Weddings by their nature have very beautiful background scenery. This scenery is carefully planned and set up for hours before the big day. For these reasons we want to include it in our photos, that is, not just have our subject of the photos lit up by our flash but everything behind in shadows. This is referred to as the miner's light. We also don't want to be just shooting in extremely high ISO's the whole wedding with no flash. This is a good technique for certain photos, but many times this makes the pictures appear like they were cropped from a bigger picture. Another reason we don't want to use this technique for all our photos is because sometimes there is fast action that we need to catch where we don't want the subjects face out of focus. So how do we shoot in low light situations and have the backgrounds visible, but our subjects also properly exposed, without harsh shadows and in sharp focus? The answer is bouncing our flashes.
To properly expose your wedding couple, and not have your flash producing harsh shadows on their face, you need a bigger light source. Remember, the bigger the light source, the softer the shadows. That is why when you use an umbrella the shadows are so nice and soft, the umbrella is the source of light and it is a lot bigger than your flash. This is the way it is and there is no way around it. These little cups that you put over your flash do not make the shadows softer, they only even out the light so that there are not any hot spots. Other light modifiers you see do increase the size of your light source. Examples of these may be the big Tupperware looking things you see, or else a large bounce card. But wouldn't the shadows be even softer with a bigger light source? How about one the size of a wall or ceiling? This is what bouncing your flash is: turning the head of your flash so that the light first bounces off a wall, ceiling, people, etc., before hitting your subjects. This increases the size of your light source. I like to bounce my flash off corners if possible, the corners where the walls meet the ceiling produces some very nice results. If you have an assistant, make sure your assistant is bouncing the light for you. Now you just have to worry about your camera communicating with your assistant's lights. If it is wireless, or you are connected through a cable, no problem. If it is through Nikon or Canon incorporated system, you just need to make sure your flashes can see each other.
Now bouncing your flash to work in low light situations you do need to have your ISO bumped up to 1600. This is a big difference from 3200 and higher, and with cameras nowadays, the grain in 1600 isn't too noticeable. Also, you need to shoot 2.8 to get the ambient light. This is the big bonus of bouncing your flash, besides having softer shadows, is that the background exposed based on your ambient light. Adjust your camera settings so that you are underexposing the ambient light 2-3 stops for good results. This way, the flash properly exposes your subjects as they are the dominant element of the photo, and the background is also exposed, but a little bit dimmer and not competing for attention. Don't worry about your shutter speed being below 60 because the flash will freeze the action. If people are dancing fast, and you are shooting the wedding couple and you have the flash bouncing to expose their faces you will see that the flash froze the action on their faces and that they in sharp focus. The people in the background may be blurred since they are being exposed with the ambient light. This makes for some interesting and creative photos. On the dance floor my setting could be ISO 1600, f2.8 and a 10 or 20-shutter speed. Please remember because you are shooting 2.8 you may need to compose your images, or else pose your subjects, so that what you want to be in focus is indeed in focus!
Try bouncing your flash at the next wedding you shoot and see if you like the results. Thanks for reading!
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