Portrait photography tip: Indirect flash via a reflector

Thursday 19 January 2023, 14:07 by Elja Trum | 3,214 views | 3 comments

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

When you use an on-camera flash, it pays to use indirect flash. Instead of pointing it straight ahead, which creates harsh shadows and flat light, you can bounce the flash light off a wall or ceiling, for example.

No suitable surface to bounce the flash off? You can always bring your own surface. The cheap reflectors that you can buy for a few tens of euros are very useful. Go for a handy 5-in-1 reflector set straight away.

Indirect flash via a reflector screen (still visible on the left)
Sophie - f/4.5, 1/160s, 200 ISO @ 33mm
By bouncing your flash light off a reflector screen, you can make the light much softer in a very simple way.

You can even work very flexibly by pointing your flash head to the side and holding the reflector screen in your other hand while taking photos. This makes the flash light directly much larger, and therefore softer, than light coming straight from the flash.

In addition, indirect flash means that the light no longer comes straight from the front. That immediately produces better photos.

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About the author

Elja Trum is the founder of Photofacts and online photography course website Photofacts Academy. He has been writing about photography since 2006. Elja is also the author of (Dutch) books on composition, black-and-white photography, flash photography and portrait photography.

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3 comments

Gilde de René P wrote on Tuesday 24 January 2023 at 11:01 | reply
Something isn't right light comes from the right, look at the shadow under the chin
Translated from Dutch.

Jack wrote on Tuesday 24 January 2023 at 13:21 | reply
It does indeed seem like it.
Translated from Dutch.

Elja Trum wrote on Tuesday 24 January 2023 at 14:30 | reply
Good point, perhaps I picked the wrong photo. I'll dive into Lightroom again to check.
Translated from Dutch.

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