Shooting Indoors with Flash for Events

One of the best things about shooting indoors is the ability to bounce the flash off the ceiling and walls. The larger a light source is, the softer and more flattering the light will be. And by bouncing light off the surfaces in the room you will turn your small flash head into a very large light source. While this works best in rooms painted white, it’s also possible in other coloured rooms too, as long as the colour of the walls isn’t too extreme. 

When light from your flash hits a wall or ceiling it will reflect back the colour of that surface back on the subject. Wood, for example, can create a nice, warm looking light, however green walls will likely make your subjects look sickly. Your options for bouncing will depend on the size of the room and the height of the ceiling. Having a high powered flash will give you more flexibility to bounce light off surfaces at greater distances. 

When first bouncing flash, many people will bounce the light straight up off the ceiling. This works to create a softer light source, however it creates a look called ‘panda eyes’, resulting in circular shadows over the subjects eyes. There are a couple of solutions to fix this. In a smaller room, rather than pointing the light straight up, the best place to bounce light is off both the ceiling and wall behind the photographer. This fill creates a nice, soft light coming from above and in front of the subject. In larger spaces, bouncing behind the photographer may not be possible. In these instances, either using the camera’s built-in bounce card or adding a diffuser on top of the camera will push some of the light forward to fill in the eye shadows. 

Care should be taken when doing this with subjects in front of walls however, as the part of the light from the flash being pushed forward towards the subject will be hard light, leading to unsightly shadows projected against the walls.