One Light Portrait Lighting for AWESOME Portraits using On-Camera Flash

/ L. David Likes Photography/

Most external flashes comes with a little pull out white flash card for use when bouncing off the ceiling does not get enough light into your subject’s eyes. I prefer to angle bounce off a wall to my side or a wall behind me. But sometimes that is just not possible, like if you are in a big room and the wall is too far away to bounce off of. Then I’ll use a bounce card (I like using my FlashBender) and bounce off the ceiling. When photographing large groups, I try ceiling bounce first, but if I can’t get enough power for the F-stop, I want (typically F8 or more) then I use direct on camera flash. Just keep in mind that direct flash and/or a bounce card creates some hard shadows under the subject’s chin that true portrait lighting would not show. This is not so important with groups compared to photographing individuals at full length and close ups.

Background Reflections can Ruin a good Portrait

Picking the background when doing a portrait inside is just as important as what type of lighting you will use. Learn to pick a good natural background in the video below.

Flashbender bounce card used with on-camera flash for this shot