Reflections on face in flash photography

[Digital]

I think we might be trying to solve a wrong problem here. The hot spots might be produced not by the reflected/bounced light but by the direct light from the flash.

Does your flash have focal length adjustment of how narrow the beam it makes? If it was set too wide to say 24 mm, setting it to 90 mm might help.

Forgive my ignorance, but how can "reflected/bounced" be "direct".

[Digital]

Bill, thanks for your suggestions, and examples.

Greg, an interesting concept; however I have never heard of using a polarizing filter in portraiture photography, However I am on this forum to learn.

I do have an observation: do believe that some of the reflections on the face was due to the ambient light.

Bruce

[Shadowman]

Bill, thanks for your suggestions, and examples.

Greg, an interesting concept; however I have never heard of using a polarizing filter in portraiture photography, However I am on this forum to learn.

I do have an observation: do believe that some of the reflections on the face was due to the ambient light.

Bruce

Bruce,

Always be willing to try something new, only problem I see with the polarizer is you'll lose a stop of light or two which means you'll have to compensate with your other available variables.

[Manfred M]

A probably dumb question from someone with almost zero portrait experience: wouldn't a polarising filter dramatically reduce reflections and hotspots? Or would it create other problems (aside from the obvious absorption of 1 1/2 or so stops of light, for which I assume light sources can be adjusted to compensate)?

I've never tried a polarizer with a portrait, so will have to some time just to see what happens. I'm not aware of any portrait photographers that do this. Regardless, the hot spots are not going to be reduced. There is simply too much light hitting those areas on the subject.

In flash photography there are usually two sources of light:

(a) the light that comes directly from the light modifier (in this case, with bounced flash coming off the ceiling); and

(b) Spilled lght reflecting off other parts of the room. This gives the base level of light that illuminates the rest of this image.

If the flash is relatively weak as compared to the ambient light, it too can play a role in lighting the subject.

[Manfred M]

I do have an observation: do believe that some of the reflections on the face was due to the ambient light.

Bruce

There is a simple test for this. Shoot the scene with the same aperture, shutter speed and ISO, but without using the flash. If you can see parts of your subject, then ambient light is playing a role. If the shot is totally black, then it is not.

[Manfred M]

Forgive my ignorance, but how can "reflected/bounced" be "direct".

In a perfect world, this is true, but depending on the design of the flash and the position of the flash head there can be some direct light, even when bouncing. The way you describe your setup, I doubt this is the case in this shot.

The way to tell is to ask your subject if he or she can see any of the clear part of the flash head. If the answer is "yes", there will be a direct light component.

[inkista]

Forgive my ignorance, but how can "reflected/bounced" be "direct".

Because light spills out of the head in all directions--not all of it is aiming directly at the bounce surface. This is what flagging off the flash with the BFT is all about: to prevent any direct light from the flash head hitting the subject. Go to van Niekerk's vimeo video to around 2:30, where he bounces the flash and demonstrates what it looks like when you flag off, and then what bouncing looks when you don't.

[William W]

Black Foamy thing is good. I have one.

Attaining a "Maximum Dispersion" as per my example if you have the physical room, works too.

Not mentioned as a competition but to highlight that there are many cats and many ways to skin them.

WW

[Shadowman]

Going back to post#1 and 7, are there any ladies beauty products that reduces reflections and the example shown in post 7, another observation is "why the need for bounce flash which is obvious-for the exposure and also why aren't there any catch lights in the eyes?-which is an added benefit of using external lighting. Options have been given for potential beauty products, positioning of lights, reduction in intensity. There has been very little mention of post processing to reduce the glare and also perhaps eliminating the external lighting (flash based) as a whole. How about using a longer exposure under normal lighting conditions?

[Manfred M]

There has been very little mention of post processing to reduce the glare and also perhaps eliminating the external lighting (flash based) as a whole. How about using a longer exposure under normal lighting conditions?

There is a reason that studio shots are used by commercial portrait photography. Once you master the lighting, it's far easier than using natural light or trying to fix up a sub-optimal image in PP.

Bounce flash is pretty well reserved for event photography (i.e. weddings, etc. ) where it is impossible to use a stationary lighting area for all the imagery.

Anyone who wants to get into serious portrait work should invest in a light stand, a speedlight mount and an umbrella or two. If one already owns a speedlight, the rest of the setup should be less than $100, so in the scheme of things, a fairly inexpensive investment. When I first started into serious portrait photography, I used the back side of one of my daughter's foam core project boards that were used for a school project.

Frankly, with this type of lighting setup, it is one of the few instances where I can get away with SOOC jpegs, simply because the lighting can be well controlled so well.

[Amy nguyen]

Why dont you use photoshop to get rid of it?

[Manfred M]

Why dont you use photoshop to get rid of it?

Good photographic practice is to get the shot right in camera. There are three reasons that your suggestion is not the optimal approach to this problem.

1. Because it takes a lot more work than getting it right in the camera.

2. Areas of specular highlights (which are common in flash shots) are clipped and much more difficult to repair in Photoshop.

3. Not everyone has the skill level to do this in Photoshop.