A Beginner's Guide to Bouncing Light: An Important Photography Skill

One of the most fundamental lighting skills every photographer should possess is the ability to bounce light effectively. This helpful video will show you why bouncing light can be such an effective technique and how to use it for your own work.

Coming to you from Daniel Norton with Adorama TV, this great video discusses the benefits of bouncing light and how to do it with your own photos. Bouncing light is a fundamental skill for any photographer working with strobes, and it can be particularly helpful for when you're working in a place where big lighting modifiers are impractical for one reason or another (wedding and event photographers in particular find this technique quite useful). The basic idea is that if you're working with a small light source (such as an unmodified strobe), you might find the hard light it creates unflattering. If there's a white wall or ceiling nearby, you can aim the strobe at that instead of your subject. This essentially turns the wall or ceiling into a very large light source, creating a softer, often more flattering light. Of course, it'll take a bit more flash power to make this work, but it's a very useful technique for a wide range of situations. Check out the video above for the full rundown. 

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Alex Cooke is a Cleveland-based portrait, events, and landscape photographer. He holds an M.S. in Applied Mathematics and a doctorate in Music Composition. He is also an avid equestrian.

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