GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

Not a bad guess, but all of my flashes power up right where I left them.
I'd go with tsilva's response.

Revet Loc: Fairview Park, Ohio

I understand what you are saying completely. A few years ago I watched two photographers in mid-day light photographing a wedding party on the steps of a historic building in Savannah. They had the tupperware type diffuser that comes with a flash and they had it pointing at a 45 degree angle backwards pointing at the sky. For the life of me I couldn't figure out what they were doing (two of them). There is no way any of that light was reaching the wedding party which was a good 20 feet away.

OnDSnap Loc: NE New Jersey

Not being used as bounce when turned up or to the side, outside/inside, far from walls/ceilings, it's more likley being used as fill. There is still some light spilling onto subject.

sueyeisert Loc: New Jersey

If you want great info about flash read this. He also has a website.http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/1608959538/ref=olp_f_freeShipping?ie=UTF8&f_freeShipping=true&f_primeEligible=true
Anything by Neil Van Niekerk is good.

DavidM Loc: New Orleans, LA

They are using spill lighting from the flash. The tutorial at the following link shows how to control spill lighting using a snoot, but the point is the flash always throws some spill light.

http://neilvn.com/tangents/flagging-your-back-light-flash-with-bft/

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

It is sad that today's flashes cannot bounce off clouds. With that said most pro's inside bounce ahead and to the side or aim the flash behind them, they also use a flag on the flash so no direct flash reaches the subject. Bouncing directly up inside will not give proper light on the subject. I bounce my flash outside off buildings and anything that will allow a bounce of light. And inside I have bounced successfully off 40 foot walls. Inside you must keep four things in your process, PAID, Power of flash, Aperture, ISO and Distance from flash to subject. You may want to read a book called On Camera Flash by Neil van Niekerk, he can explain this far better than I.

DavidPine Loc: Fredericksburg, TX

When you bounce against nothing, you don't bounce anything. If you are outside and you don't have anything to bounce against a method to consider is TTL and point the flash toward the subject. It can be done on of off the camera.

Apaflo Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

Yep.

I recall being faced with that at a Middle School graduation nearly ten years ago. It took some doing, because the D2X was Nikon's top of the line then, and raising the ISO didn't go very far!

The only good location I could get was at the top of the bleachers to the side of the stage. Straight on flash would work, but would not be nice. So I brought three flash units, and used optical triggers on two of them. They were all pointed at the very high ceiling.

It worked great, but I did have to time shots to allow recycling, as they were all set to full power. If I got excited and shot too fast, it was really bad... :-)

Hmmm... the young lady I was photographing graduated from college last spring.

ephraim Imperio

I use the Rouge Flash benders to bounce light outdoors:

http://www.rogueflash.com/collections/rogue-flashbenders?gclid=CPOuqaGbvckCFUSPHwodpGABdA

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

The flash does spill some light but the Nikon flashes I'm familiar with have some optics within them to concentrate the light in some direction. That's why they read the focal length from the camera (and report it on the control panel). The amount of light spilled outside of that direction is small. And if there's nothing to bounce against, it's a moot point since the light will not return to the subject.

Since the output end of the flash is flat, the spilled light is limited to +/- 90 degrees from the direction the flash is pointed. It will exceed those limits if you use a diffuser that sticks up from the flash.

The light from the flash decreases as the inverse square of the distance from the flash (far field approximation). If it bounces off a large surface then the returned light intensity goes approximately as the inverse square of the distance to the surface (because most of the lignt hits the surface so the surface can be considered the source of the light). If the surface is small compared to the area covered by the flash, then there's an inverse square variation of the light from the flash to the surface, and another inverse square variation of the light from the surface to the subject, resulting in an inverse fourth power variation. So when you're bouncing flash you want to bounce it off as large a surface as possible.

twillsol Loc: St. Louis, MO

Well, if they do not have a reflector, the flash pointed upward adds absolutely no light to their subject. They just do not understand what they are doing. That is very true of many "Pro" photographers today. They buy a camera and think that makes them a pro and they know nothing about light.

OnDSnap Loc: NE New Jersey

[quote=billnikon]It is sad that today's flashes cannot bounce off clouds.

Have you tried zooming the flash head or using a snoot...ahhh not quite :) LOL. Just have to wait for a foggy day...

JohnTxNC

(promise to weigh in on the OP question after I ramble... It's 8:30 and I have not slept... I ramble a lot in these cases...)

When I shoot outdoors, I always have my flash mounted on my camera, unless it's a situation that I need off camera flash and in that case I will use a trigger setup ....

Anywho ... the flash is mounted with a bounce card. I have tried way too many flash mounted diffusers to count including the biggest loser for the money - Gary Fong's (light sucking / ISO thief) Dome, and the best value for the dollar... crumpled layers of Kleenex tissue and a rubber band.

Now, I use this bounce card almost exclusively, even to the point that I might pick it over an umbrella! And by the way, I have found my light stands don't blow over as easy!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DXHWOBK?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00

At $7.00 or less and free shipping, I order two at a time because they do get beat up in the camera bag, although they do lay flat. Oh and replace the strap immediately, its too short.


Now.... as promised.. the long awaited answer....

In outdoor work, I dial in my camera for background light - (most of the time and unless the sun is directly to my back) .... then I feather in light from the flash/difusser/card to make the subject pop. As we move around, the camera settings change as needed, but I generally leave the flash alone and feather it by rotating the head up down or away. I have bounced light off dark walls, white ceilings, low hanging canopy of tree leaves and have even positioned someone in their white shirt near the subject. In almost all cases, I just let the flash fire away even if it is blasting out into space, because as soon as we move, or I move, I may need it and I want it to be ready to go!


hmmm clearly, I could have said this in two sentences.... I should stop editing all night.

bobmcculloch Loc: NYC, NY

Neil is very good, worth listening to,
listen and think how to integrate into your work

paulrph1 Loc: Washington, Utah

Before you plunge full force into bounce flash remember if you bounce what you bounce off of will be what you get. In other words if you bounce off of a green wall the light reflected back will be green.