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HughHefnerIV
Joined: 21 Aug 2007
Posts: 14
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 Posted: Sun Nov 25, 2007 11:20 am Post subject: Special Event Photography Scenario: So I've been playing aro |
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| It warns that if you bounce the flash off of a colored wall, you're likely to get some color cast. My question is what would a pro do if you're at a wedding and want to use bounce flash but lets say the walls are bright red (unlikely but what if). My skill level : semipro meaning I get paid but clearly have a lot to learn. |
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anersalay
Joined: 22 Nov 2007
Posts: 1
Location: Mexico
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| Posted: Sun Nov 25, 2007 11:56 am Post subject: Special Event Photography Scenario: So I've been playing aro |
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| you can use white umbralas, or white paper to bounce off, you can defuse the flash maybe unless bounce is really what your after, then theres off camera as well, can you edit in why you must bounce? what effect you want from it, why you want to do it etc there may be another way?edit in some more detail, have you tried umbrallas etc, you could use opposing coloured gels or filters but i wouldnt, proberly umbrella is the best way or off cameraa |
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CB5941
Joined: 22 Nov 2007
Posts: 4
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| Posted: Sun Nov 25, 2007 12:32 pm Post subject: Special Event Photography Scenario: So I've been playing aro |
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| Well I don't usually bounce my flash to the wall because sometimes I would stand in the middle of a large hall without any wall near me so I would bounce my flash to the ceiling, and fortunately for me most ceilings that I've been worked in is white so I don't have such problem yet. recently I've seen a diffuser (you know that big bowl type you attach to the external flash, whatever that is called) that they claim to be able to produce bounce flash-like result and although I haven't tried it myself I thought it would be quite a good idea. The umbrella thing would be ideal but I couldn't see myself running around with an umbrella and a camera on my hands while taking shots. |
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Jai
Joined: 22 Nov 2007
Posts: 8
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| Posted: Sun Nov 25, 2007 1:08 pm Post subject: Special Event Photography Scenario: So I've been playing aro |
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| I'm semipro like you. Bouncing a flash is a great way to set your pix apart---make them look more professional. Oftentimes we'll use a bounce card just to avoid redeye, that is get the light source far enough away from the lens-to-eye axis that the back of the subject's eyeball isn't illuminated by the flash.The old freebie way of doing that is to point your flash up and sort of bend a paper plate around the top. You can purchase, pretty cheaply, something that does the same thing and attaches with velcro, but which looks a little more professional than a paper plate. I have several such units from Lumiquest. Click on the links below to see what I'm talking about.Bouncing off the ceiling is another matter. It gives a REALLY COOL effect to many pics because unlike head-on flash where the foreground subjects are properly exposed but everybody else is in a murky background, when bounced off the ceiling the foreground AND some background subjects have ample light. The problem that sometimes arises with that technique is that people's bangs can sometimes cast a shadow over their own eyes (if you don't get the angle just right).Also, there's the problem you noted in your question, that colored walls and ceiling can add a cast to your pix. This is definitely true. If I knew I wanted to bounce off a slightly warm ceiling, like a beige, say, and I figured a slight blue filter could fix it, what I would do is to take a little gel and put it over the part of the flash where the light comes out (dorky description) and shoot away. This would only be really useful for me, though, if I were shooting the same thing over and over, like at a speech or something, where I was bouncing repeatedly off the ceiling. If I were switching from bounce to direct to paper-plate-mode a whole bunch, I'd probably forego the use of filters, knowing I'd forget to take the filter off and would end up shooting blue people later at the event.So what else could you use? There's a Lumiquest bounce card (like the paper plate one) that has little holes cut out of it, so that 80 percent goes off the ceiling and 20 percent shoots forward, illuminating the faces of the subjects (or whatever you're shooting) with white light, and bathing the background, hair, etc with whatever color is coming off the ceiling, also putting catchlights (the little glimmer dot) in people's eyes. Check out the second link for this one. It's a great thing to have.Okay, the rest of the work is yours. Experiment. Have fun. (Amaze your friends!)Oh, lastly, to get free gels, try and get a sample set of gels from a store that caters to movie people. I'm in LA, so it's pretty easy. If you don't have a store, call or write to Rosco and tell them you want a sample "rack" of their cinegel color correction system. You might also try a company called Lee Filters. They both make little chip-racks (like little paint chips). I've seen a couple sizes, one of which is like 1 1/2 inches by 3 inches, perfect to tape onto the flash part of my flash.Good luck. |
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Lvly007
Joined: 24 Nov 2007
Posts: 5
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| Posted: Sun Nov 25, 2007 1:44 pm Post subject: Special Event Photography Scenario: So I've been playing aro |
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| Conrad gave a very complete answer to this question but I would like to add a few things.The reason you bounce flash is to dramatically reduce harsh shadows. The light becomes very soft and the background detail is greatly improved.Another question is what style do you want to shoot in. If you want to move and wander from point to point, an umbrella is a cumbersome thing to have around. You would normally have a powerpack and possible a cord to deal with. If there are a lot of people this is a trip hazard. You can add various lighting attachments to the flash to create different qualities of light. (gary Fong makes agreat little add-on called the Lightsphere....http://store.garyfonginc.com/lightsphere.html) This becomes a matter of personal taste. I find the best thing for lighting I ever purchased was an SC-17 off-camera flash cord for my Nikons. I'm sure other camera brands have something similar. This is a GREAT tool to create different lighting effects.If you are in a more stationary position and you are facing dark panel walls here is a cheap way to get around them, their color cast and bounce a flash. If you can use a corner (not always possible) and the ceiling is white, take a few pages of newspaper (the totally gray sheets, like the stock quotes) and tape them into the corner at the intersection of the ceiling and wall. With your back to the corner direct your flash behind you and into the created "umbrella" and bounce the flash. It works everytime...when done pull down the newsprint and head home. You can do the same thing for large flat walls painted red. Just cover a large area with gray newsprint and shoot. I have a roll of 2-inch masking tape in the trunk just for this purpose.Also remember you will lose at least 1 1/2 f/stops when you bounce....it is a real battery drain.Hope this helps. |
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