Bounce Flash, the process of using a speed light that is pointed behind you (angled at a wall) to illuminate a subject is tricky. If you bounce off any surface that isn’t white, you’ll get a color thrown. For example, here Sarah has bounce flash lighting across her face, but the red hue is coming from the red wall that the light was bounced off of.
Sometimes, having that color hue can give a great effect, such as when a spider hangs from the ceiling and you want a dramatic effect. Find a red wall, bounce a flash off of it – and wa la!
Bounce flash can also drastically improve low light situations. The example here were taken at night, bouncing a flash off of a tall white statue.
Be careful with long exposures – ghost effects can happen! But it also can brighten the background of your photo in a really cool way if done correctly. I haven’t mastered that (yet) myself, but have already started to see the benefits of knowing how to use bounce flash.
It gives a studio-like light in non-studio situations and as Professor Kent Miller would say – “That’s Nuts!” It’s a skill that takes practice to hone in, but I think it’s one that I will use a lot. 
Kaiti Grant 
