All language subtitles for 5. Flash Modifiers and Bounce Flash - Reflections Academy

Here we go, this is the last lesson

of this first theoretical part of the course.

I would say the course is only going

to get better and more fun after this

lesson, and I know this theoretical talk can

sometimes suck the souls out of people, but

as I said in the very beginning, my

goal with this course is to get you

100% ready to confidently implement every technique

I'll be sharing in later lessons.

And we can do that only by closing

all the knowledge gaps, and that is not

easy work.

So, bravo for pushing through, great things are

ahead.

In this last theoretical lesson I would like

to touch on the topic of light modifiers

for the flash and I would like to

talk about the bounce flash technique.

Although light modifiers can be incredible tools that

can transform the look of our photographs completely,

in our own wedding work we don't normally

use any softboxes, umbrellas or any other studio

diffusers really.

We have two reasons for this, first one

is that it becomes very frustrating to carry

all this bulky gear around the wedding, and

secondly, in my opinion, showing up with these

softboxes, umbrellas and light stands, it just draws

too much attention.

Sharon and I like to appear minimal and

effortless at every wedding, with the smallest gear

kit possible, so that the focus stays on

the couple and the design of the wedding,

rather than on us and on our gear.

That's why the only light modifiers you might

see us using at a wedding are these

two, the dome diffuser and the wide angle

adapter for the flash.

Both of these diffusers help spread the light

from the flash a bit wider and more

evenly on the subject.

The difference they make is very subtle, but

it's the details that make a good photograph

become great.

Dome diffuser evens out the light from the

flash and mainly helps to avoid those hot

spots on foreheads of our subjects, and it's

also supposed to spread the light a bit

wider, but it's not really the best tool

if you want to achieve a wider spread.

If you want a wide spread of light,

let's say for a big group photo, then

this little guy can help you do that.

It basically adds a few more degrees to

your widest zoom setting on the flash.

Do you remember the zoom setting on the

flash?

Yeah, so it makes, let's say, 28 millimeter

zoom become more like 24.

Again, it's a subtle difference, but it's not

insignificant.

Just note that both of these diffusers, like

any other diffuser, will take away a bit

of the power output of your flash.

So if you need a full power from

your flash in, let's say, direct sunlight, make

sure to take these off.

Some other modifiers that I always bring with

me are a couple of CT gels, but

honestly, I don't really remember when was the

last time I actually used them.

CT gels can change the warmth of the

light we get out of our flash from

the original 5600 kelvins to, let's say, 3200

kelvins, and this can be very useful if

you want to match the light from the

flash with ambient light.

For example, flashlight is made to match the

5600 kelvin daylight, and candle light is warmer

than that, around 3200 kelvins.

So if we want to make our white

balance match the candles, the light from our

flash will then appear cool blue.

So by simply putting one of those on

our flash, we will make our flashlight also

warmer, and it will match the desired white

balance of the candles.

And this color matching can especially be useful

when we use the bounce flash technique.

So let's talk about the bounce flash technique.

If you're looking to achieve a soft light

look with the flash, and you're like us,

and you don't want to carry a ton

of gear around the wedding day, you can

do it by simply bouncing the light from

the flash off the wall or the ceiling.

This is a very common technique, but I

still see so many photographers doing it in

a way that just doesn't look very good.

Well, actually, that doesn't make people in photographs

look their best.

I personally don't use this technique that often,

but it does come in handy sometimes, so

I wanted to do a little exercise that

might be useful if you decide to try

it out.

Before anything else, when bouncing the flash, make

sure that the wall or the ceiling you're

bouncing it off is white, or at least

close to white.

Otherwise, our whole photograph could get a color

cast from the color of the wall.

Next, I never bounce the flash directly off

the ceiling, because this will create a very

unappealing top down light.

I don't really think anyone likes having these

huge raccoon shadows around their eyes topped with

a little hot spot on their forehead, and

that's exactly what happens when we make the

light come directly from above of our subjects.

We point the flash directly to the ceiling.

So instead, try bouncing the flash off a

side wall, so that the light comes in

sideways, making it look way more natural and

visually appealing, and if the only ceiling, there's

only ceiling that is white and no walls

are in color, well then try maybe bouncing

the flash at a 45 degree angle and

pointing behind the camera.

This way, the light will come from behind

us and from the front of our subjects,

rather than directly from above them.

This will illuminate them with the light that

looks at least a bit better than if

it was the top down ceiling light.

When I'm bouncing the flash, I normally set

it on manual setting, as I want it

to stay more or less consistent in power,

and I don't want any surprises from the

TTL.

Also, I would just put the flash sometimes

in one place, where it would give me

a nice spread of light, and then I

would move around the room with my camera.

As with any other flash technique, I would

first expose for the ambient light, and then

I would add just enough of the flash

in order to make the whole scene look

natural and not too obviously lit with the

flash.

Another setting that is also super useful when

bouncing the flash, is the flash's zoom setting.

It can help you direct the light to

bounce it exactly in a way you want

it.

So, if you zoom it more, for example,

you will limit the spread of the light

to a smaller portion of the wall, or

part of the wall, and if you set

it wide, it will spread around the entire

room, giving you this super soft, even light

throughout the picture.

The bounce flash technique is quite easy, and

it's a quick way to mimic natural, or

better said, available light with flash.

And also, it can make a quick fix

to many mixed white balance situations.

So, if you bounce the flash off a

white wall, just like I showed you in

the previous example, but set its strength higher,

in order to overpower the rest of the

lights in the room, it will give you

a more or less natural looking light, and

it will even out the entire white balance

in the room, because it will be stronger

than the rest of these lights that make

this mixed white balance.

There are a million different ways to play

with bounce flash, but the main thing I

would like to point out, is that when

I use this technique, I do it in

order to make my photos look like they

were lit with natural light, and this leads

me to the part that I promised to

cover in the previous lesson, about those lens

choice exceptions, and the instances I would rather

use an open aperture and 50mm lens with

flash, instead of closed aperture and 28mm lens

that I normally use.

Well, this is it.

If I bounce the flash in order to

mimic natural or available light, then I would

also treat it as natural light with my

lens and aperture choice.

So, that's when I would choose longer focal

lengths and an open aperture, so that these

photos look and match many others that I

would take throughout the day with natural light.

I hope now it all makes sense.

With this, I would wrap the talk about

the bounce flash, so that we don't get

too far from the main topic of the

course, and that is how to achieve that

beautiful, glamorous, fashion-forward look that Sharon and

I create for our clients using flash.

And that, my friends, comes in the next

lesson.

Are you excited?

See you there!