Holiday Ornaments on the tree. Lighting from bounced flash.

I don’t want to go too crazy about linking to David Zizer‘s blog (oh, why not.  It’s excellent!), but he posted a semi-followup to his criticism of the photographer I mentioned in this post.

From a newer post:

Anyone who has attended my Digital WakeUp Call tour knows that I’m am not a big fan of on-camera flash particularly when the flash is pointed straight ahead. I’m not going into specific reasons why – I do that during my program. Just know that direct flash on the subject is about the least flattering light you can put on your subject.

Yes, I do have a quick fix – just turn your on-camera flash about 90 degrees to the left or right side, bounce it off a wall and, presto – beautiful light.

I’ll definately second this.  There are many things to keep in mind, but the portrait lighting is incredible.  This year at Christmakkuh (family term), I specificall did on-axis bounced flash the entire time.  In keeping with my beliefs of keeping other peoples’ lives private, I won’t post any of the pictures with my subjects.  However, look at the photo attached to this post.

That’s a strobist-inspired photo.  F/9, 1/60th, on-axis flash bounced to camera right.