Tudor Loc: Bucyrus OH

I shoot Nikon, with an older SB600 speedlight. It has a swivel head, so I can turn it straight on or up with vertical shots. I bounce off the ceiling if it's low enough, and attach a small white card with a rubber band to add fill light to the shadows under the nose, eyebrows, etc. By shooting TTL, I have no problems other than the height and color of the ceiling.

Amadeus Loc: New York

That is interesting. I like to shoot TTL however when I move my Godox to any position other than the normal straight on position, the TTL indicator disappears. So I’m not sure if the function works when bouncing.

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

Bouncing the flash loses a lot of light. Godox may have chosen to deal with this by providing that function only when using direct flash.

JohnSwanda Loc: San Francisco

If so, that would be a serious disadvantage to Godox. My Nikon flash retains TTL no matter how it's positioned. Do you still get consistent exposures when bouncing?

Amadeus Loc: New York

I haven’t tried it often. But I think when I did the exposures we’re ok. But I’m going to play with it again. I have to dig deeper into the flash functions. To me the flash settings become complicated especially when you don’t use the TTL mode. I appreciate your responses.

Amadeus Loc: New York

Just a quick note and thanks again for all your input. I did purchase a stroboframe 350 and a connector from Vello. I had the opportunity to try it out this past weekend. A family birthday. It worked nicely. It adds weight and is a bit cumbersome but I’m sure I’ll get used to it. I thought when I posted I had this “unique” problem. Shows what a novice I am in certain areas. That’s why I like this place. The info is priceless.

Ourspolair

I have a flip frame - it is a pain to cart around. Best solution would be to use a flash diffuser or bounce the flash as already suggested.

E.L.. Shapiro Loc: Ottawa, Ontario Canada

The dreaded wall shadow is an old problem with direct on-camera flash. In ancient times we used to hand-hand the flash unit as well as a bulkey 4x5 press camera and hold the flash high and aimed downward. All you need is a coiled synch cord, a quick-release mechanism for the flash, and some over-developed forearms. It was like running around like a one-armed wallpaper hanger. If you were not good at this technique, you would kill the wall shadow but end up getting seriously uneven lighting.

So back in 1961, I made my own swinging flash bracket that held the flash head 12 inches over the lens in both vertical and horizontal orientations. Since then there have been at least a dozen various models of these types of brackets made by various manufacturers.

This method and configuration is effective for direct flash, employing a fill light for multiple off-camera flashes, flash fill out-of -doors, bare bulb operation, and with a simple tilt attachment, you can still bounce. It will also work with various modifiers in place.

It is not only employed to negate wall shadows but also to provide an even direct flash with a bit more vertical modeling but also a fill light that will not cause disunity of lighting that is caused by multiple directions of shadows on the subjects.

My flash bracket rig is a modified stock unit with a kind of "gimble mechanism"- it flips in a second with one motion.

flyboy61 Loc: The Great American Desert

flyboy61 Loc: The Great American Desert

flyboy61 Loc: The Great American Desert

WOW! Really creative!

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

You’re absolutely correct. In the portrait photo, note the prominent shadow along the woman's lower right arm. There are lots of short YouTube videos on techniques for on-camera Speedlight shots.

jamesl Loc: Pennsylvania

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It is because of the positioning of the flash. When you are shooting horizontally the shadow is falling down behind the subject and the subject is hiding the shadow. If your flash was off-camera so it stayed horizontal you wouldn't get the side shadowing. You could try bouncing the light off of the wall and it would give you softer light which vould eliminate or at least soften the shadow.

coolhanduke Loc: Redondo Beach, CA

Get a bracket that lets you rotate your flash. Problem solved.

Amadeus Loc: New York

Yes I did that. The bracket did solve the problem.