from scary to soft and beautiful

giveaway is closed: simona walters is the winner!

You’ve probably seen photos where the light looked soft and beautiful and photos where the light looked harsh and made a person’s wrinkles and lines show up…possibly making them look older and a little scary.

giveaway

using your flash more effectively

In the below photos, I’m going to give you my step by step process that I think through in my head (I go into more detail in my video above–make sure to check it out)!

step 1: evaluate my surroundings

My dance floor was relatively dark, but I had LOTS of interesting ambient lights around the room to add interest to the background of my photo. 

 

This is my FAVORITE reception scenario.  So I knew I was going to use the ambient lights in the room and my flash. 

 

step 2: setting your camera before the flash

I set my camera setting first with my flash off. My camera settings were around 2.0 Aperture, 400-800 iso, and around 25 shutter speed.

What?? a SLOW shutter speed?? Yes!! I do this ONLY when there is no or minimal ambient light on my subject. By doing this, I blur my background ambient light, but my subject is frozen with my flash. I always feel this gives the photos a sense of movement.

 

three steps for bouncing your flash

Needing help with just one of these steps?  Check out the video times below to go straight to the step you need most.

Step #1 (5:50) Observe your surroundings and evaluate your light sources
Step #2 (6:03) Always set your camera first
Step #3 (7:50) Turn on your flash

real life examples 

If you haven’t gotten to check out the video yet but you’re wishing someone would walk you through how to set your flash in real life.  Make sure to check out the times below to see a couple of real life examples in some different settings.

Shooting with ambient light (8:10)

Shooting without ambient light (11:32)

Shooting with ambient light as a backlight (14:25)

remember

Enter the giveaway!  Just share your questions or thoughts about bouncing flash in the comments and you’ll automatically be entered in the giveaway for your favorite Kelly Moore Bag!

The 2 Sues Kelly Moore Bag is the perfect companion when you have several flashes, lenses, and camera bodies that you need to bring to a photo shoot.

You can’t go wrong with the spacious bag that carries everything you need and more.  Stash all of your gear plus a couple of snacks, emergency items for your bride and groom, and any little things you’ll need to sustain you through out the day.