designed to eliminate the excessively overhead quality sometimes found with bounce flash. The Lumiquest ProMax system, for example, mounts on the flash housing and transmits some of the light forward onto the subject, with the remainder of the light being aimed at the ceiling. Lumiquest also offers the Pocket Bouncer, which redirects light at a 90 degree angle from the flash to soften the quality of light and distribute it over a wider area. No exposure compensation is necessary with automatic and TTL flash exposure systems, although operating distances will be somewhat reduced.
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