Flash Facts – Bounce Flash

One flash rule to remember is that the larger the light source, the softer the light. The smaller the light source, the harder the light. This means that the larger soft light will have softer edges in the shadows and the smaller hard light will have a more defined edge at the shadows. This technique also works very well with ceilings.



One very easy way to turn the small light from your shoe mounted flash into a large soft light source is to bounce your flash light off of a nearby wall. You do this by having the person you are photographing move near a wall or large solid surface, then you rotate your shoe mounted flash so that it is facing the opposite wall and not directly at your subject.



When you fire the flash it is going to bounce off of the wall that it is aimed at and turn into a much larger light source, thus creating a softer edge for your shadows.


One thing to keep in mind when using this technique is the color of the wall. The color of the wall is going to influence the color of the light hitting the subject. By this I mean that if you have a white wall to bounce your flash off of it is not going to be that big of a deal, but if the wall is, let's say red, then that will tint your light with red.



There are a few different way to counteract this light tinting problem. The two easiest way is by either changing the white balance of the flash, or by changing the light from the flash with a colored gel. The exact color and white balance combinations will depend on the color of the area, the wall, and also by what color you want the light to be.


Depending of the color of the surface I will usually start with the white balance for color correction. When it is warm or cool colors changing the white balance is the easiest. I suggest you correct the white balance in camera during the shoot, but you can change it in post as well.

Flash Facts – Bounce Flash

One flash rule to remember is that the larger the light source, the softer the light. The smaller the light source, the harder the light. This means that the larger soft light will have softer edges in the shadows and the smaller hard light will have a more defined edge at the shadows. This technique also works very well with ceilings.



One very easy way to turn the small light from your shoe mounted flash into a large soft light source is to bounce your flash light off of a nearby wall. You do this by having the person you are photographing move near a wall or large solid surface, then you rotate your shoe mounted flash so that it is facing the opposite wall and not directly at your subject.



When you fire the flash it is going to bounce off of the wall that it is aimed at and turn into a much larger light source, thus creating a softer edge for your shadows.


One thing to keep in mind when using this technique is the color of the wall. The color of the wall is going to influence the color of the light hitting the subject. By this I mean that if you have a white wall to bounce your flash off of it is not going to be that big of a deal, but if the wall is, let's say red, then that will tint your light with red.



There are a few different way to counteract this light tinting problem. The two easiest way is by either changing the white balance of the flash, or by changing the light from the flash with a colored gel. The exact color and white balance combinations will depend on the color of the area, the wall, and also by what color you want the light to be.


Depending of the color of the surface I will usually start with the white balance for color correction. When it is warm or cool colors changing the white balance is the easiest. I suggest you correct the white balance in camera during the shoot, but you can change it in post as well.

On camera flash

There are a lot of photographers out there in the world that passionately hate on camera flash. I am not one of them. If done right you can add all kinds of drama and motion by using your on camera flash.



If you set your shutter speed relativity slow (1/30 or slower) and then fire some on camera flash you can get some great effects. Remember that shutter speed controls the ambient light and the aperture controls the flash exposure. So you can manipulate them independently of each other. Here are a few examples.



Motion blur by itself is not always ideal, but with on camera flash you can get your subject sharp and everything else in motion in the frame will show motion blur. Your shutter speed and movement in the frame will determine how much motion blur is in the shot.



Burning in color. When you combine flash with longer shutter speeds you manipulate the color saturation and contrast pretty easily. You will use your flash and aperture to control the exposure of your subject. Just like in other situations, your shutter speed controls the ambient exposure. In this instance, when you are using longer shutter speeds, you control how the subject blends with the rest of the frame. The flash will get your subject illuminated and sharp and the longer shutter speed burns in the ambient light. You adjust the shutter speed to choose how the subject and the rest of the frame blend together.



Bounce Flash. This technique is very easy and flattering provided that you have a wall with a neutral color that you can shoot next to. All that you need to do is move your subject near a wall and then turn your flash toward the wall. The light will bounce off of the wall and become a larger source of light which in turn will make it softer.



Another way I enjoy shooting with on camera flash is in manual mode with the flash head zoomed in as far as it can go. I can get the tightest area of illumination without going to a grid or snoot. Then I crank up the shutter speed to let in all of the shadows around the center of light. When you shoot like this your composition gets pretty stagnant, but I like the lighting in this set up so I will change my crop in post to mix it up a bit. I find that my Lumopro LP160 works the easiest with this set up. The manual buttons on the back make changing the zoom and power on the fly fast and easy.



One of the most widely used on camera flash techniques is fill flash. You use fill flash to fill in the shadows on your subject. It is pretty straight forward, but one way to use fill flash is in sunlight. By throwing some flash on a subject when they are outside you control shadows under the eyes so that they do not get lost. You can also turn your subject's back to the sun and use fill flash to balance the shadows with the bright sun behind.

As you can see there are many reasons to use on camera flash. So put a flash in your hot shoe, go out, and light it up.

On camera flash

There are a lot of photographers out there in the world that passionately hate on camera flash. I am not one of them. If done right you can add all kinds of drama and motion by using your on camera flash.



If you set your shutter speed relativity slow (1/30 or slower) and then fire some on camera flash you can get some great effects. Remember that shutter speed controls the ambient light and the aperture controls the flash exposure. So you can manipulate them independently of each other. Here are a few examples.



Motion blur by itself is not always ideal, but with on camera flash you can get your subject sharp and everything else in motion in the frame will show motion blur. Your shutter speed and movement in the frame will determine how much motion blur is in the shot.



Burning in color. When you combine flash with longer shutter speeds you manipulate the color saturation and contrast pretty easily. You will use your flash and aperture to control the exposure of your subject. Just like in other situations, your shutter speed controls the ambient exposure. In this instance, when you are using longer shutter speeds, you control how the subject blends with the rest of the frame. The flash will get your subject illuminated and sharp and the longer shutter speed burns in the ambient light. You adjust the shutter speed to choose how the subject and the rest of the frame blend together.



Bounce Flash. This technique is very easy and flattering provided that you have a wall with a neutral color that you can shoot next to. All that you need to do is move your subject near a wall and then turn your flash toward the wall. The light will bounce off of the wall and become a larger source of light which in turn will make it softer.



Another way I enjoy shooting with on camera flash is in manual mode with the flash head zoomed in as far as it can go. I can get the tightest area of illumination without going to a grid or snoot. Then I crank up the shutter speed to let in all of the shadows around the center of light. When you shoot like this your composition gets pretty stagnant, but I like the lighting in this set up so I will change my crop in post to mix it up a bit. I find that my Lumopro LP160 works the easiest with this set up. The manual buttons on the back make changing the zoom and power on the fly fast and easy.



One of the most widely used on camera flash techniques is fill flash. You use fill flash to fill in the shadows on your subject. It is pretty straight forward, but one way to use fill flash is in sunlight. By throwing some flash on a subject when they are outside you control shadows under the eyes so that they do not get lost. You can also turn your subject's back to the sun and use fill flash to balance the shadows with the bright sun behind.

As you can see there are many reasons to use on camera flash. So put a flash in your hot shoe, go out, and light it up.

Flash Facts – Controlling Flash Exposure.

When using flash your aperture is going to control how much light from the flash enters the camera. The shutter speed is going to control how much ambient light enters the camera.


Once you have a feel for how these two variables are going to affect your shot you will then be able to make adjustments from the camera to control your flash and ambient light exposure.


Making adjustments to the aperture to control how much of the flash light enters the camera is also going to affect your depth of field. If you are not too concerned with your depth of filed then you can make adjustments solely for your flash. However if you do care about your depth of field, as you really should, making adjustments via the aperture is not gong to be the best option for you.


When you have to keep a specific depth of field for your shot you will need to work more with the power level of the flash or the distance of flash to subject. Using these variables for adjustment will keep your depth of field wherever you had it set.


Try setting up a static shot of just about anything around the house and throw a flash on it. Walk your aperture up and down and see how you can control both your flash exposure and your depth of field.

Flash Facts – Controlling Flash Exposure.

When using flash your aperture is going to control how much light from the flash enters the camera. The shutter speed is going to control how much ambient light enters the camera.


Once you have a feel for how these two variables are going to affect your shot you will then be able to make adjustments from the camera to control your flash and ambient light exposure.


Making adjustments to the aperture to control how much of the flash light enters the camera is also going to affect your depth of field. If you are not too concerned with your depth of filed then you can make adjustments solely for your flash. However if you do care about your depth of field, as you really should, making adjustments via the aperture is not gong to be the best option for you.


When you have to keep a specific depth of field for your shot you will need to work more with the power level of the flash or the distance of flash to subject. Using these variables for adjustment will keep your depth of field wherever you had it set.


Try setting up a static shot of just about anything around the house and throw a flash on it. Walk your aperture up and down and see how you can control both your flash exposure and your depth of field.

LumoPro LP160 – Seamless integration

The more I use the Lumopro LP160 the more I love it. Recently I have been using it as a slave unit with my Nikon flashes. It has worked seamlessly when using the digital optical slave function. With this function selected the flash will ignore the TTL pre-flash and wait for the actual flash for it to fire. Between the S (optical slave made) and the Si (optical slave mode that ignores the TTL pre-flash) it is nearly effortless to add in the LP160 as a manual flash into your shot for added depth of lighting.



With all of its triggering options there is little need for additional triggers. All you need is a single set and the optical modes of the LumoPro LP160 and they fire right along with your other flashes.



I have also been using the digital optical slave function when using my SU-800as the commander of my Nikon flashes in manual mode. When shooting with this type of set up I can control the Nikon flashes from the camera position via the Nikon SU800 and have the LP160 fire with the Nikon's



If you wanted to have remote control of the LP160's power I would suggest that you look into the Jrx series by Radiopopper. I have not used these triggers as of yet but from what I have read and heard they should not have a problem controlling the LumoPro LP160's flash output.



I cannot express how happy I am with this flash unit and how much I recommend it to anyone looking for another flash in their kit.

LumoPro LP160 – Seamless integration

The more I use the Lumopro LP160 the more I love it. Recently I have been using it as a slave unit with my Nikon flashes. It has worked seamlessly when using the digital optical slave function. With this function selected the flash will ignore the TTL pre-flash and wait for the actual flash for it to fire. Between the S (optical slave made) and the Si (optical slave mode that ignores the TTL pre-flash) it is nearly effortless to add in the LP160 as a manual flash into your shot for added depth of lighting.



With all of its triggering options there is little need for additional triggers. All you need is a single set and the optical modes of the LumoPro LP160 and they fire right along with your other flashes.



I have also been using the digital optical slave function when using my SU-800as the commander of my Nikon flashes in manual mode. When shooting with this type of set up I can control the Nikon flashes from the camera position via the Nikon SU800 and have the LP160 fire with the Nikon's



If you wanted to have remote control of the LP160's power I would suggest that you look into the Jrx series by Radiopopper. I have not used these triggers as of yet but from what I have read and heard they should not have a problem controlling the LumoPro LP160's flash output.



I cannot express how happy I am with this flash unit and how much I recommend it to anyone looking for another flash in their kit.

Rogue Gels by Expoimaging

The new Rogue Gels come in two different versions. The first is the Rogue Gel's Universal Lighting Filter Kit and the second is the lighting filter gel kit for the Rogue Grid. Both kits come with 20 gels for a wide variety. The two sets offer the same color choices and options, but two different mounting methods.

The Universal Lighting Filter Kit is just what it sounds like: universal. This gel kit has a Gel-Band that attaches around the flash, along the lines of a custom shaped rubber band. You then take the tabs of the gels and tuck them into the side of the Gel-Band.

The gels are cut so that you can leave a bit of space between the head of the flash and the gels. The Gel-Band is a very secure fastener, it is not going to ever fall off of your flash, and the gels are held tightly and not going anywhere.

That being said, I do wish that the Gel-Band was similar to the Rogue Tension Strap found on the Honeycomb Grid. The way that the Tension Strap mounts is great and with a very small modification I am sure that it could be converted into a gel holder. But I am sure that would raise the cost significantly so it is all a matter of trade off.

The Rogue Gels lighting filter kit for the Rogue Grid is perfect in its integration with the grid. You place the gel between the bezel and the honeycomb. The two pieces line up via the grooves on the bezel and the honeycombs. It is super easy to put together and the gels cannot go anywhere because of the grids design.

In the spirit of keeping this “fresh” and trying new techniques, I decided to use these gel kits to enhance the natural tones of the location and the model. By putting a gel on my flash unit mounted in a Westcott 28” Apollo I filtered the light bringing it to a nice warm tone that complimented the model and the tones of the location.

Another technique that I tried was placing an amber gel on a flash and then bouncing the colored flash off of the wall bringing in again some warmer tones to the shot.

These two gel kits are fully capable of dealing with not only color correction but also with dramatic lighting situations. They are a truly comprehensive gel set. With 20 gels in each of these kits you have a wide range of colors to blend in or change altogether. I tried mainly to enhance the colors present instead of completely changing what was there, but these make it easy to accomplish either task.

One of the things that I love about the Rogue line is that they are small modifiers that have big results.

I always make sure to have these modifiers in my kit, every shoot. Their sublimity has a huge impact on the shot, and I love having them as an option providing so many different possibilities.

At the end of the day I find both the Rogue Universal Filter kit and the Rogue Gels lighting filter kit for the Rogue Grid just as versatile as the other light modifiers in the Rogue series. I believe Expoimaging has created a very well designed line of flash modifiers that every photographer should try.

Rogue Gels by Expoimaging

The new Rogue Gels come in two different versions. The first is the Rogue Gel's Universal Lighting Filter Kit and the second is the lighting filter gel kit for the Rogue Grid. Both kits come with 20 gels for a wide variety. The two sets offer the same color choices and options, but two different mounting methods.

The Universal Lighting Filter Kit is just what it sounds like: universal. This gel kit has a Gel-Band that attaches around the flash, along the lines of a custom shaped rubber band. You then take the tabs of the gels and tuck them into the side of the Gel-Band.

The gels are cut so that you can leave a bit of space between the head of the flash and the gels. The Gel-Band is a very secure fastener, it is not going to ever fall off of your flash, and the gels are held tightly and not going anywhere.

That being said, I do wish that the Gel-Band was similar to the Rogue Tension Strap found on the Honeycomb Grid. The way that the Tension Strap mounts is great and with a very small modification I am sure that it could be converted into a gel holder. But I am sure that would raise the cost significantly so it is all a matter of trade off.

The Rogue Gels lighting filter kit for the Rogue Grid is perfect in its integration with the grid. You place the gel between the bezel and the honeycomb. The two pieces line up via the grooves on the bezel and the honeycombs. It is super easy to put together and the gels cannot go anywhere because of the grids design.

In the spirit of keeping this “fresh” and trying new techniques, I decided to use these gel kits to enhance the natural tones of the location and the model. By putting a gel on my flash unit mounted in a Westcott 28” Apollo I filtered the light bringing it to a nice warm tone that complimented the model and the tones of the location.

Another technique that I tried was placing an amber gel on a flash and then bouncing the colored flash off of the wall bringing in again some warmer tones to the shot.

These two gel kits are fully capable of dealing with not only color correction but also with dramatic lighting situations. They are a truly comprehensive gel set. With 20 gels in each of these kits you have a wide range of colors to blend in or change altogether. I tried mainly to enhance the colors present instead of completely changing what was there, but these make it easy to accomplish either task.

One of the things that I love about the Rogue line is that they are small modifiers that have big results.

I always make sure to have these modifiers in my kit, every shoot. Their sublimity has a huge impact on the shot, and I love having them as an option providing so many different possibilities.

At the end of the day I find both the Rogue Universal Filter kit and the Rogue Gels lighting filter kit for the Rogue Grid just as versatile as the other light modifiers in the Rogue series. I believe Expoimaging has created a very well designed line of flash modifiers that every photographer should try.