Comments on: choosing your direction

By: Trevor Dennis

Trevor Dennis — Sat, 10 May 2008 10:09:30 +0000

My goodness. I thought I was reasonbly good with ETTL, but after reading your site right through, I’ve taken a huge step forward. Even things that I sort of knew worked, but not why, I now have a much better handle on, and it is so much easier to work stuff out if you know WHY you are doing it.

Thanks for the insight.
Trevor

By: Tom Kaszuba

Tom Kaszuba — Sat, 03 May 2008 06:11:47 +0000

Superb info on this blog Neil. You have taught me more than you can imagine and I thank you for this.

Question……Do you ever find that when bouncing flash behind you that your own body blocks some of the light that should be falling back on the subject (a bride for example)?

Regards,
Tom K.

By: Neil

Neil — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 01:35:35 +0000

Jusuf … the problem you’re experiencing with inconsistency is probably mostly due to your WB being set to Auto.

Even though bouncing off different coloured surfaces will give you a colour cast of some kind, it should be consistent within the same scenario.

Neil vN

By: jusuf

jusuf — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 01:42:47 +0000

Dear Neil,

Awesome blog, indeed! I’m totally newbie in flash photography. On practicing yr concept, I bounce my flash off of the walls but I noticed inconsistency among subsequent numbers of shot. That being said, white balance keeps changing all over the shots.

Yes, I put WB setting on auto, this is the culprit. But, under same lighting conditions and most potentially the same angle of flash bouncing, theoritically speaking, I could expect to see same result. Or, am I missing something here?

Setting I use for above scenario: camera on Manual, f2.8 ISO 100, speed about 1/100, iTTL, Nikon D80, indoor, halogen lamp (spotlight).

Thanks,
Jusuf, Indonesia

By: Neil

Neil — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 03:37:12 +0000

Rob … I am using my speedlight in TTL mode most of the time.
But with the way I am using flash, directing most of the flash away from my subject, it does mean I am wasting a lot of the flash’s energy … so it will quite often dump near full power.

Neil.

By: Danny Foo

Danny Foo — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 10:45:43 +0000

I really learned alot from your flash photography techniques but I always keep wondering when you say bounced over your shoulder, how will it look from a 3rd person perspective?

Photography is a hobby I’m picking up on my own so I really want to learn how to use my gear properly.

Thanks.

By: Rob Jaudon

Rob Jaudon — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 21:55:30 +0000

Neil, So when you turn the flash around are you using it at full power or is that decided on location for each shot?

By: Neil

Neil — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 01:06:11 +0000

Thank you everyone for the kind comments.

Re: the questions as to what I am bouncing my flash off - you don’t need a specific wall to bounce light off. Check my previous posting here.

Nimrod, sure, using flash this way does eat a lot of power.
Therefore I always use battery packs. It keeps the recycle time shorter, and hence my images are much more consistent in exposure and colour, than if I hadn’t.

By: Chris

Chris — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 19:46:17 +0000

I’m wondering what you mean by throwing the flash over your shoulder? Is it similar to the picture in the previous blog entry?

By: Matt

Matt — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 17:06:56 +0000

Neil, just to be clear here, you bounced the flash over your shoulder, into the hallway …BUT… off the ceiling, to provide inderct flash.

Is this correct?